Female Characters in "Hamlet"
Introduction
Shakespearean tragedy is a story of one, or at most two persons. As a rule, they are male protagonists. But to say that Shakespeare’s female characters are shallow, undeveloped and used just as a decoration on the stage is very wrong. Women in Shakespeare’s tragedies have no leading role and they are, to paraphrase Northrop Frye,[1] not tragic heroines, but heroines in a tragedy.
All female characters in Shakespeare’s tragedies have one thing in common – they end up dead. It is always an untimely, unnatural death. This rule (rather than coincidence) is a theme of many debates among philologists, critics, psychologists, psychiatrists and philosophers.
As Hamlet is one of the most reflective Shakespeare’s plays, the characters are developed very carefully and subtly. Although it may seem that Gertrude and Ophelia have no significant part in the tragedy, their characters are masterfully deep and refined. Only a true master of playwriting could give so much personality to the supporting roles. They have got fewer lines from the tragic hero, yet we find to be acquainted with all the subtle character traits of Ophelia and Gertrude.
Ophelia
Ophelia, the lover of Prince Hamlet, is cautioned against believing his professions of love already in 1.3 by her brother Laertes, and her father, Polonius forbid her to see him. Demure and obedient Ophelia returns Hamlet's letters and, under the pressure of revenge and female infidelity, Hamlet turns on her with a seemingly insane revulsion against women in general and her in particular. She reports his behavior in 2.1 and encounters it in even more virulent form in 3.1. After her former lover kills her father, Ophelia becomes insane, babbling about funerals and singing scraps of songs in 4.5. Her death by drowning is reported by the Queen in 4.7, and her funeral in 5.1 - abbreviated by the priest because the death seems a suicide - triggers an encounter between Hamlet and Laertes that foreshadows the
Shakespearean tragedy is a story of one, or at most two persons. As a rule, they are male protagonists. But to say that Shakespeare’s female characters are shallow, undeveloped and used just as a decoration on the stage is very wrong. Women in Shakespeare’s tragedies have no leading role and they are, to paraphrase Northrop Frye,[1] not tragic heroines, but heroines in a tragedy.
All female characters in Shakespeare’s tragedies have one thing in common – they end up dead. It is always an untimely, unnatural death. This rule (rather than coincidence) is a theme of many debates among philologists, critics, psychologists, psychiatrists and philosophers.
As Hamlet is one of the most reflective Shakespeare’s plays, the characters are developed very carefully and subtly. Although it may seem that Gertrude and Ophelia have no significant part in the tragedy, their characters are masterfully deep and refined. Only a true master of playwriting could give so much personality to the supporting roles. They have got fewer lines from the tragic hero, yet we find to be acquainted with all the subtle character traits of Ophelia and Gertrude.
Ophelia
Ophelia, the lover of Prince Hamlet, is cautioned against believing his professions of love already in 1.3 by her brother Laertes, and her father, Polonius forbid her to see him. Demure and obedient Ophelia returns Hamlet's letters and, under the pressure of revenge and female infidelity, Hamlet turns on her with a seemingly insane revulsion against women in general and her in particular. She reports his behavior in 2.1 and encounters it in even more virulent form in 3.1. After her former lover kills her father, Ophelia becomes insane, babbling about funerals and singing scraps of songs in 4.5. Her death by drowning is reported by the Queen in 4.7, and her funeral in 5.1 - abbreviated by the priest because the death seems a suicide - triggers an encounter between Hamlet and Laertes that foreshadows the
Bibliography: [1] Frye, Northrop, On Shakespeare, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1998, pp. 82-100. [2] Boyce, Charles (ed.), Shakespeare A to Z, New York, A Roundtable Press Book, 1991, pp. 467-468. [3] Bradley. A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy. London, Macmillan & Co Ltd, 1956, pp. 60-65. [4] Bradley. A. C., Shakespearean Tragedy. London, Macmillan & Co Ltd, 1956, pp. 160-161. [5] Hudson Shakespeare Company, Character Sheet, accessed on May 19th, 2009, http://hudsonshakespeare.org/Shakespeare%20Library/Character%20Directory/CD_Hamlet.htm [6] Bradley [7] Brownell Murphy Jameson, Anna, Shakespeare 's Heroines: Characteristics of Women, New York, 1967, AMS Press, pp. 161. [8] Faucit Martin, Helena, Shakespeare 's Female Characters, Edinburgh, Blackwood and Sons, 1888, pp 19. [9] Wilson, J.D., What Happens in Hamlet, Cambridge, University Press, 1960, pp. 101 [10] Yahoo Answers, accessed on May 19th, 2009, http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080415141019AAXW9L0 [15] Mabillard, Amanda. (10 Nov. 2000) "Shakespeare 's Gertrude." Shakespeare Online, (accessed on May 23th 2009), http://www.shakespeare-online.com/gertrudechar.html. [16] Lenz Carolyn, Greene Gayle, and Neely Carol, The Woman 's Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1980 [17] Vining, Edward P. The Mystery of Hamlet, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1881