Shakespeare’s dramas often raise awareness for very important issues. In his play Hamlet he represents the sexist debate on women having premarital sex. Through his character Ophelia, he shows how young women are taught that sex is dirty and will make them “dirty” or “unclean.” They are often raised to believe that they must stay “pure” until marriage. Men on the other hand are not required to “save themselves” and are instead taught that the more sex the better. The patriarchy often slut shames people into believing premarital sex is wrong but, only if you are a female. From the beginning of the drama Ophelia is told to not take part in sexual intercourse. Her brother warns her against trusting Hamlet. Laertes implies that Hamlet is just using her as a target for his lust. He says “The chariest maid is prodigal enough if she unmask her beauty to the moon.” (1.3 36-37) This means that even revealing herself to the moon is risky. When he tells Ophelia this he is teaching her to be ashamed of herself and body. On the other hand, Hamlet is not receiving any speeches that shame him, but instead is frolicking around seducing women to his heart's desires. …show more content…
In fact, even her beloved shames her. Hamlet tells her to “get thee to a nunnery. why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners.” (3.1 120-121) He is essentially telling her to go live in a nunnery so that she can control herself from having sex. Not only is that extremely disrespectful, but how shameful would one feel to be told by their lover that they lack the control to abstain from having sex with every male? Shortly after he tells her this, he ends their engagement and advises Ophelia to marry a fool “for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.” This essentially implies that only a fool would not know of her cheating on