As I was thinking about my blog post for this week, I realized that there is one major component of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark that I’m pretty disappointed in – the women. Throughout the readings, I think I’ve been expecting Queen Gertrude and Ophelia to come out of the background and make some sort of profound difference in the turn of events of this play. This is the first play this semester in which I actually dislike the female characters. There is not one woman in all of them that I found myself really siding against, even when it comes to the slightly exasperating and oblivious characters like Helena and Hermia. When it comes to Gertrude and Ophelia, however, I’m thoroughly annoyed.
Gertrude is a puppet. I felt for Hamlet when he grieved over how quickly his mother remarried, but I had hope that perhaps Gertrude was forced into it and would redeem herself in the end. She seems to be doing the opposite. When Hamlet kills Polonius, instead of protecting the son she publicly claims to love so much, she runs directly to Claudius to tell him what has happened. She has complete power to keep anyone from finding out that Hamlet had anything to do with the death, but instead she is extremely quick to ensure the destruction of Hamlet’s reputation and life by confessing his deed to her new king. It’s not that I don’t like seeing a female villain (in fact, that would be very intriguing). The problem I have with Gertrude is that she does nothing for herself, and all her bad deeds seem to stem from a man. Even if she became one of Shakespeare’s most evil characters, if she did it on her own I would not resent her so much. Instead, she does everything Claudius wants her to do, and is so easily manipulated.
This brings me to Ophelia, who is wimpy and pathetic. Literally everything she does in this play revolves around Hamlet. The scene where her father and brother tell her not to fall in love with him, the scene when Ophelia interacts with the “mad” Hamlet, the fact that she goes insane over something Hamlet has done: it’s all about him! Even when Polonius and Laertes discuss her, it’s regarding Hamlet. It kills me that this woman has such little identity of her own. At the end of this reading of Act IV, she kills herself because Hamlet has killed her father, and I’m left feeling very confused as to why she is in this play at all. Before I even read the play, I knew the name Ophelia, so I expected her to have more of an impact on things, but I can’t help but dislike her at this point for being so unimportant. Both Gertrude and Ophelia have disappointed me now, but as the play finishes up, at least Gertrude has a chance to redeem herself a bit.
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5 comments:
I have to admit I had originally thought that the women in this play were overlooked by the other characters within this novel. The question regarding whether or not they are useful never truly occured to me. Ophelia however seems to be one of importance. Without her/her death specifically I believe that would not have sent Hamlet over the edge as he is seen to have done. Without these women, profound monolauges or not, the play would not hold the same intrigue as it does today.
I find the females in this play to be weak. They are not at all like the females of the other plays. They seem to be useless in a sense where the men completely overpower them. I'm not sure if Gertrude is under some kind of spell as far as Claudius is concerned. I think she may truly find her son to be mad, but I understand that throwing him under the bus is not what a mother would do to protect her child. I feel as though Ophelia may hold some value to this play. I think that Hamlet truly does love her, but doesn't want her to become wrapped up in the drama and her death will have a great impact on him. However, if the women were not so complacent in this play it very well could take a different direction and our focus would be more on them and not so much on Hamlet.
I truly agree with you. There is little redeeming about the female characters in this play. However, I must say though I have seen it in production where the actors manage to add depth that is not always apparent from just reading the text. When I saw it two summers ago at Shakespeare in the Park Margret Colin who played Gertrude found moments when she was not speaking to display her true feelings about Claudius by wiping off a kiss he gives her. As for Ophelia, she was lack luster and boring until the onset of her madness, but once Lauren Ambrose became mad she was absolutely captivating!
I do have to agree with you that the women of this play are not the strongest characters that Shakespeare has ever given the world. I also agree that Gertrude is a very weak character in that she seems to let people manipulate her and always tells Claudius all that is going on. However I must disagree when it comes to Ophelia. I find her as a moving force in the play. She is taken away from Hamlet and this along with her death is one of the forces that pushes Hamlet over the edge. It is also more fuel for the fire for Laertes. So yes, her personality is not one of the strongest. But I do not find her to be a weak character personally.
I agree, in comparison to the women of previous plays Ophelia and Gertrude are serious let downs. Its curious that in this play the women are so weak and subservient to men while in others they retaliate and speak their minds. While these two woman's characters are annoying I think what we talked about in class is important. These roles were written with specific people in mind. Is it possible that Gertrude and Ophelia reflect the people Shakespeare wanted for these roles? I think that it's possible that this relates to some of this. However, over all I agree they are frustrating characters.
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