Role and Portrayal of Women in Hamlet - Close Reading

[iain melville]

Similar to the activity in class, choose one line from the play that
highlights the role of women throughout the play. Scan the line for
relevant features, rhythm, rhyme etc... and write a formal response
that displays your understanding of some of the more technical
features of poetic style and craftsmanship. It's a tough task, no
doubt, but I have faith in all of you. Good Luck!

[amy keung]

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The harlot's cheek, beautied with plast'ring art,
- Claudius (III.i.58)

In the line above, "harlot" denotes wanton women who use "plast'ring
art," or cosmetics, to enhance their appearance. However, Claudius
means this line as a metaphor for his measures to conceal his murder
of the late King. Scansion reveals that although there are ten
syllables present, which is typical of iambic pentameter. The natural
tone through which this line is delivered by the performer indicates
that the metaphor drawn is not extraordinary. However, the stresses of
the third foot are placed differently than in the rest of the line,
and the word "beautied" becomes prominent to the audience. It can then
be interpreted that and Claudius means the exact opposite of the word,
a notion consistent with his opinion presented in the next line that
the painted cheek is "ugly." To illustrate the atrocity of Claudius'
vile acts, Shakespeare alludes to women in a completely orthodox
manner. Hence, it can be inferred that women are dehumanized and
reduced to mere devices whose roles are to facilitate men's ideas.
This particular line is thus an apt reflection of Ophelia's role as a
worthless stepping stone to Hamlet's revenge.

[wong alex]

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"Frailty, thy name is woman"
Hamlet (I.ii.149)

Before further analysing this quote, we have to know more about
Gertrude first. As she seldom speak in the play, therefore we have a
little understanding about her. Thus, it is hard to seek for her
character development. We can only know more about her through other
characters like Hamlet. The quote above is found from the solioqouy of
Hamlet and describes his view on Gertrude which is his
mother.Referring to the quote, "Frailty" means moral weakness, as King
Hamlet is dead, this may affect Gertrude mentally where she has to
find a new husband in order to ease her pain. So, this raised a
question. Is Gertrude dependent on Man or not? On the other hand, this
quote also actually reflects Hamlet's mind. He is confused about
Gertrude. The reason for that is she was once only living obediently
under the shadow of King Hamlet whom she was devoted. However, when
the king was murdered, she allies herself with Gertrude whom Hamlet
assumed to be the murderer of the king. Moreover, she also allies
herself with politics. In here, Shakespeare reflects that the woman
are ambitious in faciliating men's idea and power. In other words,
they are controlling men. Last but not the least, Gertrude role in
this play indeed creates an obstacle in Hamlet's revenge. It is
because Hamlet is unsure about what is Gertrude thinking and what is
she going to do if he kills Claudius.

> > doubt, but I have faith in all of you. Good Luck!- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[gin gin]

"God has given you one face and you make yourselves another"
Hamlet (Act 3, scene 1, line 143-144)

God is a religious symbol, so this quote is religious imagery. This
imagery has shown the role of women in the play especially Gertrude
that women have two faces. This imagery shows that women changes very
quickly, that they can be fickle and/or deceilful.

On Sep 16, 1:20 pm, iain melville <elliv...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Jason Kwan]

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“I have heard of your paintings too, well enough.”
Hamlet (III,I, 151)

Early in the Act, Hamlet has already established a belief that women
are treacherous and deceitful that deteriorates men. In the line,
Hamlet uses “painting” as a parallelism for women’s dissimulation.
Here, “painting” refers to cosmetics which every woman puts on makeup.
Hamlet suggests that women have dual personality, and they always act
as demure ladies in front of the crowd. Readers can tell that the
cosmetics symbolize as a cover to conceal women’s falsity. Notice that
the commas functions as a pause. It sharpens Hamlet’s prejudiced view
on those women who appear to be something she is not. Now, we can see
that Hamlet believes that Ophelia is pretending to be innocent in
order to hide her promiscuous behavior.

On Sep 16, 1:20 pm, iain melville <elliv...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Tsai.]

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If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
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To flaming youth let virtue be as wax
- Hamlet (III.iv.89)

The quote above from Act three scene four is a solid testimony of how
well respected a woman is, is highly contingent upon their fidelity
for their husband. Hamlet perceives the hasty remarriage of his mother
as a sin of infidelity to her late husband, and as by such act, she is
considered by Hamlet to have abandoned all her morality and principles
as a woman. Scansion tells that both lines are examples of iambic
pentameter, which is common among Shakespeare's plays. Additionally,
the repeating occurance of the consonant "t" echos masculinist
connotations as men emits saliva as they pronounce "t", and it is seen
as a sign of boldness. Overall, this quote suggests women's dependence
on husbands that is expected by the social paradigm in Elizabethan
times.

[Tsz Yin Chong]

"Frailty, thy name is woman"
Hamlet (I.ii.149)

 

Hamlet's resentment against his mother eventually spills out to include all women. We can see that he is sickened by his mother's insatiable sexual "appetite", especially when he remembers how much Gertrude used to be sexually dependent on his father like she is impossible to be satisfied. He also believes that Gertrude's sexual "appetite" is the reason for her hasty remarriage. Hamlet views her mother as a traitor to his deceased father. From Hamlet's point of view, we can see that his conclusion that all women are "frail" is a result of his attitude toward his mother's sexuality and unfaithfulness. Instead of saying "Frailty, thy name is Gertrude!", he says, "Frailty, thy name is woman."

2010/9/16 iain melville <elli...@gmail.com>

[kwok lun Chow]

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Like Niobe, all tears - why she, even she -
Hamlet ( I,II,151)

This belongs to a solioqouy of hamelt where he is annoyed about
the marrage of his mother and uncle."Niobe" is a woman who symbolize
sadness in the old greek.
The alternative meaning of "sadness" is used although it primarily
represents a person.
"why she, even she" uses repetation to develop a sound device that is
used to pin pointing the main point of why does she even she; this
truns into a harder tone that emphazise the question word "WHY".
This sentence questions why women are fake and have "muti-saides" of
thier face;
acting as they are miserble and turn around to remarry in a short
period of time.
This senence is formed with a structure of two words following two
words,
which give a pause to the sentence to allow audiences to link up the
words to leave a deeper inpression on this quote.

On Sep 16, 1:20 pm, iain melville <elliv...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Ho Lok Sze]

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Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool,
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for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.
(III.i.147)

In the quote, Shakespeare uses allusion as the dominant feature to
reveal that women are no longer subordinate than men. Instead, they
are now more independent. Since in the quote ‘what monsters you make
of them’ has a meaning of betray which allude that normally, women are
expected to be stupid and need to rely on men. However, women are now
become more sovereign. In addition, by using ‘fool’ and ‘wise’ as a
contrast, it once again emphasizes that women are now opposing the
social norm, and becoming more sovereign.

[Michael]

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"Blasted with ecstasy. O, woe is me," - Ophelia (III.I.169)

This line takes place in a conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia
after Hamlet's hesitation on whether or not to commit suicide.
Ophelia's arrival is entirely based on the orders from Polonius to spy
on Hamlet, even if she was previously in love with him. Before the
occurrence of this line, Hamlet denies his love towards Ophelia. This
response has "blasted" Ophelia, and this metaphorical action shows the
impact and the depth of Ophelia's 'true love' towards Hamlet. An
allusion to "ecstasy", typically a drug or the adrenalized feeling
while on drug is also made, showing the mixed, complexed innate
feelings Ophelia has after Hamlet's response. This complex innate
feeling is then further assured to be a negative one, that the choice
of word "woe" is used to describe the state of depression of Ophelia.
(The frequent stresses on "O, woe is me" possibly reflects the
complexity of Ophelia's innate feelings too?)

Ophelia, characterized as an innocent and obedient young girl, these
two traits are made paradoxical to the effect on reader although it
both sounded from the same side. Ophelia as an innocent young girl is
possibly really in love with Hamlet. As an obedient girl however,
Ophelia also tends to follow the orders from Polonius and Laertes too.
This confusion can somehow explain the reason why the innate feelings
of Ophelia when seeing Hamlet are always so complexed, that perhaps
even she may not distinguish between the 'true love' and the order.

[L Chan]

“if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well
enough what monsters you make of them.”
Hamlet – III, I, Line 148-150

In this quote, Hamlet is telling Ophelia either not to marry or marry
a fool, since wise people will know that women cheat on their
husbands. Hamlet is referring to Gertrude, and stereotyping all women,
due to his disgust towards his mom remarriage to his uncle. Hamlet
describes women as monsters here, who holds evil plans and will
definitely betray their husbands, and benefit themselves, therefore
telling Ophelia that marriage is worthless. Through scansion, Hamlet’s
tone of anger and prejudice can be examined. The word “thou” and
“wilt” both presents a consonant sound, in which it generates a sense
of mockery, demonstrating Hamlet’s attitude towards women, and imply
that women are inferior. In addition, the consonant of the word “fool”
and “monster,” similarly emphasizes the tone of anger, further
developing Hamlet’s prejudice towards women. This quote reflects
Ophelia’s innocence in Hamlet’s prejudice towards women, as Ophelia
has done nothing guilty or as Hamlet says, monstrous. Shakespeare uses
Ophelia as a female character in Hamlet to represent women at his
times, where they are loyal to their husbands. On the contrary,
Gertrude as the monster is used to emphasize Ophelia’s innocence, also
to develop Hamlet’s stereotypical thinking of women, as inferior and
disloyal to men, revealing Hamlet’s character.

[Ingrid Chung]

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"So you mis-take your husbands."
Hamlet – Act III Scene II Line 258

In this particular quote, Hamlet is referring to her mother Gertrude,
who chooses Cladius over his dead father King Hamlet, which enhances
the theme of women frailty. Hamlet generalizes all women, including
Ophelia as less intelligent beings, who are dull and the inability to
make right decisions. The scansion of this quote emphasizes the word
“mis-take,” which are both the play of words and prosody. The pause
between “mis”and “take” creates a heavy and emphatic tone, which
highlighs Hamlet’s irritation towards women, especially Gertrude with
such a short quote. This quote reveals Hamlet’s invalid generalization
about women, and the contrast between Gertrude and Ophelia. Gertrude,
who utilizes her sexuality as a tool to satisfy her desires, is
categorized as the same as Ophelia in Hamlet’s mind. Which in fact,
Ophelia, as the only innocent character who does not use other to
achieve her desire, is still viewed as the scorn for hamlet.
Shakespeare therefore applies this quote to describe the differences
between the two characters and how hamlet's misjudgement causes the
tragedy to Ophelia, who is a guiltless character.

[rachelleu...@yahoo.com.hk]

"Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed
Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty!" Hamlet, III.iv.92-95

It displays the sense of sexual nausea in the quotation, where Hamlet
portrays his mother; the queen as an obscene female, as he addresses
that she sleeps with Claudius is equivalent to 'making love over the
nasty sty!’ in line 94-95, which depicts a nausea imagery of while the
queen and Claudius are having sex, this action parallels to
hybridizing as Hamlet describes Claudius as ‘sty’; pig, it brings an
indecent feeling toward the audience. Hence, this quotation also
demonstrates the role of Hamlet and the queen have twist, as
traditionally son should obey and respect his mother, however, this
quotation has fully explain the relationship between Hamlet and his
mother, the discourtesy that Hamlet says in the text have fully expose
that women are situate in a lower orders in play.

[Jeffrey Au]

"O most pernicious woman" ( Act I, Scene V, line 110)

This line comes from Hamlet's second soliloquy in the play, in which
he expresses his internal outrages after acknowledging ( from the
ghost) that Claudius has murdered his father -- the late Hamlet. In
the first half of the soliloquy, Hamlet expresses his frustration on
the events happening on him, questioning why all people are against
him. In the second half, Hamlet shifts tone from uncertainty to
determination to revenge. This is shown by the aggressive tone from
the start of this shift -- "O most pernicious woman". The repetition
of 'O' is a use of emotive language that shows his frustration and
anger implicitly. This line produces heavy consonance with the words
'most', 'pernicious' and 'woman', which creates a hatred tone and an
overbearing atmosphere. This line shows the determination of Hamlet in
his revenge towards Claudius and Gertrude, even though it is against
his father's will. It's shown by describing Gertrude, and woman in
general, as most pernicious.

[Christopher Chow]

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Yourselves another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, (Hamlet, Act 3
Scene 1)

Now after Hamlet's reached his heart of proposition "to be, or not to
be", he could not control himself towards Ophelia and descent into
madness. This is one of the lines which utterly break Ophelia's heart.
The syntax structured with the repetition of the subject "you" unveils
the wrath and dislike from Hamlet. The stressed syllables "you" also
transform the tone of the mad Hamlet. It also composes as a rhythmic
layers of "knives" as Ophelia "jig" "amble" and "lisp". These three
words expels the extremely disgusting action of Ophelia to Hamlet.
There is a presence of caesura which presents the focus to the next
sentence and the pause significantly transpose and lift up the tone to
be more tense.

[Tsz Yin Chong]

Norym:
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Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, She turns to favor and
to prettiness.
Hamlet (IV, V, 158-9)
This line comes from Laertes' conversation with Ophelia when Claudius
brings him to his mad sister while he returns to Denmark. In the
quote, Shakespeare uses imagery of darkness to portray the horrifying
pain that Ophelia suffers and the obscure insight she has after the
death of their father. It functions as a mirror of the prettiness
that
her sister owns which almighty to an extent that could destroy sinful
border; aside, it is now abandoned by Hamlet, the atmosphere of
longing for revenge for his family is developed through the praise
given to his sister.