How Is Hamlet Toxic Masculinity

Toxic masculinity affects many young men, especially those vulnerable after they lose someone they love. The toxic masculinity in a patriarchal society attacks vulnerable men, guiding them to be toxic without anyone to protect them from it. This is demonstrated in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, where Hamlet loses himself to the toxic masculinity after the loss of his father. In Hamlet, Shakespeare demonstrates how Hamlet is the product of toxic masculinity from a patriarchal society, causing him to disregard the women in his life by objectifying them, leading to tragedy.
In a patriarchal society, men are expected to have authority, causing vulnerable men to be affected by toxic masculinity. Hamlet is the prince of Denmark, therefore he holds more expectations

Hegemonic masculinity is related to toxic masculinity where it “restricts the kinds of emotions allowable for boys and men to express” (Amaefula 2). Therefore, men are expected to have little emotions to seem strong, especially in a political view. When Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet died, Hamlet was expected to get over the grief quickly. His mother, Gertrude advised Hamlet to “cast thy nighted color off” and stop grieving for his recently passed father since “all lives must die” (1.2 ll.68). King Hamlet’s father died around two months before, so it’s understandable that Hamlet is still grieving as everyone deals with grief differently. Nonetheless, his mother doesn’t care about that and just tells him to stop mourning without consoling him. In addition, Claudius calls Hamlet “unmanly” for grieving, but Gertrude just stays silent at the comment (1.2 ll. 92-94). Hamlet is vulnerable from losing his father, but for his step-father to call him unmanly and his mother ignoring it, Hamlet is affected by the toxic masculinity around him. For example, Hamlet compares himself to prince Fortinbras, “a tender prince whose spirit

Hamlet is affected by hegemonic masculinity in a patriarchal society, where he wants to “reinforce his superiority”, by “[devaluting] women” (Amaefula 2). This can be seen when Hamlet “tumbled” Ophelia and promised to “wed” after. However, not only did Hamlet break his promise after taking Ophelia’s virginity, Hamlet gaslights Ophelia, telling her he would have married her if “thou hadst not come” to his bed (4.5 l.62). Hamlet lies to Ophelia and even blames her for trusting him. The toxic masculinity from Hamlet’s surroundings causes Hamlet to assert his dominance by using Ophelia and throwing her away like an useless object, going as far as manipulating her and saying it's her fault for listening to him. In addition, not only does Hamlet manipulate Ophelia, he also insults her, telling her to “get thee to a nunnery” because he believes that Ophelia is a prostitute, blindly following the orders of others like her father and even Hamlet himself (3.1 l.119). Hamlet’s “honey” and “music vows” are the reason Ophelia got tricked and Hamlet has the audacity to insult Ophelia after manipulating and blaming Ophelia (3.1 l.150). Hamlet devalues Ophelia and does whatever he wants and not caring about the consequences because in a patriarchal society, “men's dominance over women” (Connell & Messerschmidt 832) is normal and encouraged by toxic masculinity since it “reinforces his