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Roles of Women In Hamlet

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Roles of Women In Hamlet
In Hamlet, the women act the small roles portraying their historical status at the time. Although Gertrude is the Queen of Denmark and Ophelia is the prince's lovers, they have no standing in the society and their voices are never heard. Their actions and fates are greatly influenced by the men's decisions. All their lives Ophelia and Gertrude are led by the men's power; they together make a weak image of dependent women at Shakespeare's time. Both of their roles in this play portray them as obedient passive type of women. So, is it fair to them? Yes, it is. One of the female leads portrayed in Hamlet is Ophelia. Ophelia is Hamlet’s ‘girlfriend’ or lover in the play. But, she is portrayed as a weak women who has no other choice but to obey what Hamlet, Polonius, and Laertes say to her. She is an innocent girl and is naive with no experience in life. She loves Hamlet with all her heart, but she is also too submissive to her father, Polonius, and her brother, Laertes. Her father and her brother both tell her to stay away from Hamlet because they think that he is just trying to use her; so she has no choice but to listen to what they have to say. The other female lead portrayed in Hamlet is Gertrude. Gertrude is Hamlet's mother, a queen who betrayed her husband and got seduced by the prince's uncle Claudius. She remarried with him and thereafter obeyed every order from Claudius. Gertrude is objectified by Claudius, as he said: "my crown, mine own ambition and my Queen." In this quote, Claudius says that the Queen is one of his possessions and that she wasn’t the first. This suggests that he seduced the Queens in an attempt to get to the throne. This marriage, only a few weeks after the marriage, shows how dependent Gertrude is on men. Hamlet treats both Gertrude and Ophelia different in ways. Hamlet knew Ophelia was untrue to herself when she let her her father tell her what to think and let her brother keep the key to her memory; that’s why he treated her so badly. He knew Ophelia was lying to him, so he knew he shouldn’t treat her nice at all. Hamlet truly loved Ophelia. Hamlet didn’t like Gertrude ever since she remarried Claudius. He treated her nicely, but he wanted her to see herself what she did wrong. He held a mirror to Gertrude so she could see her sins, repent, and be saved. He said himself: “I must be cruel to be kind.” In Hamlet, the women act the small roles portraying their historical status at the time. Although Gertrude is the Queen of Denmark and Ophelia is the prince's lovers, they have no standing in the society and their voices are never heard. Both of their roles in this play portray them as obedient passive type of women. Hamlet treated both of these women differently and was it fair to them? Yes, it was.

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