In the play Hamlet Gertrude and Ophelia are portrayed as weak characters. The men in their lives have complete control over them. These women obviously do not have a mind of their own. If they listened to themselves, they would have more control of their lives.
             Ophelia is one of those women who is a lost cause to society. She makes women look helpless and that we can be easily manipulated. Hamlet basically used Ophelia as merely a toy to play with. She was never treated as a human being only as an object. Hamlet told Ophelia that he "I loved you not. (1097)" He made her a weak individual by saying "Frailty thy name is women. (1062)" This quote made Ophelia looks like she could never hold her own ground. Whenever Polonius needed her, she was always at his becking call. She has a tendency to not be true to her man Hamlet. Since she was under the control of her father, he convinced her to find out information from Hamlet.
             Ophelia: What means your lordship?
             Hamlet: That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty (1097).
             Hamlet was on to her in this discussion he knew that she was lying. He just wanted to her feel
             like the weaker one. He also wanted to shoe his Uncle and Polonius that he knew what was up. Ophelia sells hamlet out to follow the orders of her father. Since Ophelia has no true identity to herself, all she merely can be is a pawn on a chessboard.
             Gertrude is one of those women that knows exactly what is going and never says anything. She definitely knows how and who killed her husband but, thinks it is a great idea to keep her mouth shut. Gertrude had the nerve to marry her husband's brother two months after he died. In a way that portrays that she never really loved the king.
             Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended.
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