Shakespeare studies and literary significance

Shakespeare

Feminism is one of the controversies that are present in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. This refers to the advocacy for equality of political, social and other rights for women. In the context of many literatures in the eighteenth century, feminism is widely explored and in particular in the texts of Shakespeare. Many of the female characters and their surrounding plots were antifeminist during the Shakespeare's Era due the minor roles played by them or in the way in which they are referred by the characters or him in the texts. The women are also portrayed as being very obedient towards the male equivalent. They are willing to be used by the males as tools so that the males can have what they want. For one to understand the feminism aspects, a proper consideration of Gertrude and Ophelia character will be useful. They are portrayed to as he weak and mindless.

The notion that women are marginalized and given such roles in the play together with the male centered viewpoint approach are some of the assumptions in this feministic analysis. In Act III an example of woman character marginalization is present within Hamlet. Gertrude opinions on fixing the situation are disregarded when she is ostracized from the plans of the men (Act III-1, pg. 136). She is being considered unnecessary based on Claudius opinion because he thinks he understands what is best regarding matters of importance which leads to her dismissal. Gertrude's reaction to Claudius is lacking forethought and submissive and this points out the incessant dismissal present between the Gertrude and Claudius (Aguirre 165).

Gertrude and Ophelia are not merely subservient, despite common belief but they portray strong feminism attributes between them. The highlight of their weakness can be considered as a diversion of mainly aimed reducing the attention paid to the atrocities committed by men. The feeble feministic attributes within the men is feared by them therefore in an attempt to exude their masculine bloodshed, a promiscuity image is projected onto the females. Hamlet's reaction makes this evident in his scene with Gertrude where he tries to "speak daggers to her, but use none," (3-2-378). The sins of Hamlet is made to be overshadowed by that of Gertrude and even justify it upon Polonius murder. The whore image branded to Ophelia by the men is only escaped from by her only upon her death. In an attempt to justify the violence against Hamlet and Laertes, images which are self constructed and of pure love are whored by them safely and she develops into a worshipped Madonna (Stanton 179).

Moreover, when Claudius and his mother's relationship has engulfed Hamlet and his father has abandoned him, Hamlet is convinced that in order to reconstruct his mother, she must be remade into a Virgin Mother image so that the purity of his father and his own could be guaranteed thereby his selfhood boundaries be repaired. To achieve this, his mother has to be convinced by him to disassociate her sexuality from her so as she is reunified (Hamana 145). Gertrude is therefore perceived as being relatively opaque which serves as a screen where Hamlet fantasies for her are seen. Hamlet gains a self-aware, calmer perspective by being allowed to be deluded by these fantasies.

So that other desires are portrayed by Ophelia, she appears initially shaped to agree with external demands. She is Polonius commodity, Laertes angel and a spectre of Hamlet psychic fears. Sudden absence of masculine sources of messages which are conflicting leads to her mental destruction although they were damaging to her psychological identity. The speech capability, the individual identity identification opportunity and the verbal power of undermining authority is offered by Ophelia's madness. The society gets depicted from Ophelia's mad ramblings analysis and the disturbed reality beneath the coating of calmness on the surface. A fragmented self is shown by her words and the opportunity for manipulating the meanings in a way that best suits others is provided by her words. There are several ways to interpret Ophelia's death. It is considered the unconsciously gifted child accidentally drowning and also her choice being perceived as courageous in the Shakespeare's drama.

The psychological and sexual differences are mapped onto the discursive music difference in the madness of Ophelia representation. A broader music discourse of English culture of early modern is reflected in the use of music dramatically with unrelenting relations between excess, music and feminine (Dane 435). Christian and platonic thought presents music ideologies which are conflicting and are being contented by the British writers of the early modern: Semantic indeterminacy and sensuous immediacy are presented by music and also the divine order earthly embodiment presented by music. A feminism depiction is seen here whereby the Pythagorean harmony is the positive aspect of music or its masculine aspect and the cultural dissonance is the negative attribute or the feminine aspect. The marginalities are expressed through the singing of Ophelia which is allowed to be not only literal but also dissonance figuratively. Jacobean and Elizabethan stages gender types inspires Ophelia representation. Women's song cultural constructions is problematic through Ophelia singing which lets the 'woman out', her disturbing feminine energy must be absorbed again into both discursive and social orders of the play. Ophelia's drowning is described by Gertrude and it repatriates the music of Ophelia making her madness look pretty.

There is stereotype in the Hamlet play against women whereby Shakespeare which depicts them as fragile and weak minded in comparison to their male counterparts. The struggle between male and female is seen between Ophelia and Hamlet. A key position is lost by the Hamlet and Ophelia in the play in their lives. Because of the losses, most of the characters led to the becoming of mad. Ophelia loses her sanity primarily because of the murder of her father caused by Hamlet although the verbal abuses and pressure from Hamlet is also a reason for her madness. Depressing songs are sung by Ophelia during her father's death as she appears to have lack life (Hamlet 4. 5. 160-161). Hamlet seeks revenge and eventually slips into madness when he discovers that it is Claudius who was responsible for his father's death. The madness of Hamlet is visible in the scene at Gertrude's chamber whereby he starts talking to the ghosts of his father. In this case this ghost of King Hamlet is essential a hallucination because the ghosts was visible earlier by other witnesses. A serious conversation is held by Hamlet and his father in the hallucination this is perceived as talking to incorporeal air (3. 4.19). When faced with an anxiety, the two individuals display different character attributes although they both undergo mental breakdown. In dealing with the murder case, Hamlet takes a proactive role in handling his father's death hence considered strong. He vows to bring the criminals who were responsible for the death of his father. Ophelia is described as unstable and weak. Ophelia prefers to mourn and sing depression songs whenever faced with similar awards (Adelman 45).