HAMLET COURSEWORK ESSAY
Examine how Shakespeare treats the female characters and explores the
role of women in Hamlet and what might be the response of a modern
audience to this aspect of the play?
Generally throughout the whole of Hamlet the females are very submissive to the males
and mostly do as they are asked or even ordered to. This reinforces a patriarchal society,
even more so than the modern world is today. This was a very common thing at the time
when Hamlet was written. Patriarchy was a very big thing but not a concern to many, this
seems to be what Shakespeare has portrayed throughout the whole of Hamlet. Patriarchy
was taking place everywhere in Elizabethan society at this time. This also means that the
female characters that Shakespeare had created are weak minded and not very strong
willed. Finally most modern audiences I believe would have this same view on the female
characters, as even today society is very much patriarchal.
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in the Elizabethan era, between 1604 and 1610 at the turn of
the 17th century. Hamlet is a revenge tragedy based in Denmark inside the castle of
Elsinore, the seat of the Danish King; all apart from Act IV Scene 4 and Act V Scene 1 that
take place elsewhere. The King Hamlet has died and soon after his death his brother
takes his wife, Queen Gertrude and his throne as King of Denmark. Despite his
incestuous marriage the King has full control over the court. Young Prince Hamlet is
extremely unhappy with this marriage so soon after his father’s death. Soon after the
marriage a ghost appears resembling the late king and tells the prince to avenge his death
and his murderer was his brother. While this is happening Ophelia, Polonius’s daughter is
told by Polonius and her brother Laertes to end the relationship that she is having with the
Prince who is in love. She obeys these orders. These are the main female related
happenings of the play and show the submissiveness of the woman well.
David Leverenz’ statement ‘Hamlet sees Gertrude give way to Claudius, and Ophelia give
way to Polonius’ is very strong and true. The first reason of which is the way Ophelia so
certainly obeys her father Polonius without any question of reason when he tells her that
her relationship with her beloved Hamlet must end immediately. This takes place just after
Laertes has also warned Ophelia of the perils of falling in love with the Prince. Basically,
Polonius is already extremely annoyed with Hamlet and now he finds out that his daughter
is in love with him. He tells her she must not ever see him and she does not even argue
for her own love. Thus showing a very weak female character being portrayed. If a
woman cannot argue against men for love, can she argue for anything? This showing that
Ophelia is very submissive to her father. This links in very well with how the outside
patriarchal society was, at the time Hamlet was written. ‘Do not believe his vows, for they
are brokers’ are some of Polonius’s exact words (1:3:127), and further more following this
on line (1:3:115), Polonius says to Ophelia ‘springes to catch woodcocks’. The first
quotation meaning ‘his words are false like coloured clothes’ and the second quotation
literally meaning ‘he is making traps to catch foolish birds’. This responded to by Ophelia
saying ‘I shall obey, my Lord’ without any hesitation or thought. Thus proving my point
made that Ophelia is a weak character at this point in the play and ‘gives way’ in David
Leverenz’s words to Polonius’s orders although it is her love in question. This point could
possibly be looked upon in a different way as Ophelia answers Polonius she instantly says
‘I shall obey, my Lord’, this usage of a comma could make her response almost seem
sarcastic and rude to her father with the emphasis on ‘my Lord’. But this point looked
upon this way would not have much back up support or evidence because you cannot tell
how Shakespeare has intended for some lines to be read in the play. I think a modern
audience may actually disagree with my feelings about this point, as on stage sarcasm
and comedy is generally a bigger part played than it used to be, so the sarcastic side of
how Ophelia responds to her father may come across a lot stronger and therefore showing
that Ophelia is basically shrugging what her father has just told her off her shoulder,
disobeying and generally acting as quite a strong willed character. I do not think it was
intended by Shakespeare though, I think it was meant to be serious.
As well as Ophelia, Gertrude also seems to be very weak in her character throughout
Hamlet. Gertrude was the wife of King Hamlet before he was murdered. Thus meaning
she was no longer the queen. Gertrude because of the Kings death should in theory be
distraught and heartbroken. Although this is not the case. Soon after King Hamlet’s death
she marries again with his brother Claudius! The king’s murderer! Though Gertrude
obviously does not know of the murder at this time. This extremely quick re-marriage after
the Kings death shows Gertrude as a very weak character indeed, in the fact that she
cannot cope living on her own. The fact that she needs to be in a secure marriage like
relationship the whole time shows she needs male support, and cannot cope without this.
Also Gertrude is heavily lead astray by her new husband Claudius, as at first when she is
told by Hamlet that Claudius was his fathers murderer, she does not believe this and
thinks it is an outrage.