Women Roles in Shakespeare Plays are Always Limited and Few, Hamlet is a Proof.

• سنا البرق
• 05/27/2019
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Hamlet's remark "Frailty, thy name is a woman", means that woman is an embodiment of weakness, that woman is weak- minded and weak- willed, that woman has no strength of character. Ironically enough, this remark about frailty is in one sense true of Hamlet himself, though he is a man, because he is not capable of any planned or premeditated action and because he keeps wavering about his revenge for a long time.

The presence of only two named female characters says something about the role of women within Hamlet. The death of both women also indicates a social commentary.

Hamlet is at his most agitated state when talking to either female character. Although he cares for both, he's suspicious, as well. In the case of his mother, Gertrude, Hamlet feels she remarried too quickly and that her remarriage means she didn't love her first husband all that much. The idea freaks Hamlet out.

Saddened by the death of his father and hasty marriage of his mother, Hamlet wants to die himself. To Hamlet’s mind, the woman represents frailty, meaning women are breakable, weak, and delicate in nature. He alludes to inherent weaknesses in women’s character. His mother, Gertrude epitomizes frailty or weakness.

He also refers to his mother as a spiritually, morally, and physically weak woman. She is morally weak and frail because her incestuous inconstancy drives her to remarry immediately after her husband’s death. Spiritually, she is weak because she has committed a sin, and physically she is frail as women are less robust and weaker than men. In his eyes, there is no comparison between Claudius and his father, who is “Hyperion to a satyr.” Therefore, Hamlet feels Gertrude acted foolishly.

Hamlet stated ‘Frailty, thy name is woman,’ he refers to by his mother, Gertrude, being a woman, she displays moral frailty in being vulnerable to the act of seduction by Claudius. This provides the audience with a model of women's infidelity in Hamlet. For Gertrude to give into this, Hamlet felt his mother was morally frail. An audience would believe Gertrude was frail to a degree from giving into her brother in law and accepting his hand in marriage.

Ophelia appears mad and weak over Hamlet’s misogyny, the death of her father and rejection of her. Ophelia goes into a double realm of remorse, believing herself to be to blame for both Hamlet's madness and her father's death. Ophelia here is showing an appearance of being physically and mentally frail. Ophelia sings songs concerning chaos, death, and unrequited love. As she is singing Claudius and Queen both try to reason with her, but she replies only incomprehensibly. Claudius says ‘Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?’ Ophelia’s rogue line breaks of poetry disrupt the prose of the other characters in the scene, the audience is distracted by Ophelia’s deep thoughts, emotions, and feelings.

Hamlet character is full of contradictions; he is a complex character, although he has values and principals. At the beginning there is something we must be aware of, the younger generations have to pay the cost of the bad deeds, that, they have no hands in it. This is not their guilt, they must pay the price for the guilt of others. Hamlet after the appearance of the ghosts must avenge his father, by killing his uncle according to what is the ghosts instructs him to do. Also, Hamlet carries out the instructions of ghosts in order to torture his mother by words, he will not dagger her, though will torment her by words. From Hamlet's perspective, his mother must be clean of desires, the simple of purity, she should be as chastity as Mary. Her hasty marriage broke the image of her. Hamlet could not understand his mother's desires as a human, he knows that his father was a sinful man, but not allowed his mother's marriage. So, Hamlet's dilemma is between right and right. My father betrayed you, but you should not do the same. She is an idol for him. Both Hamlet and the Ghosts condemn the marriage between Claudius and Gertrude as incestuous. Some interpretation from the Old Testament prohibits the relation between the wife and the brother- in- law, it applied even after the death of the husband.

Hamlet, despite his genius he also has a mental disorder. His mother is a human being, she needs a supporter someone to help her to face the life challenges with. In order to protect herself against rumors and to save her reputation, for her, Claudius, is the better choice, he is Hamlet's uncle so, he will look after him. She is an innocent person, instead of supporting her, Hamlet intends to torture her. She was patient understands him well. The only person cares about Hamlet and knows him is his mother, and this is the truth he is blind to and cannot see, that is his mother is a victim as he is. She is not a wicked person as he is imagined her. When Polonius arouses the idea that Hamlet is mad. She is the only one who understands the idea of his madness, she says, because of his father's death and the hasty marriage. Her marriage was a shock to him. When Ophelia comes later and tell Polonius Hamlet is mad he thinks that this is because of the advice to his daughter, to let Hamlet down. He loves his mother, he is so attached to her, he cannot bear the idea of being with another man. The marriage of Gertrude is right by religion, but by honor and morals is not.

Ophelia is one of Hamlet's victim, she is psychologically tormented by Hamlet. The death of Ophelia, when they come to bury her, the priest refuses to give her Christian buried because she had committed suicide. In this era when women commit suicide, this means she lost her chastity, that is why she committed suicide, she had jumped into the water and then she drowns. The character of Hamlet has been demonstrated to us at the beginning of the play, is in opposition to his action towards Ophelia. The values and the principles that he has voiced and where is his religious teachings? His religious sanction.