Examples Of Misogyny In Hamlet

In the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Prince Hamlet of Denmark, interacts with only two women throughout the entire play. Hamlet is constantly rejected and dismissed by both women in his life. His first negative experience is with Gertrude, his unsympathetic whore of a mother. He attempts to form a relationship with Ophelia, whose weak naive nature demolished any prospect of love. The women in Hamlet’s life drive him into a state of misogyny. He did not innately hate all women, but slowly as he reserved rejection after rejection he snapped. Hamlet’s relationships differed between Gertrude and Ophelia, but both were for the same purpose of Hamlet having someone to love and care about him. With the goal of finding compassion being
The crux of Ernest Jones’ article “ Tragedy and the Mind of the Infant” is Hamlet’s incestrous love for his mother. Jones roots Hamlet's misogyny in Gertrude and Ophelia rejecting him sexually; “When sexual repression is highly pronounced, as with Hamlet, then both types of women are felt to be hostile: the pure one out of resentment at her repulse, the sensual one out of the temptation she offers to plunge into guiltiness”(Jones 204). Hamlet obviously demonstrates misogynistic beliefs from his interaction with both Gertrude and Ophelia, however Jones’ reasoning behind his hatred is not accurate representation of the cause of Hamlet’s misogyny. Hamlet’s hatred of women does not derive from “sexual repression”, but rather the lack of love and tenderness from women. He does not have any female relationships which are healthy or fulfill the love that Hamlet needed after the death of his father. The only women in his life continuously disappoint him and do not truly love
Without the love he desired from his mother, Hamlet was forced to find attractive measures to receive love. With his loathing of women growing, Hamlet decides to turn his affection towards Ophelia, who drastically differs from Gertrude; “ Her naive piety, her obedient resignation, and her unreflecting simplicity sharply contrast with the Queen's character… an unconscious desire to play her off against his mother” (Jones 201). Jones argues that Hamlet choose Ophelia since she “sharply contrast[ed] with the Queen” in order to “play her off against his mother”. However, Hamlet did not choose Ophelia to in spite of his mother, he did so to find a women he would not despise. He hates the qualities his mother possesses and purposefully finds a woman whos the exact opposite of his mother to invest his love. Shakespeare constructed Ophelia as a basic, one dimensional character to utilize her as Hamlet's love interest and further Hamlet’s misogyny. Ophelia puts her father, Polonius, and her brother, Laertes, consistently before Hamlet. Her so called “love” for Hamlet is shadowed by her pet like obedience to her father. Hamlet’s intentions for his relationship with Ophelia were pure until she began betraying him. His rejection by Ophelia was triggered when Polonius condemns their relationship, “Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers/ Not of that dye which their investments