Women and Frailty in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay - 1330 Words

Women and Frailty The two women in Shakespeares tragic play Hamlet play larger parts than meets the eye. These two women embody the saying, there are no small parts, only small actors. While Gertrude, Hamlets mother, and Ophelia, Hamlets lover, are very different and lead different lives, they suffer similar fates. Both women have control not of their lives but of their deaths.Gertrude and Ophelia are anything but independent women. The two women need and rely on the strength of the men in their lives. Once they stray away from these influential men, the women find their ultimate demise. Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark, appears to have no genuine thoughts. She agrees with her husband each time he opens his mouth. While Hamlet†¦show more content†¦O, most wicked speed, to post/ With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!/ It is not, nor it cannot come to good./ But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue (I, ii, 153-159). Hamlets attitude soon changes. Hamlet does care about his mother and does not want to hurt her too much. He makes this very evident when he gives his speech for the fifth soliloquy. Hamlet remarks that he must do as his father asked and not punish him mother: Soft, not to my mother./ O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever/ The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom./ Let me be cruel, but not unnatural;/ I will speak daggers to her, but use none./ My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites:/ How in my words somever she be shent,/ To give them seals never, my soul, consent! (III, iii, 400-407) Hamlet knows that what he has to do, he must follow his fathers wishes, all of them. Not only did the ghost request that Hamlet avenge his death but he made sure to keep a watchful eye on his wife. Hamlet gets carried away while speaking with his mother in her bedroom forgetting what he has said about being cruel, but not unnatural. He raises his voice to his mother crying out his feeling: Sense sure you have,/ Else could you not have motion, but sure that sense/ Is apoplexed, for madness would not err,/ NorShow MoreRelatedWomen ´s Role in Othello by William Shakespeare717 Words   |  3 PagesFrailty, thy Name is Woman Women stereotypically are portrayed as a weak gender. Often women are given the roles in which they must rely on the protection and permission of men to go about both action and idea. When conflict occurs between any male characters, the female character can be torn and forced to make a decision in which no matter the decision, she will be put in a bad view. 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