Female characters in media are often portrayed as weak. They are not able to make their own decisions, and they cannot handle problems without help from ale characters. This is not the case in Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The female characters in Hamlet, Gertrude and Ophelia, are strong, and this is demonstrated through their actions, their interactions with other characters, and even their deaths. Gertrude marrying Claudius only several months after the death of her husband is not a sign of her frailty. Many people use the fact that Gertrude only waited a few months after the death of King Hamlet as proof that Gertrude is weak, but it actually shows the opposite. First of all, Hamlet takes place in the late middle ages, so Gertrude did not have many options outside of marriage. In many cases, a women’s identity and power were tied to the men in her life, so Claudius may have just been a convenient way to deal with that reality. Additionally, she may have just been acting in the best interest of her country. If she had not remarried, …show more content…
However, it can also be argued that her suicide indicates her strength rather than her cowardice. Ophelia kills herself after the death of her father because she could not handle the grief while Hamlet, whose situation is even worse, does not. While people may disagree on whether or not suicide is cowardly, in the context of this play, suicide is the braver choice. Earlier in the play, during his 3rd soliloquy, Hamlet contemplated the options of killing himself or continuing to live. He comes to the conclusion that, “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.”(3.1.91). He comes to the conclusion that overthinking what happens after death makes people too cowardly to commit suicide. This means that, in this play, Ophelia was stronger than Hamlet because she found the courage to kill herself where he could