Hamlet: Treatment of Woman Characters

Shakespeare’s treatment of woman characters in Hamlet  is one of the most debatable issues in the study of Shakespeare. Because, critics like Shapiro (1991: 98) goes so far as to claim that Shakespeare was

'the noblest feminist of them all' (p.98)

But it is historically incorrect to regard him as a feminist: actually he 'wrote for a male entertainment'. In Hamlet, he shows not only the contemporary patriarchal attitude to women but also the vile characteristics of women. Shakespeare technically reaches Hamlet to such a deplorable psychological state that we are somehow prepared to accept the generalization of vile nature of women.

Ophelia, it would seem, wholly at the mercy of the male figures within her life, is certainly a victim figure. He is used by the King, his father, his brother and even by Hamlet, her lover. Courtni Crump Wright (1993:41)) rightly  comments,

Ophelia in many ways is a pawn in this play. (p.41)

Ophelia’s brother Leartes marks Hamlet’s interest to her as

Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,

The perfume and suppliance of a minute. (I,3)

Polonious also warns Ophelia that Hamlet’s vows of love are momentary “Giving more light than heat” and commands,

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,

Have you so slander any moment leisure,

As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. (I,3)

“However, this order [of patriarchal social structure] is overridden when it is necessary for Ophelia to play another role, that of a spy on Hamlet’s madness.” (Wright, 41)

Ophelia is also betrayed by her own feelings for Hamlet. She wants to believe that his affections are real even after the advice of her family. Later while being used to uncover Hamlet’s madness, Ophelia feels herself “deceived”: Hamlet says,  

I didn’t love you.

Even,

            Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?(III,1)

Indeed, Hamlet throughout the play uses Ophelia as a tool in his revenge plan.

However, the position of women has not yet been satisfactory. Nora, the protagonist in A Doll’s House by Ibsen, a modern drama realizes her position in her family and society,

You and papa have committed a great sin against me. It is your fault that I have made nothing of my life.

The main attack of the play is on Gertrude who transgresses the patriarchal bounds of femininity by marrying so soon (hastily) after her husband's death and not remaining in passive grief and obedient devotion to his memory.

It is Gertrude’s quick marriage …which causes Hamlet to question reality and truth… to begin his search for truth in love and reality. (Wright, 42)

Hamlet calls her “a beast” who because of her “increase of appetite” marries shortly “ere those shoes were old/ With which she followed [his] poor father’s body” and sees her as a model of women's inconstancy. He pangs,

            O most wicked speed, to post

With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!(I,2)

This bitterness leads him to believe that all women are untrustworthy, and to utter the most objectionable words against women in general,

            Frailty, thy name is woman!(I,2)

            However if we consider his expressions from the point of view of a son who has been tremendously shocked at his father’s unusual death, the ghost’s directions, and whose heart has been broken by the “incestuous” remarriage of his mother, we can not but sympathize him. Yet, he can not get rid of the morbid generalization of his treatment of women.

            For such attitude to women critics attach the words like “sex nausea” or “misogyny” to Hamlet as well as to Shakespeare.  This attitude fills his encounters with Ophelia with hostility, cynicism and disgust. From the very first, he can not bear the presence of Ophelia:

You jig and amble, and you lisp, you nickname God’s creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance. (3.1)

Furthermore, there is no reconciliation with the women at the end of the play, as there is in the other tragedies. Lear and Othello at least recognize Cordelia and Desdemona, even though too late; Antony forgives Cleopetra. In Hamlet there is no such reconciliations. Hamlet does throw himself into Ophelia’s grave, clearly this is an act of aggression against Leartes than of reconciliation with Ophelia.

            In the concluding part of our discussion, we must argue that Shakespeare’s treatment of women is very harsh, and advocates for the patriarchal system of dominating the women. Linda Bamber(1982:72) concludes the topic as follows:

Hamlet is therefore the example most critics use to discuss sex nausea in Shakespeare…its revulsion against sexuality was part of the pathology of the age. (p.72)

In the play, Ophelia suffers as a result of Hamlet's patriarchal values of womanhood. And as for Gertrude, can he be treated so harsh, as is treated by Hamlet? It is true that she has remarried hastily. But can she not remarry while it is not question when a man can marry any time?   

Works Cited

Shapiro, Susan. Quoted in Shakespeare and feminist criticism  by Philip C. Kolin. Garland, 1991

Wright, Courtni Crump. The women of Shakespeare's plays. University Press of America, 1993

Bamber, Linda. Comic women, tragic men: a study of gender and genre in Shakespeare. Stanford University Press, 1982