Hamlet, the fabled Prince of Denmark, is arguably the most enigmatic character in all of William Shakespeare’s plays. One of his trademark characteristics is his belief that women are vastly inferior to men in society – an attitude that existed during the Elizabethan era in which Shakespeare lived.
Hamlet’s overall attitude towards women can be described in 3 parts.
Firstly, Hamlet hates women. The person totally responsible for spawning such feelings of hatred in him is his mother, Queen Gertrude. The event that gives birth to his hatred is Gertrude’s marriage to her brother-in-law Claudius very soon after the untimely death of her husband, King Hamlet. To Hamlet, who loved his father very much, this act is near sacrilege. His devastation is exacerbated when his father’s ghost reveals to him the truth behind his murder at the hands of the man who is now his mother’s new husband.
Hamlet reveals his attitude to Gertrude by enacting The Mousetrap show in Act III, Scene ii where the king is murdered by poison poured in his ear, and his murderer goes on to seduce the queen who capitulates to his charm – an exact replica of the real-life events surrounding the death of Hamlet’s father. When his mother summons him to her room after the play, Hamlet makes up his mind to be brutally frank with her while at the same time not relinquishing his self-control (“I will speak daggers to her, but use none”.
Hamlet reveals his attitude to Ophelia by harshly telling her that while he once loved her, those feelings have now vanished. When Hamlet meets her early in Act III (while Claudius and Polonius eavesdrop behind a tapestry), he flies into a rage, bitterly denouncing women in general for misleading men by applying makeup to look prettier than they actually are, adding that women are liars who do not deserve to be allowed by marrying. The stunned girl can only numbly conclude that her lover has become insane (‘O what a noble mind is here overthrown.
Hamlet’s second attitude is that he has a very low opinion of women. He is convinced that women are morally corrupt and therefore not trustworthy.
He reveals this attitude to Gertrude in Act III, Scene 4, when she scolds him for offending Claudius by enacting The Mousetrap. Hamlet turns on her furiously, saying it is she who has offended his father by getting married to Claudius, and vows to make her totally aware of the enormity of her sinful action (“You go not till I set you up a glass/ Where you may see the inmost part of you”. In the same scene when Hamlet kills the hidden Polonius, Gertrude denounces it as a “rash and bloody” act. This causes her son to sarcastically retort that his act was just as horrendous as what happened to his father (“A bloody deed – almost as bad, good mother/ As kill a king and marry with his brother” . When his shocked mother cries out in horror, “As kill a king,” he stoically retorts that she heard him rightly. He goes on to lavishly praise his dead father as having “Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself” while disparaging Claudius and ends by demanding to know what led Gertrude to marry her despicable brother-in-law. Hamlet’s direct accusation stirs Gertrude’s conscience, making her look deep within herself, into her “very soul,” which she finds besmirched with “black and grained spots”. Her candid admission causes Hamlet’s distrust of her to deepen further.
Hamlet displays this attitude to Ophelia by berating her with bawdy remarks steeped in sexual innuendo. For example, Hamlet tests her to judge if she will tell him the truth about the whereabouts of Polonius. When the girl, the obedient daughter that she is, lies to him, he insults her cruelly: “Get thee to a nunnery” (‘nunnery’ was a coarse translation for ‘whorehouse’ during Elizabethan times) instead of becoming a “breeder of sinners” (III.i.122). In another example, when she praises his keen intellect (“You are keen, my lord, you are keen,” he stingingly retorts, “It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge” (III.ii.227-228).
Hamlet’s third attitude is that women are immoral sexual beings who will stoop even to incestuous relationships to satisfy their bodily hunger.
Hamlet believes his mother has committed incest by marrying her husband’s own brother. To him, this act shows her shallow morality that is superseded by the great need for selfish personal sexual gratification. Gertrude never considers that Hamlet would be feeling sad and lonely after the death of his father and needed his mother to share his sorrow and comfort him during the mourning period. Hamlet forces her to starkly realize that he considers her act of marrying Claudius both incestuous and adulterous. He chides his mother for deviating from morality, urging her to mend her ways: “Go not to my Uncle’s bed. Assume a virtue, if you have it”. Gertrude’s simple-minded response, “What shall I do?” infuriates him further as it denotes she is only thinking of her physical desires, wondering how to appease them if she follows her son’s advice. As it is, Hamlet was earlier furious at his mother’s nonchalant reaction to the role of the queen in The Mouse Trap (Gertrude opined: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks” meaning that in actual life, a widow would naturally want to get married again.
Although he does not openly accuse Ophelia, it is highly possible that Hamlet is aware of the incestuous feelings her brother Laertes harbors towards her (He would surely have heard and understood the frequent remarks steeped in sexual innuendo that Laertes directed at Ophelia). It is very likely that a significant part of Hamlet’s animosity towards Ophelia stems from a suspicion that she either caused such incestuous feelings to develop in Laertes, or did not do enough to discourage such feelings, or worse still, exacerbated such feelings by engaging in incestuous sexual acts with her brother.
Hamlet’s hostile attitude towards women is evident in his condemnation of women in general (“Frailty, thy name is woman!”) in Act II. His attitude affects his relations with the two most important women in his life – Gertrude and Ophelia – so much that it depresses him and makes him frequently think about committing suicide (“To be, or not to be: that is the question”.
References
Shakespeare, William. “Hamlet.” Thomas Learning Publishers, 2001.