He calls her foolish for believing anything Hamlet says to her. Ophelia argues with her father and tries to convince him that Hamlet truly does love her and speaks nothing but the truth when he is with her. Polonius tells Ophelia not to mistake a fire with true love. Hamlet is young and can do as he pleases with whoever he wants begins to get short tempered and tells her not to believe his word. To sum up his speech, Polonius forbids Ophelia from talking to and seeing Hamlet so she doesn’t
King Lear says to his daughters ‘if it be you that stirs these daughters’ hearts against their father’ which shows how he feels betrayed: a feeling he may have not felt if he had not been so foolish to dismiss Cordelia for her honesty. Cordelia, however, plays a smaller role in the first few Acts of the play as she is disowned by her father and is not visited. Gonerill and Regan are both cruel father and do not have the same loyalty we get the impression as Cordelia does. Cordelia says at the beginning of the play ‘what shall Cordelia speak, love and be silent’ which shows that she loves her father however doesn’t feel she should lie about how much she loves her father. This truthfulness however lands her in a bad place as she is disowned by her father for not professing her love.
The betrayal of Polynieces causes his sister, Antigone, to start another long line of betrayal throughout the rest of the play. Antigone begins planning her betrayal against Creon and her justice against her brother when she goes to her sister, Ismene, for help. “You must decide whether you will help me or not.” (Line 30, Pg 774). Ismene is a coward and claims she cannot help Antigone, “But I have no strength to break laws that were made for the public good.” (Line 66, Pg 774). The fact that Antigone is now alone is this process does not slow her down at all; not even after Ismene warns her that the consequence of her actions could be death.
Will you cast off pity,” again she gets nowhere and in a last plea before he get his men, she appeals to kindness and like of children. “Show some pity: you are a father too,” this is very clever as she does not actually like her children. 2. She manipulates Creon by pretending she is not a threat “I’m in no position-A woman- to wrong a King.” “I bear no grudge on your happiness:” and “I will bear my wrongs in silence.” She then appeals to his kindness to let her and her children stay. 3.
I did love you once. (III.i.111-115) Hamlet promised to marry Ophelia after he took her innocence. He then began to mistreat her and finally … left her. When Hamlet realizes Ophelia’s father caught him in a trap he becomes furious. In fact he becomes so angry that he tells Ophelia that he never loved her and that instead of marrying she should go to a nunnery rather then pass on her genes to children.
Even after Demetrius declared that he hated Helena and that she made him sick, she still did not realize that she was being mistreated. Helena still praised Demetrius by saying “And I am sick, when I look not on you.” (2.1.214) Helena also did not have confidence in herself. For example, as Lysander confessed his love for her, she did not believe him. Helena thought that Hermia and Lysander were mocking her because she could never be as beautiful as Hermia. Helena seems to be a woman who would do anything for a man’s approval; in the end though not even Lysander’s love brought out Helena’s
Ophelia is a beautiful woman who is at the mercy of the male figures in her life – mainly her father, Polonius and her brother Laertes. Laertes and Polonius love Ophelia tremendously and feel it is their obligation to shelter her from the cruelty of the world. When Polonius is told that Ophelia has entertained Hamlet without any parental consent, it is stifled very quickly by Polonius and Laertes – the double voices of patriarchy – telling her that she is too naive and that her behavior is unsuitable. In Act I, Scene III he begins his dialogue with Ophelia by warning her of the potential danger that love with Hamlet (Ophelia’s lover) could bring. He feels it his obligation to protect her form a potential broken heart: “The canker galls the infants of the spring Too oft before their buttons be disclosed,” (I, III, 39-40) implying that Hamlet, as the canker, may ruin her before she ‘blossoms’.
Both Benedick and Beatrice hate the idea of marriage and continuously express this view throughout the play by saying things like “I’d rather hear a dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me”. Here, Beatrice clearly turns away the idea of love and marriage, going against the status quo. However, once Beatrice hears that Benedick loves her, her views suddenly change, she conforms to the pursuit of marriage and begins to fulfil her socially sanctioned, womanly role. The play at this point becomes conservative, as all the characters are conforming to society’s norms. In Much Ado, Hero is referred to as a “jewel”.
Otheila is one of the women that are depicted as a frail and dependant character because she is a woman. Her main dependence is with her father Polonious and agrees to stay away from Hamlet on the basis of wanting to prove her loyalty, even though she had feelings for Hamlet. It allowed her to be viewed as some sort of puppet that is created by her passive attribute even though she sometimes followed things may not have desired. The dependence on men overtakes her and leads to suicide. The quote” I would give you some violets, but thy withered all with my father’s death” (Hamlet Act V) depicts women having strong faith in men as the betrayal that went on with the male characters she trusted in her life.
It can also be seen that Hamlet’s opinion of woman is due to the influence of the women he knows. Hamlet’s perception of women is distorted because of Ophelia, his love interest, and Gertrude, his mother, who have betrayed him in some way. Both Ophelia and Gertrude are incapable of living without a man and need one in their lives to guide them. Secondly, Ophelia and Gertrude submit and obey their male counterparts to be controlled by them. Lastly, they are both confused and mostly completely unaware of their surroundings.