What was Gertrude thinking? Did she love Old Hamlet? Or was she in love with Claudius? This paper shall look at the differences between Shakespeare’s Gertrude in Hamlet and Sir Laurence Olivier’s version of Gertrude. Her actions, her tone, and her clothing show a different woman in a comparison of the text and the film.
William Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet, offers detailed and often callous insights into the role of women, and men, in the Renaissance period in which the playwright lived in. Throughout this time, traditional women were often constantly criticised and treated as inferior to male counterparts. As such, Shakespeare has constructed his female characters to fulfil these traditional roles; however by taking a feminist approach these female characters appear marginalised and degraded. Ultimately, through the playwright’s representation of women, they can be see as worthless, sexual objects , both weak and inconsiderate in nature. Through a modern perception on the playwright’s female characters, women can be seen as worthless, sexually corrupt indiviudals.
Melizabeth Garcia November 23, 2011 AP Literature In the beginning of Act III, the King and Queen are discussing Hamlet’s behavior with his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The court is wondering why Hamlet is so depressed and behaving strangely. Claudius and Polonius plan on spying on Ophelia and Hamlet’s conversation. Hamlet is contemplating whether to kill himself or to live and face the consciences. Shakespeare’s use of word choice and imagery show Hamlet’s thoughts on the vitality of life and worthiness of life and Shakespeare also shows how Hamlet is more intelligent then what people take him to be.
Thesis and Arguments Thesis Both Shakespeare and Glaspell explore the importance of women in their plays. While Shakespeare uses Ophelia in order to question the power of gender, Glaspell uses Mrs. Wright in order to challenge the power of character. In doing so, the authors’ plays feature aspects of male dominance, the devaluing of female intelligence and the loss of innocence. Arguments 1. Both plays feature women dominated by the men in their lives.
Lear, assaulted womanhood and his attitude towards women was revealed in the depth of the curse and what omens he wished upon Goneril. This may be Shakespeare using Lear as a tool to express his own dislike towards women or conversely, show how devastating it is for a parent to have an ungrateful child that turns her sadness into joy. Furthermore, through statement from “Never afflict/That scope” spoken by Goneril may be an indirect reference to the elderly and how they may rave on about senile matters that are of no concern to the younger generation as this is what Goneril thinks of Lear when he is this angry ranting on about cursing Goneril. The bulk of this text is very emotional as it focuses on Lear degenerating Goneril as a female. The mood is very dark and gloomy.
Given the fact that the entirety of the play challenges stereotypes and performativity, Kate’s final speech is called into question. Shakespeare’s language in this passage (4.3.31-35), along with the stage direction of “beats him” (4.3.35) shows that Kate has retained her spirited nature. She calls Grumio a “false, deluding slave.” (4.3.31) A slave is a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. A docile and submissive person, or one who has been tamed, does not speak to others as though they have authority, hence their submissive nature. During Shakespeare’s time, a woman especially did not speak to a man like that because of the gender hierarchies of the time period.
They were done purposefully, now the question is why>? Why did Shakespeare choose to portray the women in his play Hamlet like this, and why did he have the other characters in the play relate to them as frail, weak, and even as letter humans? The truth is that every writer, when writing will capture a bit- no matter how small- of themselves in their work. There work will be a reflection of their perspectives, of their opinions, and of them. This comes as no surprise, because if you aren't going to write your own ideas, what is the significance of writing at all?
In the conversation between Dr. Stockman and his wife, as an example, Dr. Stockman says that ‘Yes, but I have right on mine!’ His Wife, Mrs. Stockman immediately reposes to his saying that ‘Right! Yes, of course. But what’s the use of right without might?’ The conversation suggests plainly that the ignorance can turn wrongness into righteousness. They change the might to the right and change the lie to the truth. Public opinion, in the play, decides all.
The nurse informs him how distraught Medea is and warns the tutor to keep the boys away from her, as Medea seems to hate them and the nurse isn’t sure what Medea will do to them when she is in this state. As this is going on, Medea is heard from off stage, screaming and crying, not at all coping with the current situation she is in. There is then a chorale ode where they talk about what Jason has done to Medea and how they are siding with her in all the drama. Medea then gives a speech where she asks Artemis and Themis to help her get revenge on Jason for what he has done to her. She then exits the palace and comes on stage.
When having heard an owl, she cries ‘Hark, Peace!’ This remark shows you that she is jittery, as on a normal occasion she wouldn’t have even noticed the owl because based on what we know of her character so far she isn’t the jumpy type of person. It’s also slightly ironic how she calls out for ‘peace’ because you automatically make the connection to god’s peace: whereas the audience all knows she is damned. You also surprisingly see a psychological vulnerability in Lady Macbeth. She tells Macbeth that Duncan ‘resembled my father as he slept,’ and if it weren’t for that she would have murdered him herself. This is wildly contradicting her cold persona.