Kevin Matte Mrs. Bailey Bean Gr. 11 University English November 16th, 2011 How Hamlet Treats Women In this love story, Hamlet, a main character in the play has dilemmas with his love life. Hamlet is the most controversial characters in this novel, too fully and thoroughly understand his characters feelings and actions the reader must understand his pain. Hamlet is a male character that was not fond of the opposite sex, until his heart was broken. His attitude makes it seem like he finds women untrustworthy and weak.
They are both alike in the way that they fall for Duke during her time disguising as a man. Maria and Unice as well have differences between them. Maria is a maid of Olivia in the play, tricking Malvolio into believing Olivia is infatuated in him, falsely accusing him of being mad for his silly acts he
Hero strongly believes in marriage and love, unlike her cousin Beatrice. Beatrice is much more outspoken than Hero, especially on the subjects of love and marriage. She is always saying how she highly disapproves of both. After being deceived to think that Hero is cheating on him, Claudio publicly states that she is no longer pure and is no longer worth marrying at their wedding ceremony. It is here where Hero ties to the theme.
Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is not even a relationship because they have to sneak around and lie to everybody they love. At the beginning of the story, Romeo claims to be so in love with Rosaline. He says that he cannot find another girl to love and that Rosaline will be the only girl that he’ll ever be able to love. Romeo’s friend Marcuteo tells Romeo that he needs to look for other beauty’s, and Romeo disagrees because he believes that Rosaline is the only women for him. But she could not love Romeo back because she was a nun, and that is against her religion.
To a great extent, modern audiences would find the portrayal objectification of women very much ominous, especially in the case of Hero. Shakespeare’s depiction of the interactions between Claudio, her future husband and Leonato, her father prior to Hero’s public shaming conveys this. In act two scene one Leonato says to Claudio ‘take of me my daughter, and with her my fortunes’ (2/1/280). Here the two men are discussing the giving of Hero as if she were an object to be traded and that his adult daughter is in no position to decide who she marries. Shakespeare presents the stranglehold that men have over women and furthers the notion that men view women as items to be controlled in Messina culture.
Women are the weaker sex in this play: they are forced into giving into male power by doing what they are told; which is expected of them. Characters like Beatrice do not conform: she is the complete opposite to what a woman should have been like in Elizabethan times. Women were expected to be quiet and obedient. She, however, is a loud, aggressive and sarcastic character, and she does not obey the commands of any man. If anything she gives commands, ordering Benedick to “kill Claudio”.
Lysander and Demetrius are constantly ‘warring’ over their love for Hermia or Helena, and do not observe the rules of fair play. Puck’s ‘love’ for mischief caused him to disregard fair treatment of the mortals, and the use of love juice in general could be considered unfair, however, without it, there would be no ‘happy ending’ to the play. The origin of the ‘war’ between Oberon and Titania is Oberon’s jealousy of Titania’s love for a mortal boy, whom she stole from and Indian King. This storyline links to the quote ‘All is fair in love and war’ in multiple ways. Firstly, it was unfair of Titania to steal the Indian King’s son.
First, the fact that Juliet is a Capulet and Romeo is a Montague instantly forbids their love and creates the first of many obstacles for the teenage lovers. Next we see that Romeo and Juliet are not able to properly communicate as a couple normally would because they are unable to see each other often. Their relationship is forced to be hidden and they must arrange all meetings through Juliet’s nurse, which proves to be a successful but daunting task. Another hardship their relationship endures is when Romeo is charged with killing Tybalt. Although the killing was ultimately ruled justified by the Prince because he knew Romeo had good intentions, Romeo was still forced to leave Verona and was sent to
Even though she has feelings for the other partner, she is still willing to leave her husband to be with him. For instance, she quotes, “Perchance in rage, he’ll kill me, I care not, twas for you. Say I incur The general name of villain through the world, of traitor to my friend; I care not, I” In this quote, the woman is telling her lover that she doesn’t care for him and that if she was to be with him, she will be labeled as a villain. Clearly, the secret lover had fallen in love with the married woman, but he was only a temporary spark for her. Not only does the poem provide the audience with tension between love and infatuation, but love vs. insanity as well.
He thinks marriage reduces the quality of a man’s life. Benedick is the bachelor who is also fearful of the idea of cuckoldry “I will do myself to trust none” and he would choose to live a “bachelor”. While Beatrice is a fellow Bachelorette who thinks all men are not worthy of her “not till God makes a man of some other metal than earth” Beatrice is a very soft-hearted lady, but does not show this. At the very first mention of Benedick in the play, Beatrice begins with insults and the audiences soon notice that she is trying to hide the fact that she has true feelings for Benedick. However Although Beatrice’s comments to Benedick are considered as rude, the fact that they are so witty, and do that to amuse each other, not a sour tone included, shows us that she doesn't really mean most of the things she says.