Hamlet

Female characters in Hamlet

In his various plays, Shakespeare portrayed many different female characters. In

many of those plays, women usually played very strong and important roles in the

life of the protagonist. However, this is not the case with Hamlet. The female

characters in this play have less important roles, but also we cannot say that their part

in this tragedy is not significant in some way.

One of the two main female characters in this tragedy is Ophelia, who is

represented as a woman who is controlled by others, especially by men. She is used by

her father and brother but also by her supposed lover, Hamlet. Similarly to Ophelia,

Hamlet's mother Gertrude plays not so important role in the play. Hamlet constantly

criticizes her relationship with his uncle and uses her to further his revenge. Gertrude is

portrayed as a woman who is very shallow. She is totally opposite to Hamlet, unaware of

the depth of the issues he has.

Ophelia is a young noble woman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of

Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet. She is in love with Hamlet. But, her

father and her brother advise her to stay away from him. This shows how men in her

life are trying to use her and her feelings. She does everything what her father and

brother ask her to do. They think that Ophelia's love towards Hamlet will diminish

family's honour. Both Polonius and Laertes believe that Hamlet would never marry

Ophelia because of her low social status. So, they tell her to forget about Hamlet in

order not to destroy the respect of their family. Although she loves Hamlet, because

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of the duty to her father and brother, Ophelia negates her feelings and does whatever

those important male figures in her life wish.

Ophelia is, as mentioned, also used by Hamlet. He abuses Ophelia's love to him

and tries to manipulate her to defend himself. Hamlet uses their relationship to draw

attention away from his real purpose of killing his uncle. In one situation he even accuses

Ophelia of being a liar. Again, he is only trying to hide the real reasons because of which

he wants to take the revenge on his father's murderer. In that scene Hamlet is aware that

Polonius and Laertes can hear everything what he is saying, so he uses it to pretend to be

heartbroken. In his relationship towards Ophelia, Hamlet acts very selfishly. He uses her

only to cheat his uncle Claudius. Hamlet's aim is to make Claudius believe that he is

crazy and thus persuade Claudius not to be afraid. He wants to manipulate Claudius

because his only wish is to kill him and revenge his father's death.

When analyzing these relations between Ophelia, her family and Hamlet, we see that

Ophelia constantly feels like trapped. Her feelings contrast with the wishes of both

her family and Hamlet. All of them want that Ophelia breaks her relationship to

Hamlet. But her heart acts differently. At the end, because of her obedience towards

her father and brother on one hand, and her love towards Hamlet on the other, she

goes crazy. She becomes unable to cope with those contradictions. Ophelia, as many

Shakespeare's female characters, seems to have the same tragic element attached to

her – early unnatural death. She kills herself finding no place in the situation.

The second most important female character in Hamlet, is Gertrude. She is Hamlet's

mother and Queen of Denmark. Throughout the play, Hamlet is continually accusing

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her of remarrying her husband's brother so quickly after the King's death. According

to Hamlet, she scarcely mourned her husband's death before marrying Claudius.

Hamlet is angry because his mother betrayed her deceased husband. In one moment

he exclaims: "Frailty, thy name is woman!" (Edwards 1985: 89) This line is very well

known because of the fact it generalizes the attribution of weakness of character of

one particular woman to the whole womankind.

Gertrude is portrayed as a very shallow character. The readers do not know many

facts about her. It is unknown whether she married Claudius because of insecurity or

some other reasons. She accepts everything without much thinking. Somehow like

Ophelia, Gertrude is contracted by the influence different men have on her actions. It is

obvious that her son Hamlet is disappointed in her actions. But Gertrude does nothing to

change it. It seems that she does not find herself guilty of remarrying her brother-in-law.

Hamlet's expectations that she will repent seem in vain. Also, as a character, Gertrude

seems to be completely opposite to Hamlet. Unlike his mother, Hamlet thinks a lot, and

contemplates about his life and many other things. Except Hamlet, Claudius also has

some expectations of Gertrude. He wants that she stay loyal to him. Just like Ophelia,

Gertrude finds herself in the trap because different men expect different things of her. So,

the both of the main female characters in Hamlet had come under the influence of more

powerful male characters. Gertrude's role has also a tragic end. She drinks a poison

intended for Hamlet and dies. Her last words are: "No, no, the drink – O my dear Hamlet,

-- The drink, the drink! I am poison'd." (Edwards 1985: 239)

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In his other plays, Shakespeare illustrated different kind of society, in which

women sometimes had more control over men. In those plays, the male characters usually

had respect for the women that they were associated with. In Hamlet, Shakespeare

wanted to present things differently. Here he chooses to portray women more realistically.

In the time this play was written it was common for women to be used as pawns and

marionettes by their fathers, brothers, husbands, lovers. In Hamlet, both Ophelia and

Gertrude are represented as any other women of that time. William Shakespeare made

them typical female characters of an era. In Shakespeare's time it was normal that men

have total control over women's lives. Women had to obey the rules applied by the men.

In the same way, both women characters in this play became inferior to men. When we

analyze these different positions of female roles which are present in Shakespeare's plays,

we can see the author's deviation in this play from his characteristic writing style and it

questions that very style in which his other plays are written.

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most famous and played tragedies. Except the

protagonist Hamlet, who represents the tragic hero mostly discussed about, by

realistically portraying Ophelia and Gertrude as typical representatives of Elizabethan

time, the author makes it able to relate the audience to those characters. It stays a doubt

whether these two women deserved the tragic end or whether Hamlet is all to blame. All

in all, it is clear that they stand for the epitomes of the women who are inferior to men.

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