ipl-logo

Comparing Men And Women In Shakespeare's Hamlet

981 Words4 Pages

The theory of one’s self is a mystery. No one knows why we act the way we do. However, the question of why we love the people we love and defend the ones we love no matter how wrong they are, is still questionable. Many humans seem confused about their purpose or “lost”. The most mysterious beings on this planet are humans. Shakespeare’s couples are intriguing. Men and women have two very important roles in society. They also expect to use one another to gain something to help themselves. The characters sometimes take advantage of others or use each other to gain power. In Hamlet, there is manipulation and speculation of characters. The Queen, Gertrude, is one of the most mysterious characters is Hamlet. She is given a bad name from the …show more content…

Both the King and Hamlet are set in their ways to make their plan work. Although this shows ambition, it also shows their selfishness and the lengths they will go to destroy others to succeed in their plan. The King, which represents Denmark, killed his own brother, and married his wife to get the crown. He tells the people what they need by what he thinks is right. In his speech (1.2.200), all the words were singular, the word “I” was used so much. This significates that the King is selfish. His new target is his stepson/nephew Hamlet. Claudius is confused on Hamlet’s behavior. This is like a game of Chess and Checkers. Although, these games are not similar in rules, but only one royal (King or Queen) person can stand. Hamlet is using Ophelia in this play to tell the king what he is doing. He uses her sex and humiliates her. Hamlet tells her he is not a good guy, which is only something a crazy person would tell someone. He knows he is going to kill his uncle/stepfather, but the question on how to do it and when to do it is puzzling. Hamlet speculate that he is playing a game by showing that he is crazy, but he is seeing a ghost and talking to it. Hamlet may be delusional. The ghost wants Hamlet to take revenge on his stepfather. Hamlet and the King are both pawns to power. The King wants the throne and Hamlet wants power over his uncle and revenge for his

Show More
Related
822 Words | 4 Pages

William Shakespeare, in his play, “ Hamlet,” makes a notable statement about the power of words based on how it is said, can be used to manipulate reality and the truth. Throughout the play we see characters toying with reality and truth” buy using words and in turn making people do what they want. One major character that Shakespeare use to portray that theme is Claudius. Claudius, the antagonist of the play, is Hamlet’s uncle and the husband to Hamlet’s mother. By committing murder and marrying the Queen he became the king of Denmark.

Read More
1583 Words | 7 Pages

From the very beginning of the drama, a ghost walks the parapet of Elsinore Castle in Denmark and asks for Hamlet for revenge. Horatio, a friend of Hamlet, saw a ghost who resembled the dead king of Denmark who wanted to take revenge of his unlawful death. His brother Claudius not only inherited the throne illegally by killing his own blood brutally and got married the widow queen, Gertrude to save the throne. Claudius was a power monger and he got that by hook or crook.

Read More
1004 Words | 5 Pages

  This now leads Ophelia to start to go mad due to Hamlet's sudden rude behavior towards her.    As dramatic events occur, Hamlet is plotting against the king to prove The Ghost's word through the making of the play, The Murder of

Read More
1517 Words | 7 Pages

His desire for power leads him down a dark path. He murders his brother to become king and disguises his actions as an accidental death (1.5.41-53). He also marries King Hamlet’s wife, Gertrude, which causes turmoil in Hamlet’s life. He cannot fathom why his mother would remarry so quickly and even states that "a beast that wants discourse of reason / Would have mourned longer!” (1.2.154-155).

Read More
970 Words | 4 Pages

The Kingdom of Denmark had just suffered the death of a great King and leader. King Hamlet was a father to the people of Denmark. Some of the citizens fully believed that Hamlet Jr. should be king because it passed down the lineage. Others believed that Claudius should be king because he was the brother of Hamlet and now the husband of Queen Gertrude. King Claudius says, "This ough yet of Hamlet our dear brother 's death

Read More
1124 Words | 5 Pages

This is what causes Hamlet to compromise his love for Ophelia, as she is stunned and disrespected by his attitude. Similarly, Claudius wanted to gain power, and uses his ambitious attitude to murder his brother, quickly marry his widow, and take the throne himself. Despite their similar nature the two men are driven by different goals. Claudius works to gain and keep power, while Hamlet is working to seek revenge for his father. However, Claudius continues to rule in his power, and dwell in his wronged achievements allowing himself to pursue his

Read More
207 Words | 1 Pages

During Shakespeares time men were considered superior to women. Int this patriarchal society, women were seen as property, first owned by their fathers and then passed on to their husbands. They were considered the weaker sex and always needed to be watched or protected by a man. Women usually were married at a young age, and were only married off by their fathers for social class or money. When married, women were expected to bear children, and could not get a divorce if they wanted one.

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet once again fails to understand that Ophelia much like himself is only trying to stay loyal to her father, much like what he is doing himself. In addition, Hamlet blames woman for giving birth to such evil and deceiving men like Claudius and himself. When he was talking to Ophelia he told her "Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better

Read More
1678 Words | 7 Pages

King Hamlet’s ghost in Hamlet plays a very significant role in Shakespeare’s play even though he only appears briefly in the very beginning and two other times throughout the play. King Hamlet’s ghost furthers the play in many ways. He affects action by setting the play in motion, he affects the theme of revenge, and he helps develop other characters, specifically his son, Hamlet. He sets the play in motion by causing the wheels to spin inside of Prince Hamlet’s head, the ghost is the whole reason for Hamlet trying to extract revenge upon his murderous Uncle Claudius who is now the King of Denmark. The ghost affects the theme of revenge by causing Young Hamlet to be seized by vengeance, the whole play turns into a story of Prince Hamlet trying to avenge his father’s wrongful death.

Read More
1313 Words | 6 Pages

However, Hamlet soon discovers that Claudius has been lying to him, and Claudius’ real motive is to kill Hamlet in order to exterminate all possible threats to his reign. Claudius’ role play affects the entire country of Denmark, and he convinces the people that he is the rightful king, when he is not, and has murdered his brother for the throne. Gertrude, too, takes on a role; throughout the play, she seems oblivious to her wrongdoings. She claims that she loves Claudius, and did not just marry him for political reasons.

Read More
713 Words | 3 Pages

Or it can be seen as the ghost being some type of evil spirit trying to destroy hamlet through bad advice. The ghost is simply trying to free its spirit from purgatory and not trying to destroy hamlet, this is evident due to the fact that we know that Claudius killed Hamlet’s father in cold blood before he could pray for his sins. The ghosts role in the play is to tell Hamlet how he truly died. The nature in which the ghost appears in the play changes from appearance to appearance.

Read More
277 Words | 2 Pages

Shakespeare differentiates Hamlet from the rest of the Danish Court through his eloquence of speech and ambiguity in the opening play. Arriving back home from Wittenberg, Hamlet is still in mourn about his father’s death whilst becoming familiar with his mother’s sudden remarriage with Claudius, the present king of Denmark. Hamlet’s initial impression on Claudius is “A little more than kin and less than kind”, utilising the effect of an aside with a riddling comment that plays with his family relationship with Claudius and with a pun on ‘kind’, suggesting that Claudius is both ungenerous and unnatural and reveals Hamlet’s eloquence and extraordinary quickness of mind. The increasing focus on the issue of Hamlet’s mother’s remarriage is developed through his repetitive exclamations of “O God, God” and “Oh most wicked speed” in his soliloquy “O that this too solid flex”. The exclamations reveal that the speech develops a series of disrupted, broken and interrupted thought and feeling that concentrates on his reaction to his mother’s incest, oblivious to the Danish Court.

Read More
1056 Words | 5 Pages

Hamlet does not value Ophelia 's feelings he belittles her. In Hamlets defense this is the way he was brought up to treat women, during that time this was a common way to treat a women. Even though in today 's society it is not at all ok to treat women with such disrespect. He also likes for everything to go as planned and this may result in why he can not have a stable relationship with a woman. This also causes him to have many stumbling blocks in his life that causes some emotional pain

Read More
806 Words | 4 Pages

Everything Claudius has done has been to the disliking of Hamlet, and for his plan of summenting himself into the monarchy of Denmark to succeed, he needs everything the way he wants it, incestious, curodded and corrupeted. Claudius’ soliloquy to Hamlet reveals the hidden traits of his superficial charm, manipulation and corruption. The new king’s covert, underhanded attributes paint the picture of an inglorious sultan who aims to appeal only his own goals. This portrayal is perfectly in character when it is revealed that Claudius had murdered his own brother for the purpose of the throne and the queen; although he acts as a benevolent king, he is simply a murdering

Read More
1656 Words | 7 Pages

He did not innately hate all women, but slowly as he reserved rejection after rejection he snapped. Hamlet’s relationships differed between Gertrude and Ophelia, but both had the same goal of Hamlet having someone to love and care about him. With the goal of compassion being accomplished, he spiralled in a growing hatred of the female population. Hamlet’s misogyny is not the result sexual repression , but rather his environment and the interactions with women. Ernest Jones argues that Hamlet’s misogyny stems from the sexual repression of Gertrude and Ophelia.

Read More

More about Comparing Men And Women In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Open Document