Discuss the role of women in Hamlet.

Despite it being frequently argued that the women in Hamlet are “drawn in fainter lines than their male counterparts,” it appears that upon closer inspection their roles are much more integral to the play and plot as a whole. It must also be remembered that their positions merely reflect the roles of Elizabethan women who were considered socially, intellectually and morally inferior in comparison to men of the era. One key female character which is particularly interesting to focus upon is Ophelia as critics have long been divided over the role she plays in the events that unfold. In particular Ophelia’s madness is so symbolic as it is her only opportunity to express herself and defy the patriarchal constraints applied to her. Prior to this Ophelia is completely submissive to the dominance of men even admitting ‘I think nothing, my lord’ a line which has led many feminist critics to render her the “silenced woman.” The repetitive use of ‘nothing’ and ‘my lord’ by Ophelia, not only here, but throughout the play highlights the emptiness she has within herself and the irrelevance with which she regards her thoughts as a result. Fischer argues that Ophelia only “utters half lines” so literally, in comparison to other characters, she says next to ‘nothing.’ In this sense the absence of Ophelia’s language can be viewed as the personification of feminine passivity and societal expectations of the era. It has even been argued that this metaphorically symbolises her “horror of having nothing to see,” because as her status as a young and dependent woman in court she has very little capacity to perceive the world outside of how men present it to her. The only opportunity the audience is given to understand her character independent of male influence is during her madness. Thus it can be seen that the role of women, and in particular here Ophelia, is detrimental to Shakespeare's exploration of gender roles in the play.