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Essay On The Role Of Women In Hamlet

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During the Elizabethan period, the role of women in society was very different from what it is today. According to the system of patriarchal society that dictated that women were inferior to men, they had to obey the male figures in their lives. The woman was seen as the weaker sex either physically or emotionally which meant that it was entirely dependent on her husband if married and members of his family if single. Moreover, in the Elizabethan theater, women were not allowed to play because of this hierarchy. Therefore, they were replaced by men disguised as women. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, published in 1601, women play a very special role. First, it should be noted that there are only two women in the room: Gertrude and Ophelia. By developing the role …show more content…

Contextually, Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and the wife of Claudius, brother of her late husband. His stage presence is reduced because it appears that in nine out of twenty scenes and its appearance is often had to his royal status. In addition, Gertrude is a woman represented as being inert, does undertaking any real action during the play. Indeed, it does not come to the aid of his son Hamlet all throughout history and finds deleted before men dominate the work. Gertrude is a dependent character of men, especially Claudius. Indeed, she married Claudius barely a month after the death of her husband, which suggests several things. First of all, this means that it constantly seeks a male figure to lean on, it is in need of affection and desire for attention. It also suggests the possibility that she wants to keep her Queen status. Subsequently, Gertrude takes no real decision for himself because it follows the choice made by the men around her. Seen when in Act I, Scene 2, Gertrude repeat what Claudius said about the fact that he does not want Hamlet returns to

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Women during this time had to basically submit to men and were considered as nothing but objects of beauty. The two main female characters in the play Hamlet were looked down upon and treated very rudely. For example, Hamlet referred to his mother Gertrude as frail, and was disgusted by the fact that she had married his uncle so soon after the death of his father. Hamlet stated “Frailty, thy name is woman”. Even though in this quote he was referring to all women, he had no respect for his mother.

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At the beginning of Act 3 Scene 1, Gertrude and Claudius receive Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Gertrude does her part as queen and in her role as Hamlet’s mother, so she’s looking out for him and worried about the guy. Claudius asks Gertrude to leave as him, Polonius, and Ophelia are going to get down to their spying plan. This might not have major implications as far as gender goes, but it’s interesting to see that Claudius seems to think that Gertrude won’t be super helpful and even intrusive in their plan. Gertrude mentions Ophelia’s part in this noble plan: “And for your part, Ophelia, I do with that your good beauties be the happy cause of Hamlet’s wildness; so

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Gertrude can be seen as an accomplice to a dastardly plan that set off a chain of events that would lead to the tragedies of “Hamlet”. There are countless reasons of why the queen should be considered to be sinister. Throughout the play, various questions arise that defy her role as a leading character in society. In Shakespeare’s “hamlet”, while other characters in the play attempt to solve their own personal problems, Gertrude and her inactions worsened the situations that would lead to an even greater tragedy that not even Hamlet is capable of escaping from. Whenever it came to the mourning of King Hamlet’s death, or even a simple remembrance of him, gertrude would always dismiss the current situation and try to change the topic.

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