A Woman: To Be Or Not To Be

Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother and the queen of Denmark, is part the reason why Claudius murders Old Hamlet and also part of the reason why Hamlet wants to kill Claudius, for marrying his mother.

The other female character, Ophelia, is a possible love interest of Hamlet and a major reason for Laertes’s desire for vengeance against Hamlet. Whether or not the women in the play represent Shakespeare’s view of women in his time, they are certainly portrayed rather negatively and are shown as tools, weak, and disloyal and untrustworthy.

Although the two women in the play are major characters with major roles, particularly Gertrude as she is the Queen of Denmark, the men dominate their roles and use them as tools. This portrayal of women as tools is obvious with the character of Ophelia, as she is used as the key for her father success. In the play, Ophelia’s father uses her to spy on Hamlet, the father apparently caring little for Ophelia’s own desires. Her role as a spy begins with this: “I’ll loose my daughter to him. Be you and I behind an arras then, mark the encounter” (Shakespeare II.ii.162-164).

As shown, Polonius, Ophelia’s father, proposes to Claudius how they will catch Hamlet revealing his true emotions, by letting loose his daughter while Hamlet is present and then hiding behind a wall to overhear the conversation, for Polonius believes that Hamlet is mad because of his love for Ophelia. Polonius reveals in the quote that he does not seem to care for the emotions of his daughter and how this experience will affect her daughter, seeing as she truly loves Hamlet. He only sees her as tool to elevate his status, neglecting her feelings.

Other than being an instrument for spying on Hamlet and for elevating the status of her father, Ophelia has little other role in the play. Although Gertrude has a much larger role than Ophelia, the men use her as an instrument to benefit themselves. Claudius and Polonius also ask her to spy on Hamlet, and she does so, despite the fact that Hamlet is her own son. Additionally, Claudius uses her to fulfill his sexual desires and lusts. For both of the female characters, the men use them as instruments to fulfill their needs, adding to the overall negative portrayal of women in Hamlet.

Not only does Shakespeare portray the women in Hamlet as being tools to benefit the men, Shakespeare also shows them as weak and obedient towards the men. Both women in the play submit easily to the will of the men. Ophelia willingly and obediently submits to the desires of her father without any protest, despite the fact that her father may not even truly lover her and clearly has a preference towards her brother.

When her father tells her to stop her affair with Hamlet, she obeys. When her father tells her to spy on Hamlet, again, she obeys. Another sign of her weakness is shown in this quote: “She speaks much of her father, says she hears there’s tricks i’th’ world, and hems, and beats her heart… speaks things in doubt that carry but half sense” (IV.v.4-7). As the Gentleman says, she mourns greatly over and her father’s death, so much that she has gone mad, though her father probably does not even truly love her.

This is a display of weakness in comparison to Laertes, her brother, who does not go mad or mourn nearly as much, even though his father shows more love him more. Gertrude is also subject to this portrayal of weakness, as she too seems to obediently give in to the demands of the men, despite having much authority seeing as she is the queen. She seems to easily give in to the demands of Claudius for marriage, despite Old Hamlet’s death being only a month ago.

Not only that, she further gives in to his demands by spying on her son Hamlet and telling Claudius what happens: “In his lawless fit, behind the arras hearing something stir, whips out his rapier… and in this brainish apprehension kills the unseen good old man” (IV.i.8-12). Gertrude informs Claudius of Hamlet’s murder of Polonius and in the process, betrays her own son, seeing as she makes a promise to Hamlet not to tell anyone.

The fact that she would betray her own son for a man she is married to for a only few months and who is not even the father of her son shows how weak she is, easily giving in to the commands of Claudius, and how men back then would practically control their wives. The author makes the weakness of the women clear in the play, and so are many other negative features of them.

Although this applies more to Gertrude than it does to Ophelia, the infidelity and untrustworthiness of woman in Hamlet is what prompted the protagonist to utter the famous line, “Frailty, thy name is woman” (I.ii.146). Disgusted with the swift marriage of his mother to his uncle only a month after the death of his father, Hamlet comes to the general conclusion that women are weak and disloyal.

Throughout the play, the women are portrayed as such. Beginning with Gertrude, it is quite surprising that she would go on to marry only after a month of being a widow, especially since she showers the late Old Hamlet with much love. Perhaps, she’s tired of grieving over her dead husband and believes that Claudius could bring her entertainment, or perhaps Claudius is simply a very persuasive man. Whatever the reason may be, this comes to show that women in Shakespeare’s time would probably jump from one thing to another once they are bored. To further show his contempt at women, Hamlet tells Ophelia, “Why, wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners… it were better my mother had not borne me” (III.i.121-124).

Although Hamlet also criticizes men, he calls unchaste women “a breeder of sinners” and wished that his mother had never born him at all. This quote almost makes it seem as if women are the source of evil. Although it cannot be said that Ophelia is disloyal, seeing as she never marries, it also seems as if the male characters cannot really trust her. One interesting fact is that whenever Gertrude or Ophelia spy on Hamlet, there always needs to be a man watching.

However, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spy on Hamlet, there is no need for Polonius to peep at the scene. It seems as if Claudius and Polonius cannot trust the women to report the facts, but they easily trust the men. Whether or not Shakespeare has a distrust of women during his time, the men in Hamlet certainly do, and it obviously does not present a virtuous image of women.

Although women continue to make a large impact on the world, they do not seem to make as large as an impact in Shakespeare’s time. As shown in Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays the two female characters as instruments for the men, weak, and disloyal.

It cannot be said that these portrayals truly represent the views of Shakespeare, seeing as little is known about the author and the women in Hamlet contrast sharply with Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, because she is shown as strong-willed, intelligent, and loyal to Romeo. But, it can certainly be said that portrayal of women in Hamlet is certainly what women are generally thought of during Shakespeare’s time, as being there to simply fulfill the needs of men and carry on the human species. People do not view them as strong and independent beings with intelligent minds. Perhaps, this explains why Shakespeare chose to portray women as they are in Hamlet, to express the general opinion of women at the time.

It is not until the 19th Century with the feminist movement that people view women as equals of men. To a modern audience, the portrayal of women would certainly be criticized. Portraying them as weak and tools to fulfill the needs of men would garner negative responses even from men. Despite this, there is still a perception of women being disloyal and untrustworthy, even if that perception is not widely agreed upon.

Even in today’s modern films, there is sometimes a stereotypical femme fatale, a beautiful woman that lures the hapless hero to achieving her end with her charm and beauty. Famous in James Bond films, it is still a negative stereotype that women have yet to battle. Perhaps, it will still be a while until woman will receive the portrayal they deserve.