Hamlets Treatment of Women
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In the play of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the main character, Hamlet, is a man of numerous paradoxes and varying convictions. His treatment of women, Ophelia and his mother Gertrude in this case, will be the subject that I discuss in this paper. Hamlet said: "Frailty, thy name is woman" (II.ii.146). I believe this is Hamlet's continuous underlying attitude towards women as a whole, given that his mother had not properly honored Old Hamlet's death by mourning, but instead married not only relatively quickly, but to her former brother-in-law. This stirred a keen disgust in Hamlet, and his snide remarks towards her throughout the play are indicative of this. Yet, in contrast, Hamlet also treats both Ophelia and Gertrude with great admiration at times. This stark contrast will also be discussed, as well as possible reasons for Hamlet's thoughts and actions throughout the play concerning Gertrude and Ophelia. Hamlet's treatment of women is a trait that is brought on due to the trauma of his father's death, and the rapid remarriage of his mother Gertrude, It's witnessed many times throughout the play that Hamlet oscillates between adoration and love for both women, and that his convictions concerning Ophelia and Gertrude remain steadfast in the way that he perceives them the way that he thinks they should act and/or be...