Women in Hamlet
Okay, Rei, Dina, Nicole, and Cristina,
So you are all writing on different aspects of the female characters in the play and you all have rough ideas of a thesis...So here's what you do:
Grab some post-its and go through every scene that your character appears in. Write down any line that seems to support or contradict your argument. Use the post-its to arrange your evidence in a way that makes sense to you and that will support your idea. Now...
THINK ABOUT IT. For a while. Mull.
So what are the implications of the argument that you are making? How does your argument change our understanding of the play? Does it shift or explain motive? Does it give a familiar character a new aspect?
Your basic format for this essay is an explanation of your argument (serves as intro/thesis), a careful, detailed examination of the evidence in favor of your interpretation, an explanation of why other evidence might not apply, and a conclusion that explains, in detail, why this argument is important. How does it contribute to our (the universal our) understanding of the play? I would strongly suggest posting your drafts here for comment...
NB: I know this play very, very well. If you pay short shrift to your evidence gathering and miss something, I will probably know. And I will not be amused. ALSO: you may use any of the articles I assigned (properly cited, of course) and you may use other resources, but YOU MUST cite anything that you used...really, if you even read something else, I'd like that noted in a bibliography.
posted by Ms. Clapp @ 1:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Hey guys. Hope your vacations are going well :) I'm almost done with my paper so i'll have it up later tonight. Just checking in...how's everyone else doing with their's?
Hey everyone. I finished my paper yesterday on the second draft. Here's the final product...
Gertrude: The Opposite of Women in Shakespearean Times
Women in Shakespeare’s time were limited creatures of submission. They were directed by the men in their lives: fathers and husbands, marriage, and their ability to give birth. They were regulated by social rules of what to wear, how to speak, when to speak, and whom to speak to. They were “guarded against speaking out too freely for fear of being labeled as a ‘scold’” [Flores]. Thus by being branded a “scold”, these women would become a threat to society punishable by humiliation and abuse. In turn, it instills a fear of being independent and individualistic. In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the character Gertrude, is the epitome of the opposite of these women, which creates her as a strong character.
As creatures of submission to their fathers and husbands, women had little room to be selfish. They, perhaps, could be selfish in the color of their clothing and other decorations of their household. They would often fall into the whim of the society and family’s desires. Gertrude, as introduced in the beginning of the play, is presented as a woman selfish in her own desires. Readers find this display in Hamlet’s soliloquy in act one scene two: “She married – O most wicked speed: to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets” [155-156]. This is in reference to Gertrude’s quick marriage after Hamlet’s father’s death to Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle. This marriage is seen as “incestuous” because the marriage to a brother’s widow was regarded as morally wrong.
Many readers find that characters that fall into sin are weak. Although Gertrude’s selfishness can be argued that it has made her fallen into sin, there is a different possible perspective. As Carolyn Hilbrum has stated in her article “The Character of Hamlet’s Mother”, Gertrude’s second marriage is not as sinful as other critics have made it to be. Critics believe that, when Hamlet’s father as a ghost says, “Ay that incestuous; that adulterate beast”, they mistakenly apply that line to Gertrude when it is referring to Claudius [1.5 42]. The Ghost’s statements concerning Gertrude leave an impression that Gertrude is a sinful yet weak woman. However as Hilbrum has stated that perhaps “elder Hamlet still considered himself married to Gertrude, and he is moreover revolted that her lust for him should have so easily transferred itself to another”. So in this way, readers have received a bias portrayal of Gertrude that they have taken for their own rather than developing a judgment of Gertrude using how she is portrayed in the scenes she is in.
Women like Gertrude who chase for what they dream of or want are put down by society because instead of being collectivists and conforming, they become individualists and independent. A story that includes a character who is an individual versus society is strong. Although Gertrude’s selfishness may have led her to commit a sin, she still has had the strength to acknowledge, accept, and continue like Nathan Hawthorne’s protagonist in The Scarlet Letter. The strength and conviction to follow through is stronger than sitting by and allowing your fate to be controlled by others in your life. Gertrude, like the protagonist in The Scarlet Letter, endures constant criticism from others on her choices and yet withholds and continues leading her life the way she wants to. If Hester Prynne is found to be a heroine of doing the same, why can’t Queen Gertrude be one?
Although selfish in her own desires, Gertrude has not lost a sense of a caring mother. She asks Hamlet to “cast thy knighted color off, and let thine eye look a friend on Denmark” [1.2 68-69]. She tells him the reality of life that he should “know’st ‘tis common, all that lives must die” and to mourn his father’s death but not wallow in it by “seek[ing] for thy noble father in the dust” [1.2 71-72]. She also wants to remain close to her distant son. Before the play, she beckons: “Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit by me” [3.2 102]. As Hilbrum has stated, Gertrude “is clearly trying to make him feel he has a place in the court of Denmark”.
As any good mother, Gertrude also knows her child very well. When Polonius remarks that Hamlet “walks four hours together Here in the lobby”, Gertrude replies that she knows [2.2 160-162]. She has even also plainly stated what is wrong with Hamlet: “I doubt it is no other but the main, his father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage”. It is not obvious to anyone but Hamlet’s mother. In the Closet scene where readers first see Hamlet and Gertrude interacting alone, she tells Polonius not to fear her handling the situation. Readers can interpret that Gertrude knows how to handle the situation with a son she knows very well. She could possibly know how Hamlet feels and how to approach him. Readers can interpret that her lack of action as Hamlet is hurling such angry words at her as her allowing him to vent because she knows that is what he needs.
Gertrude is also extremely faithful to protecting and loving her son. She is constantly asking Claudius and Polonius to find out what is wrong with Hamlet. She even goes as far as bringing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the castle to “visit [her] too much changed son” [2.2 35-36]. She has little patience to Polonius long speech of why he thinks Hamlet is going mad. It can be interpreted that she rushes Polonius because she cares enough to quickly get to the root of the problem to help him. Gertrude is also faithful as she swears to secrecy “Be thou assur’d, if words be made of breath, And breath of life, I have no life to breathe What thou hast said to me” [4.1 197-199].
Another characteristic of Gertrude that presents her as a strong character is the way she is set up to speak. She is direct and straight to the point. Everything she says has no deep reading in between the lines as the other characters of the play. It does take strength to speak directly from the mind without hesitation in a society where it is oppressing women. As Hilbrum remarks in reference to act two scene two, “Polonius enters with his most unbrief apotheosis to brevity. The Queen interrupts him with five words: “More matter with less art” [Hilbrum, 2.2 95]. Then when Polonius reads the supposed love letter Hamlet has given to Ophelia, Gertrude plainly asks if it had truly came from Hamlet for she displays doubts that Hamlet would truly say such things as he had in the letter. When Gertrude tells Claudius: “I doubt it is no other than the main, his father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage”, she is ignored. Gertrude is ignored because she is a woman although she is Queen. When she says this to Claudius, it displays that she shows doubt over Claudius for listening to Polonius. By having had stated the reason, she is showing her defiance to the King which takes strength and determination.
Queen Gertrude’s portrayal as a woman in Shakespeare’s play is the direct opposite of the women in the time period of its publication. There were no women who has spoken too freely as Gertrude has. There were no women who did not submit to some form of male dominance on their own accord as Gertrude has. True that Gertrude may have given up the chance to rule on her own, but she had given that power up on her own accord. Women in the time period did not have much choices or claims in their lives as Gertrude has. She has selfishly directed her life, sinful as it may be, but it has shown that she has the strength to fight against the ideals of society. That in itself sets her apart from other female characters in literature of the time period. By developing Gertrude as Shakespeare had, he had created the opposite of the typical woman of his time period which is now the “modern” woman.
Lol, Rei that paper is really great. I read it and was like oh no...we have the same topic...but basically you put my paper to shame. But congrats on an awesome paper!!
-Nicole!
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