In Shakespeare's Hamlet, perhaps one of his
best works (and certainly one of the most quoted), the women of the play are used by the men that
surround them when the play opens. I would assume this is the premise on which feminists view
these women, and I have to agree.
During Shakespeare's time, it was
not at all unusual for women to be used as bargaining chips in prearranged marriages that joined
noble houses together. Women generally took all they had into a marriage but were not
independent. There was little work open to a woman to keep her and her children alive if she did
not have the financial support and protection of a man.
Hamlet is
quick to censor Gertrude's hasty marriage to her brother-in-law Claudius upon the death of Old
Hamlet. Hamlet states that the food from the funeral could have been used for the wedding feast,
the marriage was that quickly conducted. (An exaggeration, at best.) However, we see Hamlet's
sense of loss more clearly in this than we do Gertrude's, but he is an independent man, and she
is a widow with limited options in terms of
survival.
Hamlet himself describes the marriage
of his father and mother as a joyful one: two people who adored each other. With this said, it is
important to note that when Old Hamlet dies, Gertrude's future is imperiled. There is no
guarantee that Claudius will care for the widow. She has no belongings other than what has been
given her, and undoubtedly no land of her own or family to return to. Claudius offers her a way
to remain in her home, live as she is accustomed to, and perhaps still provide a place for her
son, who though older, is still at the university
studying.
Gertrude's options are limited and life was harsh for
women at the time: she took the only avenue available to her, and I believe, savvy as she is, she
makes the best of it, even seeming to care for her new husband, who the audience (and Hamlet)
develop only contempt for. It may seem as if she is prostituting herself, but I would suggest she
is simply trying to survive in a man's world.
Ophelia suffers in
much the same way, but she is younger and not as familiar with the ways of the world. The men in
her life use her as well, while treating her like an inferior. Laertes, her brother, is full of
advice as to how she should behave with Hamlet (behaving in a chaste way),
and she is quick to remind him to follow his own advice. Obviously, her character has reason to
believe that he will preach one thing to her, while following a very different, hypocritical path
himself. This is important in viewing how men treated women in general during that
time.
Claudius, and Polonius (her own father), use Ophelia to their
own ends in trying to get a "bead" on Hamlet. Polonius does so to solidify his position with a
new king: for him, the move is politically-centered to protect his "career." Claudius wants to
know what Hamlet knows and is trying to remain unsuspected of his murder of Old
Hamlet.
Claudius will use Ophelia as bait to glean information from
her about the man she loves, and Hamlet, having no faith in Ophelia, and failing to trust her and
take her into his confidence, confuses and alienates her. She does not feel safe with any of
these men.
Ophelia is a pawn in their manipulative games. Hamlet
uses her, pretending to be insane, and insulting her at every turn based upon his inability to
trust her, not on anything she had done to him. She is an innocent. She is fragile and unprepared
to make her way in the male-dominated society in which she
lives.
When her sweetheart (Hamlet) kills her father, she cannot
handle how this act tears her in two, pulling her between the two men that matter most to her;
she goes insane and takes her own life (we think...we cannot be
sure).
The women in Hamlet are used in a
sophisticated way that moves the plot expertly along, but they are used by the men that surround
them; one survives, while the other does not. And in the end, everyone dies because of the
machinations of these men.
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