Hamlet: Womens Roles as Seen in Gertrude and Ophelia - Essay Example

Hamlet: Women’s Roles as seen in Gertrude and Ophelia One of the most intriguing aspects of William Shakespeare’s works is the unique roles assigned to the female characters. Females are given a variety of different roles through his numerous works, most not in strict conformance with the contemporary conception of woman as a necessary yet nearly mindless household accessory. These roles range from someone as important as the protagonist all the way down to characters that are used as “puppets” by other more dominate characters in the play. In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare includes two female characters named Ophelia and Gertrude. Uncharacteristically for Shakespeare, neither of these two women seems to break the mold of the sixteenth century female conception. They float through the castle providing little to no valuable service and seemingly without volition or true activity of their own other than perhaps to sew. While Ophelia seems to be innocent of the machinations of those around her, Queen Gertrude seems to be more on the inside of the plotting and scheming occurring within the castle. Despite this, she still appears to have little or no control over the situation at hand and little aptitude for resisting the control of others. Thus, both Ophelia and Gertrude appear as little more than ‘puppet figures’ throughout much of the play, each acting according to the manipulations of those around her. The idea of using women as puppets was not a new conception to the world. Traditionally, women had been held to socially prescribed roles that revolved around the home and family. Primarily, the woman was considered to be intellectually inferior, physically inferior, politically inferior and emotionally inferior (in that they were more ruled by their emotions) than men. Often denied higher level schooling, and schooling in general in some cases, prevented from obtaining any legal rights or owning property as a separate entity from their father or husband and with a majority of her household work unconsidered in terms of the physical work she could accomplish, women had little opportunity to do anything other than be a wife and a mother. However, with the reign of Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare’s time, the role of women in England was expanded, bringing a greater sense of ability and accomplishment to the concept of woman. However, this had a tendency to threaten the status quo. “Especially subversive were the assertive, liberated ‘city women’ of London, who challenged the cultural paradigm of a ‘closed,’ passive femininity, and the notorious female transvestites, who challenged the stability of gender itself, demonstrating the constructedness of hierarchical distinctions deemed divinely ordained” (McCandless, 1997: 2). For many, the use of women in submissive roles was not as much an insistence on keeping them in their ‘proper’ place, but was instead a reaction against the frightening concept of a woman in control over men. Shakespeare’s treatment of the women in Hamlet, however, seem to be more in keeping with an attempt to reflect the way in which women were viewed in other parts of the world as well as allowing them to serve a specific purpose within the context of the play. Without them, the play could not have unfolded the way it did. Indeed, had the queen been of a stronger character, the entire motive of the play may not have come about. An understanding of the overall plot of the play is also helpful in understanding both the activities these women engage in as well as the necessity for them to be of the weaker, more traditional variety. The play opens upon Hamlet’s return home following the death of his father. He finds his mother married to his uncle and the ghost of his father appears to inform Hamlet that he had not died accidentally, but rather was killed by the ambitious machinations of Claudius and, perhaps, the willing acceptance of Queen Gertrude. As the action unfolds, Shakespeare tells of how Hamlet seeks a way to both prove what the ghost has said and bring about the revenge that is demanded if the ghost is correct. Hamlet feigns insanity to discover the truth, effectively confusing those around him as was his intention. Without this confusion, his actions to discover the truth would have been too obvious and alerted his uncle to his suspicions before he had a chance to act. Because he is acting outside of his normal character, he has no problem using others as they might be used against him, bringing a necessary element into the play as the theme of individual manipulation is explored. His hesitation to act proves almost fatal to his vengeance and most certainly fatal to himself, but not before those he loves are also destroyed. While the concept of manipulation is also evident in Hamlet’s actions as well as the actions of several other characters throughout the play, it is perhaps brought into clearest focus as it applies to the women of the play, who seem so at odds with other female characters within Shakespeare’s works. Ophelia’s role in the play is used completely as a tool or ‘puppet figure’ by the more important protagonists. Her role as the Hamlet’s love interest exemplifies her as a pawn for the men around her. Not only conforming to the traditional concept of a submissive, malleable female with little to no educated thoughts of her own, Ophelia also conforms to the traditional concept of a hero’s love interest. She is presented as a demure, chaste young girl, obedient to her father and her brother, mild mannered and sweet as early as her first scene. Her humble question “Not more but so?” (I, iii, 11) following Laertes assertion that Hamlet’s interest could not be anything more than an adolescent game indicates her traditionally proper complete acceptance of a man’s opinion and directive. Her further response to Laertes – “Do not as some ungracious pastors do, / Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, / Whiles like a puffed and reckless libertine / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads / And recks not his own rede” (I, iii, 47-50) – reinforces her role as the guardian of the family soul just as her acquiescence to Laertes, as the male, reinforces that he is the guardian of the family chastity. She is further shown to be the faithful servant to the queen in her willing attendance on her at court functions and engaged in properly frivolous activities – the sewing of decorative things and the knowledge of flowers and songs. Although the latter are used as manifestations of her insanity, the turn she takes in her insanity provide clues as to her pursuits prior to losing her mind. Precisely because of her perfection in this role as the quintessential princely favorite, Hamlet is suspicious of her. This awareness of the potential for Ophelia to be used as a less obvious tool against him is a marked difference from the courtly love tradition carried throughout many of Shakespeare’s other plays. Not only is Hamlet aware that his already expressed feelings for Ophelia may be used by his enemies against him, he is suspicious of Ophelia’s own complexity in the plot. She has already displayed a quick wit in being able to turn Laertes instructions to her regarding Hamlet into an injunction against him not to play around while he is away (III, iii cited above). Although she is very obviously in love with Hamlet, presenting Hamlet’s pursuit of her in the most honorable and noble terms possible, she is also very obviously torn between her maidenly duty to obey her male elders and the feelings of her heart. This confusion, as well as the conflicting instructions of her elders, further supports Hamlet’s suspicion that Ophelia may be acting in conscious concert with his uncle. His mother’s recent treachery has opened his eyes to the machinations of women and he cannot but be convinced that Ophelia’s innocent-seeming confusion is instead a skillful manipulation of an inborn trait. Seizing upon any tool they can lay their hands on, the King and Polonius readily employ Ophelia as a weapon for their own purposes. At the beginning of the play, she is told by her father in no uncertain terms, to go against her heart and spurn all communication with Hamlet despite the close proximity in which they live: “I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, / Have you so slander any moment leisure / As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. / Look to’t, I charge you” (I, iii, 132-135). While this directive can be seen as the natural reaction of a father in working to guard the chastity of his daughter, it can also be seen as a wily political move of an ambitious parent attempting to both protect the assets of the family as well as provide a more alluring bait to the ultimate prize. This interpretation is supported in the almost over-humble way in which he approaches the King and Queen with his theory regarding the cause of Hamlet’s madness, reciting the degeneration of the prince since Ophelia had stopped receiving his messages: “And he, repelled, a short tale to make, / Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, / Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, / Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension, / Into the madness wherein now he raves” (II, ii, 146-150). This understanding of Hamlet’s condition, at least as far as the truth of his affections toward Ophelia are revealed in the recitation of the love letter (II, ii), provides Polonius with the tool he’s been seeking for greater court security as well as providing the King with a tool to use against Hamlet himself. Without even realizing it, Ophelia becomes the pawn of the play. “She is unaware that her elders are dangling her for their own purposes, she believes they are solely and sincerely concerned to restore Hamlet to his true state and to let her help him if she can” (Walker, 1948: 57). She is unaware of Claudius’ complicity in the death of Hamlet’s father as both Hamlet and the King, of course, are. She innocently believes what her elders have told her, as she has been taught to believe since her earliest childhood and has already proven to have learned well. Because she truly loves Hamlet, Polonius and the King believe her act will successfully subdue Hamlet. For Polonius, either his daughter provides Hamlet with a sudden cure and the family becomes firmly attached to the crown or achieves the country farm he wants to retire to or Hamlet is truly crazy and he will have to continue in his current function. The risk is small while the rewards are great. For the King, he will gain a clearer understanding of Hamlet’s current behavior, of which he has already become suspicious. However Hamlet’s recent revelation regarding his mother, coupled with Ophelia’s sudden changes of heart, harden him to also use poor Ophelia as a puppet. Because he does have feelings for her, he tries to protect her in case she is innocent by hinting at his continued attraction for her as in the play scene – “Lady shall I lie in your lap?” (III, ii, 127) – yet he also rails against her as a means of expressing his thoughts to the other woman he feels has so wronged both him and his father. He uses his mother in a similar method, saying words to her that he wouldn’t dare say directly to the King. When he slays the person hiding in the curtains in her chambers in III, iv, he obviously hopes it is King Claudius and he is thus relieved of his burden relatively painlessly. Revealing the body to be that of Polonius instead, he says, “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! / I took thee for thy better” (III, iv, 32-33) before he begins to illustrate the complicity Gertrude herself holds in the murder of the old King. He constantly criticizes Gertrude from the beginning and throughout the play, about her incestuous relationship she shares with his uncle, the king, and Gertrude’s brother-in-law. However, in this criticism, it is also seen how Gertrude has been used by others, particularly Claudius. Presumably also brought up in much the same tradition as Ophelia, Gertrude has been taught to listen and obey the words of men around her. At the death of her husband, she claims she was incapable of running a kingdom, which was an entirely plausible argument for the time. In this respect, Ophelia again is revealed as the pawn of the play as she is used by the playwright as an example of the ideal noble woman of the time, bringing understanding to the character of Gertrude. Claudius, as the brother of the king, naturally stepped in where his brother had recently vacated, using Gertrude as security of the crown he’d just usurped. By portraying the women of Hamlet in ways that are more in keeping with the traditional values of continental Europe, Shakespeare seems to be making an argument in favor of providing women with education and autonomy. Had Ophelia not been brought up to be meek and mild, consistently and completely following the directives of her elders, she perhaps would not have aroused suspicion in Hamlet and instead provided him with an additional individual to confide in. At the same time, she could have avoided the her own personal tragedy by not being placed in the maddening conflict of emotions that was created when her elders bade her to go against the dictates of her heart. It is this same instructed weakness that has been fostered within Gertrude that has brought about the entire reason for the play to begin with. Had Gertrude had the strength of Elizabeth, for example, she would have been able to recognize Claudius for what he was rather than being duped into handing him the crown as reward for cleverly murdering her husband. While making women little more than puppets to be used as they will by the men may seem like a good idea to men, Shakespeare demonstrates through these two characters that the practice in reality is instead a tremendous deficit to the welfare of the woman, the household and the country overall. In Shakespearean times, general society did not grant woman with the same level of respect that men received. Shakespeare’s plays were exceptionally unique because most of the male characters treated the female characters with respect. However, in Hamlet Shakespeare’s style differed from many of his other works by portraying woman more realistically to the era, bringing about tragedy, the death of a kingdom and an unforgettable warning regarding the proper treatment of women if society is to remain healthy. Works Cited McCandless, David Foley. Gender and Performance in Shakespeare’s Problem Comedies. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1997. Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.’ The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Alfred Harbage (Ed.). London: Penguin Books, 1969, pp. 930-976. Walker, Roy. The Time is out of Joint: A Study of Hamlet. London: Andrew Dakers, 1948. Read More