By saying these words to her he is crassly calling her a harlot, and making to appear that he never really loved her. Ophelia made one decision and that was to love Hamlet, and now he is using her actions to make her feel inferior and sinful. Up to this point in the play, Shakespeare depicted Hamlet as a mad man hell-bent on avenging his fathers suspect death, however: his cruel outburst at Ophelia is not a turning point in the story in which he goes from being a hero to being a cold-hearted oppressor. Hamlet tells Ophelia that she will have to ‘marry a fool’ because ‘wise men’ would know better than to marry her; he yells at her ‘get thee to a nunnery’, and yet the way it fits into the plot makes it seem almost expected. As the plot progresses Ophelia begins to lose her mind, resulting in her eventually suicide, but at no point his Hamlet called out for his harsh words against her in a significant way.
When the Ghost first speaks to Hamlet, he speaks with disgust towards the Queen, saying, “Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,/ With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,--O wicked wit, and gifts that have the power/ So to seduce!--won to his shameful lust” (1.5.42-45) This is perhaps the only instance where her unfaithfulness to Hamlet the King is mentioned. But the Ghost of Hamlet maybe spoke those words out of spite and anger, feeling that his marriage to Gertrude was still existent even past his death. But isn’t marriage valid until death do them part? As Heilbrun mentioned, the Ghost seemed angry over Gertrude’s betrayal and that is why he uses words like “shameful lust” and “traitorous” to describe the Queen. Besides this allusion, there is no further evidence in the play that suggests that Gertrude cheated on the King with Claudius while the King still lived.
How does Polonius react to the news of Hamlet’s strange behavior? · He thinks Hamlet is just mad because Ophelia dissed him. 3. What evidence of Hamlet’s affections for Ophelia exists? · He tells Ophelia he loves her and does not love her, thinks she should never have trusted him but wants her to go away to a nunnery for her own protection.
In Act 3 Scene 2, Don John enters Leonato’s house and says to Claudio “I came hither to tell you, and circumstances shortened the lady is disloyal.” Don John is presented as a ‘deceiver’ in this scene by his actions, creating uproar between the couple. The ways in which Shakespeare presents men’s attitudes to women are not used for comical purposes in this scene. This scene presents women to be promiscuous and untrustworthy characters. Also, the fact that Claudio believes Don John and assumes that the woman committing adultery is Hero portrays
Through a modern perception on the playwright’s female characters, women can be seen as worthless, sexually corrupt indiviudals. Ophelia, often through the words of the men around her, can be partiicuarly perceived in this way. This is evident, with her father, Polonius when he says to Claudius, “At such a time, I loose my daughter to him; Be you and I behind an arras then; Mark the encounter…” (2.2.176-178) Polonius’ language here suggests that Ophelia is more of an animal than his daughter, and he as her father shows her little respect. This reading of Ophelia is also apparent through Hamlet’s language, describing her in unpleasant context or as a “dead dog”(2.2.81). He treats her with little regard and believes that she is a “breeder of maggot” This is also evident when Hamlet says to her, “ I say we will have no more marriages.
He almost immediately begins planning his course of action towards revenge. Hamlet’s disgust toward his mother is only heightened with this news of murder, “O most pernicious woman! / O villain, villain, smiling damned villain!” (Iv.105-106). Old Hamlet’s ghost has warned Hamlet not to punish Gertrude with hell, but he does not seem to care. Hamlet has now taken this personal with his own desires for revenge, as well as his obligation to his deceased father.
“To be or not to be, that is the question; whether’ tis nobler in the mind to suffer...” (Shakespeare Act 3, Scene 1). This quotation proves Hamlet becomes inferior to others and the environment through his madness, causing him to express himself explicitly towards others. Hamlet’s madness not only causes his loved ones lives but it allows his “end” to come because he accepts every challenge from his opponent. Hamlet’s madness not only affects him but Ophelia, who is mentally torn apart by Hamlet. Ophelia was once flawless, but since her encounter with Hamlet she has fallen into the same madness and wants to kill herself.
We have already seen Hamlet express his thoughts about his mother and her marrying “My father’s brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules.” (1.2.154-55). His anger towards women is obvious and clear to us, and he even goes so far as to use the analogy “Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words” (2.2.597). I will argue that even in the context of Elizabethan England when women were seen as little more than property, Hamlet ascends such simple sexism expressed in those times to sculpt himself to the most misogynistic character in the entire play, from the loathing of his mother to his condescension of Ophelia. Hamlet’s misogyny may very well begin with his thoughts about his own mother. Early in the play we first see Hamlet as a young prince who has just lost his father.
Hamlet’s grief over his father sudden death is intensified by his mother’s hasty marriage to his uncle whom he considers inferior and venomous naturally. He denounces her disloyalty in the words, “frailty thy name is woman”, and juxtaposes Claudius’ inferiority to his father’s greatness in the image of “Hyperion to a satyr”. Furthermore his allusion to Niobe and the contrast between her mother’s “galled eyes” and her “dexterity to incestuous sheets”, serve only to accentuate his
Zeffirelli exceeds in this category as well. When Hamlet was speaking with his mother, the disdain is jumping off the screen. Hamlet attacks his mother and is so wrought with passion and vengeance that he kills Polonius mistaking him for Claudius. This depiction of Hamlet is accomplished in displaying the Passion Shakespeare aspired for. Next, in the scene where Hamlet is essentially breaking up with Ophelia his passion for her is portrayed.