Ophelia's Treatment Of Women In Hamlet Essay

In the play Hamlet, by Shakespeare, the woman in the play present an unfairly negative portrayal of women, that may correspond to Shakespeare’s own feeling toward women. In Hamlet both Gertrude and Ophelia show signs of a lack of mental fortitude in comparison to the prominent male characters, being Hamlet, Claudius, and Fortinbras. Both of their actions seem in many ways to be irrational, and yet said actions occurred as an effect of the prominent male characters actions, implying that they never had any control over what would transpire. Ophelia, Gertrude, and most women in Shakespearean tragedies weaknesses outweigh their strengths, and inevitably lead to their own downfalls. Hamlet’s love interest, Ophelia, is shown to be incredibly weak in Hamlet, to present this, Shakespeare presents an extremely submissive woman, who when Hamlet does not reciprocate her feelings, falls into madness. Ophelia first shows her submissive side at the beginning of the play when she is forced by both her father and brother to shun Hamlet’s advances. Despite her feelings of romance for Hamlet, she decides to follow the demands that her family set for her. According to Sarah Gates and from the play
Both Gertrude and Ophelia are weak emotionally, and show endless submissiveness toward their male counterparts. Neither Ophelia nor Gertrude had any control over their own fates, as that ability was unjustly stolen from them by Hamlet and Claudius. In general Shakespeare’s portrayal of women in tragedies as an evil force is unjust, and appears to be superimposed upon them, as it their male counterparts are the ones acting in an evil manner. Shakespeare is the most famous playwright in the history of the English language, and yet if his writings were put out in the modern day, they would have been scrutinized and torn apart for his misogynistic portrayal of