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Hamlet And Offred Analysis

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Circumstance changes Behaviour What determines how a person will act or behave? Despite being born into completely different situations, both Hamlet and Offred are situated into positions that cause them to adjust their behaviour. They clearly have extremely contrasting circumstances, Hamlet is born into royalty with the benefits of having both authority and freedom whereas Offred does not. Offred is a handmaid of Gilead, where she is constrained by the people with authority, where she has to live a life controlled by those in power. Although, Hamlet and Offred are dissimilar in the positions they were born into, both of their demeanors were transformed from the circumstances they were placed in. As a result of the circumstances they were …show more content…

Just like Hamlet, Offred was also unable to trust anyone other than her best friend, Moira because of the situation she was placed in. Since Offred was a handmaid nearly all of her human rights were taken away, because of this she was unable to build relationships of trust with other people. She had lost all connections with people she loved, with the exception of Moira. Gilead, a world where all the citizens are obligated to obey those in power, none of the people had any meaningful relationships such as friendship or companionship. As shown by Offred 's statement: "We aren 't supposed to form friendships, loyalties, among one another" (Atwood 353), people were expected to not create new relationships. It made it impossible for her to maintain her previous mental state. If a society does not allow their citizens to socialize, it is clear that there would be no trust in each other. Hence with the lack of human interaction in such a manipulating society, she became unable to trust anyone else fully in the world …show more content…

Hamlet and Offred had their own conflicts to solve within each of their books. The circumstances that each of them found themselves in ultimately molded the way they behaved. Both Hamlet and Offred were spied on, and they both found themselves new desires because of the situations they were put in. Although the characters were living in completely different circumstances, they both showed comparable demeanors when met with similar circumstances. This depicts that behaviour is a function of our circumstances if the right situation is met. All in all, Offred and Hamlet are a function of their circumstances because it caused them to act more discreet and to obtain their desires, it is due to their circumstances that they

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