Gertrude Hamlet Feminist Analysis

In the tragic playwright The Tragedy Of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare presents different scenes and situations during the play that portrayed the oppression of how women were viewed back then in that time during the early 17th century. Shakespeare centers this unjust and cruel behavior towards the two most prominent women in the play; his mother Gertrude, and his lover Ophelia. Shakespeare first shows the hatred that exists between both Hamlet's’ relationships with Gertrude and Ophelia. Hamlet’s two distinctive relationships between his mother and lover come to be similar when his character lashes out and becomes angry. In scenes where Hamlet is livid and ballistic, it defines the hate that then comes out in these relationships …show more content…
Ophelia dies from drowning in the lake which also could be seen as suicide from other points of views. Before Ophelia’s death happened she was singing as she does best and looks as if she is a crazy lady that only cares about finding love while following orders from her father Polonius and her brother Laertes. Gertrude dies from also what can be seen as suicide, by drinking the poisoned wine. She appears as stupid and has no clue about any of the things Claudius was doing because she was so blindsided by his love. Shakespeare intends to make both Gertrude and Ophelia look easy and foolish in the occurrence of their deaths. In opposition, viewers can say that Shakespeare’s way of killing both women wasn’t a suicidal death, but the actions and behaviors of Ophelia and Gertrude before their death can say otherwise. Ophelia was singing and just overall being crazy while Gertrude didn’t even see her death coming because she was so in love with her husband Claudius. Killing both significant women off before the end of the play comes across as if they were meaningless; and the way both Gertrude and Ophelia died, shows that men like Shakespeare believe that women are weak, crazy, and easy to manipulate due to love, social status, and …show more content…
There are times when his work can be seen as oppressive towards not only women, but to men too, however like stated before, he shows this oppressive behavior mainly towards the two female leading roles, Gertrude and Ophelia. Shakespeare’s work shows that back then during the time of the 17th century, women were looked upon as worthless, not important, and disgusting, no matter how significant those women were to other characters in the story. In the tragic playwright The Tragedy Of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare presents different scenes and situations during the play that portrayed the oppression of how women were viewed back