The Female Characters Of Ophelia And Gertrude Within The Text

This analysis of Hamlet will focus on the female characters of Ophelia and Gertrude within the text. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, she is a kind, sweet natured girl of who Hamlet has fallen in love with. However, due to the control of both her father and brother Laertes, has been convinced that she should spy on young Hamlet as to what his intentions are. Whereas, Gertrude is a shadowy character with little involvement in the text; it is seen as though she has to live through Claudius in order to function in society. Throughout the text we can see that both Ophelia and Gertrude are oppressed by the male figures around them such as Claudius, Hamlet, Polonius and Laertes who are pivotal characters in the text. She also becomes more mentally unstable as the play progresses. Psychologically , gender can also be a difficult subject to analyse as nowadays your gender is not solely based on whether you are male or female, the terms of gender and sex are used interchangeably and acco rding to western cultures they are not purely connected to physical anatomy. However, focusing on the female figures of Ophelia and Gertrude in relation to the line â€Å"Frailty, thy name is woman† initially suggests that any one woman is the same as all women in society suggesting that they will always be seen as the weaker gender. On the other hand, looking at the Wordsworth classic text of Hamlet, Ophelia can be seen to be being controlled by both her father and brother which could be the reasonShow MoreRelatedFeminism in Hamlet1451 Words   |  6 PagesShakespeare, many controversies arose from the text, one of which was feminism. Feminism in the most general of terms is known as the principle advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. 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