Hamlet's Hostile Towards Women In Elizabethan England

Why is Hamlet hostile towards the women in this play?

Hamlet reflects the subordination of women in Elizabethan England, where women had virtually no rights and were subject to misogyny. This is especially evident in the way Hamlet degrades both women in this play. For instance, When Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet sends her love letters, the audience, along with Polonius, is made to believe that Hamlet must be in love with Ophelia. However, throughout the play, Hamlet dismisses Ophelia in disgust, telling her to "get... To a nunnery!" (Act 3, Scene 1, 120), a religious community vowed to chastity, insinuating that she is impure. When Ophelia reminds Hamlet of his history of loving gestures, suggestive of affection, he bluntly retorts that "[he] lov'd [her] not" (Act 3, Scene 1, 118). Additionally, Gertrude, his mother,

She is berated by Hamlet when he meets with her in Act 3, Scene 4. Even though the ghost of his father has demanded him to leave her judgement to God, Hamlet still rebukes her remarriage. He calls it "an act that blurs the grace and blush of modesty, calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose from the fair forehead of an innocent love and sets a blister there." (Act 3, Scene 4, lines 38-45). The Elizabethan era was dominated by the patriarchy, despite the monarch, Queen Elizabeth, being a woman. Queen Elizabeth's successor, King James also reinforced the idea that women were to be compliant to their husbands, be good keepers of their home and not to seize authority over the man. Conversely, he advised the men during this area to realize that their wife belonged to them; this is the main reason Hamlet felt a misogynistic superiority towards Ophelia and Gertrude. Taking a look at the context of women's roles in the Elizabethan era, Ophelia is considered the paradigm of women virtue. Why then do you think that Hamlet treated