Women's Roles in Hamlet - Essay Example

Women’s Roles in Hamlet Perhaps one of the most unusual aspects of the works of William Shakespeare arethe types of roles he created for women given his time period and the prevailing social opinion. The social attitude toward women during the Elizabethan period was that they were generally only suited for household needs and didn’t have the necessary capacity for thought that men had. Despite this opinion, Shakespeare wrote numerous different female characters demonstrating a variety of abilities, characteristics and responsibilities. The roles could be as important as one of the primary protagonists all the way through the spectrum to those characters who are simply and passively used by more dominate characters. In Hamlet, one of his most well-known and longest plays, Shakespeare includes two female characters, Ophelia and Gertrude, as crucial members of the cast. Strangely, neither of these two women appears to challenge the conception of the women’s place in sixteenth century society. These women drift through the dreary castle in and out of the important scenes. They generally provide little or no valuable service to the other characters and their actions seem to be undertaken without individual thought. However, Shakespeare may have been deliberately using the image of the stereotypical woman as a means of bringing about the tragedy and criticizing the society that would encourage her oppression. Neither the young Ophelia nor the older Gertrude seems to be entirely innocent of the ways in which they are being used by the men around them, but neither seems to know quite what to do about it. Despite the fact that the country was being led by a strong female leader at the time, it remained the common perception that women were essentially empty vessels waiting for men to tell them what they were and what they should do. The traditional role for women was already firmly cemented as homemaker. Essentially, the woman was considered to be inferior in every possible way – intellectual, physical, political and emotional. Education was often withheld from girls, particularly once they moved beyond the general skills of basic reading and writing. Women held no legal rights including no right to own property and no recognition for her efforts outside the home. Not considered capable of performing any form of work outside the home despite the formidable skills she needed within it, the only true vocational options available for women even in this period was to be a wife and mother (Welter, 1966). Queen Elizabeth’s reign challenged these concepts, suggesting women were capable of a great deal more than they were given opportunity to express, causing many to feel threatened in their beliefs. “Especially subversive were the assertive, liberated ‘city women’ of London, who challenged the cultural paradigm of a ‘closed,’ passive femininity, and the notorious female transvestites, who challenged the stability of gender itself, demonstrating the constructedness of hierarchical distinctions deemed divinely ordained” (McCandless, 1997: 2). Several playwrights of the time insisted on keeping female characters within their accepted submissive roles as a means of providing an example for the wayward women emerging in light of Elizabeth’s example, but Shakespeare seems to be using them as an example of the tragedy that occurs when they are kept in their place. It is precisely because of the condition of the women in the play that the action is able to be carried out at all. The story begins when Hamlet returns home following his father’s death to find his mother married to his uncle and the ghost of his father calling for justice. The ghost tells Hamlet he was killed by a treacherous brother who perhaps had the assistance of the queen. To try to determine the truth, Hamlet pretends to have gone insane with grief to buy himself time to investigate. He “places inordinate importance on doing and knowing perfectly; throughout most of his experience he also places the responsibility for that knowing and that doing solely on himself” (Hassel, 1994: 610). Without the confusion of his insanity, Hamlet’s actions to discover truth would have been obvious and would have alerted his uncle to his suspicions before he had a chance to act; however, his antics were enough to arouse suspicion. Had he found it possible to confide in Ophelia or had Ophelia been more prepared through education to make some guesses as to his conflict, he may have found the courage or evidence to act before those he loves are also destroyed. While deliberate manipulation of women is also evident in Hamlet’s actions, this element of the play is brought into clearest focus when one looks closely at the women of the play. Ophelia’s role is almost entirely as that of a tool by the other characters. Her position as Hamlet’s love interest throws her into the role regardless of her interest. Not only conforming to expectations, Ophelia also conforms to the standard idea of a hero’s love interest. She is a chaste young girl with a quiet disposition who is obedient to her male relatives. This is seen even on her first appearance in the play when she humbly asks her brother “Not more but so?” (I, iii, 11) after Laertes insists that Hamlet is only playing an adolescent game with her affections. However, she also shows some spark of intelligence and independent thought when she tells her brother “Do not as some ungracious pastors do, / Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, / Whiles like a puffed and reckless libertine / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads / And recks not his own rede” (I, iii, 47-50). Despite this intelligence, Ophelia is nevertheless limited to life within the castle serving the needs of the queen. The rambling speeches she gives in her madness give a clue as to her normal daily activities – sewing, singing songs to entertain others and arranging flowers from the palace gardens. With no control over the situation and no way out, Ophelia quickly becomes the pawn of both her father and the King. Although Walker (1948) suggests “She is unaware that her elders are dangling her for their own purposes, she believes they are solely and sincerely concerned to restore Hamlet to his true state and to let her help him if she can” (57), there are hints that Ophelia knows the impossible situation she’s in. She tries to obediently believe what her elders have told her, but she is too smart to miss the direct contradictions she encounters such as her father’s injunction to repel Hamlet and then counter-instruction to encourage him. Because she truly loves Hamlet, she wants to help him but she cannot find a point of balance between the intentions of her elders and the confusion of her heart. Because he also has feelings for her, Hamlet tries to protect Ophelia by giving her hints of his affection within his madness – “Lady shall I lie in your lap?” (III, ii, 127) – yet Hamlet also confuses her when he addresses her with the words he wants to direct at his mother whom he feels has wronged both first husband and oldest son. Gertrude is also seen as a powerless yet potentially powerful woman within the play. In her opening lines, she seems to be very indifferent about her first husband’s death: “Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, / And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. / Do not for ever with thy vailed lids / Seek for thy noble father in the dust (I, ii, 68-71). However, this may simply be the manifestation of a dead heart after a lifetime of subduing her own inner emotions and desires. Hamlet constantly criticizes Gertrude about the incestuous relationship she shares with his uncle and her former brother-in-law. However, in this criticism, Gertrude is seen to be as much a pawn as Ophelia. Raised in the same tradition as Ophelia, Gertrude is conditioned to obey the men around her. Lacking in education and confidence, Gertrude is aware that she cannot run a kingdom following her husband’s death and had to appoint someone to take his place. Through the lens of Ophelia, Gertrude’s character becomes more understandable as both women are permitted to exist only within the contemporary constraints of the female gender. Raised with limited education, taught only what is necessary for them to entertain and decorate, expected to subdue their own inclinations to the directives of their male relatives and never credited with independent thought, women had to either become cold like Gertrude or lose their sanity like Ophelia. Had Ophelia been given freedom of thought and expression, it is possible she could have helped avert disaster by helping Hamlet and at least would have been able to save herself. This same instructed weakness causes Gertrude to remarry her husband’s killer. Had Gertrude or Ophelia been given the strength of Elizabeth, both women could have mediated the final outcome. Through these two characters, Shakespeare shows why the oppression of women is a tremendous deficit to the welfare of the individual woman, her household and the country overall. Works Cited Hassel, R. Chris Jr. “Hamlet’s ‘Too, Too Solid Flesh.’” Sixteenth Century Journal. Vol. 25, N. 3, (Autumn 1994), pp. 609-622. McCandless, David Foley. Gender and Performance in Shakespeare’s Problem Comedies. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1997. Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.’ The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Alfred Harbage (Ed.). London: Penguin Books, 1969, pp. 930-976. Walker, Roy. The Time is out of Joint: A Study of Hamlet. London: Andrew Dakers, 1948. Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” American Quarterly. Vol. 18, N. 2, P. 1, (1966): pp. 151-74. Read More

Several playwrights of the time insisted on keeping female characters within their accepted submissive roles as a means of providing an example for the wayward women emerging in light of Elizabeth’s example, but Shakespeare seems to be using them as an example of the tragedy that occurs when they are kept in their place. It is precisely because of the condition of the women in the play that the action is able to be carried out at all. The story begins when Hamlet returns home following his father’s death to find his mother married to his uncle and the ghost of his father calling for justice.

The ghost tells Hamlet he was killed by a treacherous brother who perhaps had the assistance of the queen. To try to determine the truth, Hamlet pretends to have gone insane with grief to buy himself time to investigate. He “places inordinate importance on doing and knowing perfectly; throughout most of his experience he also places the responsibility for that knowing and that doing solely on himself” (Hassel, 1994: 610). Without the confusion of his insanity, Hamlet’s actions to discover truth would have been obvious and would have alerted his uncle to his suspicions before he had a chance to act; however, his antics were enough to arouse suspicion.

Had he found it possible to confide in Ophelia or had Ophelia been more prepared through education to make some guesses as to his conflict, he may have found the courage or evidence to act before those he loves are also destroyed. While deliberate manipulation of women is also evident in Hamlet’s actions, this element of the play is brought into clearest focus when one looks closely at the women of the play. Ophelia’s role is almost entirely as that of a tool by the other characters. Her position as Hamlet’s love interest throws her into the role regardless of her interest.

Not only conforming to expectations, Ophelia also conforms to the standard idea of a hero’s love interest. She is a chaste young girl with a quiet disposition who is obedient to her male relatives. This is seen even on her first appearance in the play when she humbly asks her brother “Not more but so?” (I, iii, 11) after Laertes insists that Hamlet is only playing an adolescent game with her affections. However, she also shows some spark of intelligence and independent thought when she tells her brother “Do not as some ungracious pastors do, / Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, / Whiles like a puffed and reckless libertine / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads / And recks not his own rede” (I, iii, 47-50).

Despite this intelligence, Ophelia is nevertheless limited to life within the castle serving the needs of the queen. The rambling speeches she gives in her madness give a clue as to her normal daily activities – sewing, singing songs to entertain others and arranging flowers from the palace gardens. With no control over the situation and no way out, Ophelia quickly becomes the pawn of both her father and the King. Although Walker (1948) suggests “She is unaware that her elders are dangling her for their own purposes, she believes they are solely and sincerely concerned to restore Hamlet to his true state and to let her help him if she can” (57), there are hints that Ophelia knows the impossible situation she’s in.

She tries to obediently believe what her elders have told her, but she is too smart to miss the direct contradictions she encounters such as her father’s injunction to repel Hamlet and then counter-instruction to encourage him. Because she truly loves Hamlet, she wants to help him but she cannot find a point of balance between the intentions of her elders and the confusion of her heart. Because he also has feelings for her, Hamlet tries to protect Ophelia by giving her hints of his affection within his madness – “Lady shall I lie in your lap?

” (III, ii, 127) – yet Hamlet also confuses her when he addresses her with the words he wants to direct at his mother whom he feels has wronged both first husband and oldest son.

Read More