Hamlet’s Desire and Misogyny towards Gertrude and Ophelia
In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Prince Hamlet exhibits a strongly misogynistic attitude toward the female characters. It is through Hamlet’s behaviors and other various incidents that occur throughout the duration of the play that make clear his hypocrisy toward women and their sexuality. Hamlet criticizes women for their sexual desires corrupting them, when in turn it is Hamlet’s sexual desires for his mother Queen Gertrude and the fair Ophelia in the story that corrupt him, and his own mental state.
Hamlet is first quite grief stricken with the fact that his uncle Claudius has married his mother Queen Gertrude. This anger is sprung out of Hamlet’s jealousy. Hamlet is sad ...
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more than kin, and less than kind.
KING CLAUDIUS
How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
HAMLET
Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,?And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.?Do not for ever with thy vailed lids?Seek for thy noble father in the dust:?Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,?Passing through nature to eternity.
HAMLET
Ay, madam, it is common.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
If it be,?Why seems it so particular with thee?
HAMLET
Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not 'seems.'?'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,?Nor customary suits of solemn black,?Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,?No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,?Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,?Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,?That can denote me truly: these indeed seem,?For they are actions that a man might play:?But I have that within which passeth show;?These but the trappings and ...
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to Gertrude’s desires as an “unweeded garden” and mentions that she has a growing sexual “appetite”. Hamlet is the only one to comment on Gertrude’s behaviors because he is the only one who is looking so deeply into her personal life. Hamlet also showcases his misogyny with the quote “Frailty, thy name is woman!” Hamlet is saying that all women are weak and helpless, and that they need to “feed on” sex. Hamlet accuses Gertrude that this is why she did not stay long without a male companion by her side after the death of her husband. On his rant he refers to Queen Gertrude as a “beast” and lets the pain he is experiencing from his father’s death and the recent marriage of his mother ...
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Hamlet’s Desire and Misogyny towards Gertrude and Ophelia. (2011, March 15). Retrieved April 19, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlets-Desire-Misogyny-towards-Gertrude-Ophelia/96131
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"Hamlet’s Desire and Misogyny towards Gertrude and Ophelia." Essayworld.com. March 15, 2011. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlets-Desire-Misogyny-towards-Gertrude-Ophelia/96131.
"Hamlet’s Desire and Misogyny towards Gertrude and Ophelia." Essayworld.com. March 15, 2011. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Hamlets-Desire-Misogyny-towards-Gertrude-Ophelia/96131.
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