Women in Hamlet
Jake Borgschulte
2/17/2013
Mr.Sargent Period C
Women in Hamlet The women in Hamlet are portrayed as either trophies, such as Gertrude as Claudius’ trophy for taking the throne, or as scapegoats for the males to scorn when they feel they have been disrespected or wronged. Hamlet attacks both Ophilia and Gertrude throughout the play whenever he becomes enraged over his father’s death. Hamlets madness and insecurity cause him to attack the two people who care for him most. His mentality is that if he is not happy, no one deserves to be happy until his needs are met, and in this case he needs to avenge his father’s death and protect his mothers’ sexuality Hamlets overly obsessive behavior towards his mother’s sexuality is very prevalent throughout the play, and shows these signs of the Oedipal attraction by always believing that no man is worthy of his mother, other than his deceased father and himself. He is sickened by his mother’s marriage to his uncle and scolds her for her incestuous way, which contradicts his almost incestuous relationship with his mother. Their relationship is not incestuous in a sexual way, but emotional; Hamlet seems to act as a husband towards her instead of a son. He sees this union of Gertrude and Claudius as an insult to him because it damages both his royal and familial identities, especially as a man and believes his mother should only be attracted to a man like his father, who he has tried to imitate. Hamlet believes that Claudius and him are nothing alike and states that "My father's brother, but nor more like my father/ Than I to Hercules," (I.2.157-58). This is stating that Claudius will never be a father to Hamlet, just like Hamlet will never be as great as Hercules. Though hamlet has much to say about his mother and her sexuality, his age is still hard to pinpoint because whenever he starts to be seen as an adult with philosophical and rational thoughts, his immaturity peaks out and he becomes seen as more of a hormonal
2/17/2013
Mr.Sargent Period C
Women in Hamlet The women in Hamlet are portrayed as either trophies, such as Gertrude as Claudius’ trophy for taking the throne, or as scapegoats for the males to scorn when they feel they have been disrespected or wronged. Hamlet attacks both Ophilia and Gertrude throughout the play whenever he becomes enraged over his father’s death. Hamlets madness and insecurity cause him to attack the two people who care for him most. His mentality is that if he is not happy, no one deserves to be happy until his needs are met, and in this case he needs to avenge his father’s death and protect his mothers’ sexuality Hamlets overly obsessive behavior towards his mother’s sexuality is very prevalent throughout the play, and shows these signs of the Oedipal attraction by always believing that no man is worthy of his mother, other than his deceased father and himself. He is sickened by his mother’s marriage to his uncle and scolds her for her incestuous way, which contradicts his almost incestuous relationship with his mother. Their relationship is not incestuous in a sexual way, but emotional; Hamlet seems to act as a husband towards her instead of a son. He sees this union of Gertrude and Claudius as an insult to him because it damages both his royal and familial identities, especially as a man and believes his mother should only be attracted to a man like his father, who he has tried to imitate. Hamlet believes that Claudius and him are nothing alike and states that "My father's brother, but nor more like my father/ Than I to Hercules," (I.2.157-58). This is stating that Claudius will never be a father to Hamlet, just like Hamlet will never be as great as Hercules. Though hamlet has much to say about his mother and her sexuality, his age is still hard to pinpoint because whenever he starts to be seen as an adult with philosophical and rational thoughts, his immaturity peaks out and he becomes seen as more of a hormonal