Hamlet s Life And The Way That He Portrays Women Essay

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there is no doubt that Gertrude has had quite the major impact on Hamlet’s life and the way that he portrays women. Gertrude is the only woman in Hamlet’s life, so his view on women is strictly based off of what he knows about his mother. But is Gertrude a horrible mother? Is she a good mother? Is Ophelia a whore, or is this assumption based solely on Hamlet’s perspective of his mother? These questions can be answered through both a psychological and feminine approach, along with Sigmund Freud, who has a lot to say about the psychology of the mother-son relationship. Around 440 B.C. one of the most influential writers of Ancient Greece, Sophocles, wrote about a man named Oedipus Rex who murdered his father and slept with his mother. Since then the psychology of the mother-son relationship has been thoroughly studied and analyzed. Freud displayed the greatest amount of interest in this topic, and from his interest developed the theory of the Oedipal Complex, where boys between the ages of three and five desire their mothers and subconsciously want their fathers out of the picture so they could take up that role. Essentially, a boy feels like he is in a competition with his father for possession of his mother, and his father automatically becomes his rival for both her attention and affection. The Oedipus Complex plays an important role in the phallic stage of psychosexual development, and it serves as an important point in formingShow MoreRelatedHamlet Character Analysis1502 Words   |  7 PagesWritten by William Shakespeare, Hamlet has a st rong relationship with the authors society and era, being the late 1500’s to early 1600’s. Hamlet, a character is confliction with his society, shows different views and actions to his fellow Danish men. Shakespeare could create a character whom through Hamlet’s life choices, his own historical and cultural context and the state of Hamlet being in confliction with the Elizabethan-era and Nihilism showed immense differences from his society, which ShakespeareRead MoreWomen s Role During The Elizabethan Era1253 Words   |  6 Pagesera has been viewed in different ways. â€Å" Hamlet† by shakespeare gives us a look at the role women played. Throughout the play Ophelia and Gertrude gave us a look at how women were during the Elizabethan era but to give you more of an insight as to what a Elizabethan I ll give you a overall look at what it s like to be an Elizabethan women, how it s like and what is an Elizabethan women. Also how Ophelia and Gertrude may rel ate the Elizabethan women. A woman s role in my point of view is thatRead MoreShakespeare s Hamlet - Hamlet And Ophelia958 Words   |  4 PagesHamlet and Ophelia The play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare is the perfect example of how love can not always conquer all. Hamlet may be regarded as one of Shakespeare s greatest plays. This play follows the story of a young prince named Hamlet who lost his father and had his family torn apart by the hands of his Uncle, Claudius who is now king and step father to Hamlet. Subsequently, Hamlet was also having relational problems with his love, Ophelia. The relationship between Hamlet and OpheliaRead MoreAnalysis Of John Donne s Poem1449 Words   |  6 Pagesbetrayal, leading the poet to deem the existence of fair and true women as impossible and fantastical as literally catching a falling star. That even in a ten-thousand-day journey, with age a man would come to his sensing, understanding the fantasy during reality that good women do not exist. This idea is reinforced with imagery of witchcraft, and an allusion to sirens (singing mermaids). Taking into account the perceptions of women described in Donne’s poem, analyzing the respective story’s mainRead MoreHamlet, The Queen Of Denmark And The Mother Of Hamlet1722 Words   |  7 Pages06/28/14 In Hamlet there are 2 women in the intire play, one of them is Gertrude. Gertude is the queen of Denmark and the mother of Hamlet. The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude(his mom) is rough because she marrys her husbands brother Claudius after killing King Hamlet and is now king of Denmark. She seemed not to have any guilt what so ever. The second girl in Hamlet is Ophelia, she is the girl who hamlet had a crush on, and went mad after her father died with a sword. Both women are veryRead MoreWomens Role in Shakespearean Tragedy1742 Words   |  7 Pagesinfluence with other characters and their purpose or role, often underestimated like women themselves, will be this essays main subject. Women in Shakespearean plays have always had important roles, sometimes even the leading role. Whether they create the main conflicts and base of the plays, or bring up interesting moral and cultural questions, they have always been put in challenging situations. Some women are stronger than others, and their effect on the play is different for each one. TheyRead More T.S Eliot’s Preludes and The Love Song of J.Alfred. Prufrock, are examples1059 Words   |  5 Pagespoetry which illustrate the concerns of modernist poets. The modern era, which lasted between 1885 to 1940 was concerned with challenging the traditional views of life. In terms of literature, Eliot was a leading figure in challenging the style and verse of traditional romantic poetry. Preludes portrays the hopeless and monotonous life of the working class in an urbanised, dirty, industrialised city. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock primarily represents Eliot’s view on relationships, societyRead MoreThe Portrayal Of Women During The Most Famous Works, Hamlet, By William Shakespeare1885 Words   |  8 PagesWilliam Shakespeare has written many major tragedies, most of which highlight negative stereotypes of women. In one of his most famous works, Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays the women in the play as being weak, dependent and subordinate to men. Throughout the play, it seems as though these women have no actual standing in society. They are shamed for embracing their sexuality and their opinions are not respected or even taken into consideration. Gertrude’s character is limited by guilt and sheRead More Revenge and Vengeance in Shakespeares Hamlet - Beyond Vengeance1547 Words   |  7 PagesRevenge in Hamlet      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is an old saying, The sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons. When the sons in question are Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras - pivotal characters in Shakespeares Hamlet - one might wonder how each mans father affects their particular natures - their particular sins. While Hamlet could be considered a story in the vein of Cain and Abel; a jealous man who slays his brother, an allusion which Claudius himself makes during his prayer at the climax of theRead MoreLiterary Scholarship And Criticism Of Shakespeare s The Invention Of The Human 1309 Words   |  6 Pagesasserts that Shakespeare is the metaphorical â€Å"inventor of man.† Bloom writes: The plays remain the outward limit of human achievement: aesthetically, cognitively, in certain ways morally, even spiritually. They abide beyond the end of the mind’s reach, we cannot catch up to them. Shakespeare will go on explaining us, in part because, he invented us† (pp. 19-20). Bloom’s audacious evaluation of Shakespeare has been echoed throughout the canon of literary scholarship and criticism. In fact, Bloom’s â€Å"invention†