Hamlet, in some of his comments, shows strong
prejudice against women. The immediate cause for this negative attitude is the
activities of Gertrude, his own mother. We first see him in a
melancholic mood, as if he seems to have lost all sense of interest in life,
The sudden death of his father and the disgust at the abrupt second marriage of
his mother contribute considerably to his miserable condition. However, it
seems that he attaches much more significance to the latter.
Although both Gertrude and Claudius show coldness to the memory of the
late king by asking Hamlet not to mourn for such an extensive period, their
motives are different. Claudius does so because he wants Hamlet to take his
father's death as a natural one, so that he does not probe the matter. Being
the murderer, naturally he is afraid of Hamlet's attaching excessive importance
to it. So he tries to convince Hamlet that this is nothing particular to him,
rather it is a common happening in human life: "But you must know
your father is a lost father".
Gertrude, being a mother, also attaches more
importance to Hamlets returning to normalcy, because she is more anxious about
the health of her son than the memory of her late husband. At this point,
however passionate she is to Hamlet, Gertrude pathetically fails to
understand the real motive in his prolonged mourning, and neglects to give him
the emotional support he desperately requires. Moreover, she has
already weakened her credibility to him because of her second marriage. She
completely fails to realise that her "hasty marriage" has
exacerbated Hamlets melancholy.
Again, while Hamlet is terribly disgusted by her
apathy to the memory of the late king, exhibiting her poor understanding for
his real sentiment, she asks him to accept the death of his father as a natural
phenomenon. The irony however lies in the fact that her own
reaction to the death of her husband is unnatural - since she fails to
sympathise with her mourning son, which is what the natural course of action
would be. Claudius also echoes this attitude exhibiting by Gertrude. To him,
Hamlets mourning is synonymous to "obstinate, impious stubbornness,
unmanly grief". Instead of taking the death of his father 'to heart'
he advises him to "throw this unprevailing woe to earth",
and should thing of Claudius "as of a father". He almost allures him:
- "and let the world take note, You are the most immediate to our
throne".
Hamlet wants to find some explanation for his
mothers attachment to Claudius. To his utter dismay, failing to understand that
his mother is more a simpleton than lustful woman, he finds her as a
lecherous and negligent mother. He expects his mother to be
a weeping widow at the irreparable loss in her life as well as in his own, but
he does not find her so. Finding no other explanation to his mother's behavior,
he starts to believe that she places her sexual and primitive desire above her
love and affection for him and his father. This misunderstanding of his
mother creates and develops in Hamlets mind a profound dislike for women. He
thinks it is common weakness of women that leads her to these abominable
activities.
However, some would argue that Gertrude
is only a puppet guided by patriarchal rule in all affairs. So is Ophelia; even in her love affair she is guided by
her father and brother. She does not understand that she is a play-thing in the
hands of her father who is appointed by Claudius to discover the true cause of
Hamlet's madness. She does not betray any independence of thinking, but also
shows her foolish submissiveness to her brothers and fathers instructions in regard to her
relationship with Hamlet. Without any protest she allows herself to be used by
Polonius and Claudius as a distraction against Hamlet. Hamlet painfully
perceives these events as they unfold. That is why he rushes to Ophelia's
private chamber in a frightful appearance, to inspect her face closely, just to
authenticate his perception. Certainly, it contributes a lot to intensify his
already negative attitude towards women, formed by the way his mother behaves. Here
Ophelia is much like Gertrude, earlier the queen surrendered to Claudius's
"importunity" without ever questioning the motives of the latter.
Unlike Gertrude, Ophelia
shows some strength in her character in a sense that she is not entirely vulnerable. But she is placed in a very difficult situation. Ophelia has
a keen perception, she understands many things, but she cannot express herself
because the patriarchy of the age doesn't allow her to go beyond a certain
level. In this play, Ophelia is the second tragic character. Although
Shakespeare does not make her the protagonist of the play, he places her beside
Hamlet in her tragic appeal, who wins our pity. Indeed, with the
exception of Horatio, only Ophelia could comprehensively evaluate Hamlet.
However, many critics have labelled
Gertrude to be an intellectual character. Admittedly this is not an
orthodox interpretation as she is not presented as a character with a voice, so
to speak. Unlike Hamlet, Gertrude doesn't extensively comment on minute aspects
of life but rather speaks on matters at hand in a very concise manner. This
shows her ability to understand, process, and articulate responses under
pressure; just like in her closet scene. Dr. Helibrun contends that "Gertrude
is not a weak character who lacks depth and vigorous intelligence".
So having quantified the aforementioned points,
we come to realise that, though Shakespeare was born and brought up in this
male dominated 16th century English society, he seems to have rejected
the values upheld by his society about women. Indeed, he attaches more
importance to women in almost all his plays making them the catalyst of his
tragedies and the devices that bring them to an end.
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