Gertrude and Ophelia (Hamlet) Essay

In juncture, the women act the small roles portraying their historical status at the time. Although Gertrude is the Queen of Denmark and Ophelia is the princes lovers, they have no standing in the society and their voices be never heard. Their actions and fates are greatly influenced by the mens decisions. both their lives Ophelia and Gertrude are led by the mens power they together make a weakened image of dependent women at Shakespeares time.Although Gertrude and Ophelia are not well developed through out the turning, their actions, language and influence on the play portray them as the obedient passive type of women. Gertrude is Hamlets mother, a queen who betrayed her husband and got seduced by the princes uncle Claudius. She remarried with him and there afterwards obeyed every order from Claudius. Gertrude is objectified by Claudius, as he said my cr receive, mine birth ambition and my Queen. To him the queen is one of his possessions and not even listed as the first. This suggested Gertrude is used by Claudius to get to the throne. The hasty marriage only a few weeks after her husbands death shows her great dependence on men. Hamlets proclamation that he will speak daggers to her, but use no(prenominal) illustrate that he perceives her to be inferior, weak enough to fall foul to his words. Overall, Gertrude is the type of women that cannot survive without a man in her life, with such a weak soul she betrays her own husband and son.Ophelia is different from Gertrude. She is innocent, and nave with no experience in life. She does love Hamlet with her pure heart, but she is also too manageable to her dad Polonius and brother Laertes. As they claim Hamlet is dangerous, that Hamlets will is not his own and that she should fear him, she does not try to oppose him, or justify Hamlets affections instead she tells Laertes that he shall keep the key of her memory. Polonius insults her and Hamlets love, responding to her declaration that Hamlet has of late m ade tenders of his affection he cries Affection? PoohDo you believe his tenders as you call them? to which Ophelia replies I do not know, my lord, what I should think.She gives all the other male influences in her life. later on in the play, after Hamlet killed Polonius and runs away, Laertes is in France, she has no one to turn to. She depends too much on those people, now without any support she turns tomadness and ultimately commits suicide. All her life Ophelia is led by others and has never decided anything but her death.Hamlet was written in a time when women were not even allowed to play themselves on stage, women were seen as inferior and women were owned by men. Ophelia and Gertrude have no real Autonomy, they are at the mercy of Hamlet, Claudius, Rodrigo, and Laertes moods to define their moods, and when the men are in conflict the women suffer, which is death in this case. They are a portrait of what women in Shakespeares time were like, dependent on men and never could control their own fate.Work CitedShakespeare, William. Hamlet. Rpt. in Compact Literature Reading Reacting Writing. By Kirszner and Mandell. 6th ed. 2007.