Gender Roles In Hamlet

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is an intricate literary masterpiece, made up of a conglomeration of different techniques that add dimension, color, and texture to the story. There are countless uses of characterization, dark humor, and many other literary components in Hamlet, all of which are used to give the reader a more emotional and thought provoking reading or listening experience, and insight into the twisted storyline. One of the most interesting of Shakespeare’s techniques is the characterization of each gender as a separate entity. He seems to give the main characters traits that will lead them to follow certain trends for their gender. In Hamlet, Shakespeare characterizes the main male characters as men with power who tend to exercise
She has wealth, but it is not her own. She has power, but only by means of her husband. Gertrude is completely dependent on Claudius for external reasons. She is not only dependent on him for money and power, but for love, affection, and human interaction. In several cases, Claudius uses Gertrude for a personal gain. It is apparent that his marriage to Gertrude is in itself a greedy action. Claudius killed his brother and married his widow, which allowed him to gain the Danish crown. Claudius not only killed Gertrude’s husband, but he also fooled her and wooed her, so he could misappropriate the throne from it’s rightful owner, Hamlet Jr. Claudius also uses Gertrude as a middleman between himself and Hamlet. He pushes Gertrude into uncomfortable situations where she must confront her son about his actions or his intentions to take action. For example in Act III Scene IV, Claudius wills Gertrude into talking with Hamlet and allowing Polonius to listen in on their conversation from behind the arras. Here, Claudius has placed Gertrude in a tippy and undoubtedly uncomfortable position, just so he can gain some insight into Hamlet’s intentions. In this scene, Gertrude is verbally abused by her only son, who then kills Polonius. Therefore, Claudius has emotionally compromised Gertrude for the gain of some knowledge of Hamlet’s love life with Ophelia and his intentions with Claudius, that may or may not be