Discuss the Presentation of Ophelia and Gertrude as Women in Hamlet

Within literary criticism, scholars are usually concurrent in their view of Ophelia and Gertrude’s ‘frailty’. However, this may be an unfair reading of their character as contextually, the agency afforded to them as women meant the choices were more limited than the male characters. Whilst the play focuses on Hamlet’s choice ‘to be or not to be’, the choices women can make with their little agency are overlooked. Faucit writes of Hamlet ‘I weigh his actions against his words, and here I find little worth’. In light of this, it may be argued that the women in the play are defined by their actions, and therefore more worth can be found here. Gertrude’s actions occupy much of Hamlet’s time during the play, and call into question her morality. First wave feminism argues that women are more morally ‘pure’ than men, and this justifies their political enfranchisement. However, Gertrude’s decision to marry Claudius is, in Hamlet’s eyes, amoral and cause political upheaval. To Hamlet, this act demonstrates that ‘frailty, thy name is woman’. Thus, her actions speak for her entire gender and carry more weight than Hamlet’s.  What is perhaps most shocking to the modern audience is Hamlet’s complete lack of empathy for his mother’s situation. He tells her to ‘assume virtue if you have it not’ and remarks ‘You are the Queen, your husband’s brother’s wife’. This sarcastic and spiteful tone he takes suggests a disgust for her and that he disapproves of her actions. This is also reinforced by his continued reference to her ‘incestuous sheets’ and focus on Gertrude’s sexuality in the Closet scene. Hamlet views Gertrude’s decision to marry Claudius as one made because of lust and promiscuity. As an older upper class woman, such an in depth focus on her sexuality would be very demeaning and disrespectful of her status- a description fit for a whore perhaps, but not the Queen. The presentation of Gertrude in Hamlet’s personal narrative would lead us to believe she is of base nature and ruled by lust. However, it may be that her decision to marry Claudius is made with Hamlet’s wellbeing in mind. Her true loyalties are in question throughout the play, but when she dies (arguably in an attempt to save Hamlet) her last words are ‘Oh my Dear Hamlet’ – not Claudius. This may suggest that she truly was loyal to Hamlet and her marriage was a sacrifice she made for him. It is clear that Hamlet is unstable and in the ‘trappings and the suits of woe’ after the death of his father. He is in no way prepared to run the country or protect Denmark from Fortinbras. By marrying Claudius, Gertrude is exercising the little political agency she has as a woman, to protect Hamlet from these responsibilities for as long as she can. Some critics may argue that this is no excuse for incest, however to the Elizabethan audience, this was not uncommon. Indeed, Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was first married to his brother, and after his death remarried to secure the planned allegiance between England and Spain. A woman remarrying for political reasons was not unheard of in this period, therefore it is likely that Gertrude’s marriage to Claudius was strategic rather than lustful. Within theatrical contexts, directors have mostly presented Ophelia as either a paragon of purity and holiness, or an embodiment of sin, temptation, and sexual immorality. At the beginning of the play, the importance of her perceived purity is highlighted by both her brother and father. Polonius instructs her to ‘think yourself a baby’ lest she ‘tender me a fool’, in relation to her relationship with Hamlet. The use of imperative here implies her inferiority to the men who control her as they can tell her what to do knowing she will follow orders. This particular command to think herself a ‘baby’ is very infantilizing and suggests that as a woman she is perceived as needing to be taken care of, and being innocent. Furthermore, it is clear Polonius’ concern is not for his daughter’s potential heartbreak or personal loss, but for his own reputation – not wanting to be seen as a ‘fool’ (ironic as this is his archetype). This lack of agency in her own choices is reinforced by Laertes’ warnings to ‘fear it’ in relation to Hamlet again. The notion that Ophelia should ‘fear’ the affections of a higher-class man is contextually correct, as Ophelia’s reputation would be at risk if her ‘chaste treasure open’. This warning along with the use of the innuendo ‘treasure’ indicate that as a woman of this era, her value lies in her sexuality, and what men may gain from her; which as we can see from her brother and father’s interference, is something she has no agency over. However, unsurprisingly, no men of the era have these restrictions put upon them. Ophelia reminds Laertes that he is a hypocrite in his advice as he ‘recks not his own rede’ in England, and Polonius alludes to the same of Hamlet who ‘with a larger tether may walk’. Ophelia’s own ‘outrage’ at this is eventually verbalized, in her madness when she sings ‘Young men…They are to blame’. Thus, she indicates that not only is her madness and her tragedy the fault of Hamlet’s treatment of her, but confronts the actions and culpability of all men in the downfall of women. In this scene, it may be said the audience truly feels compassion for Ophelia the most, as the only time she can become autonomous is in madness, and this will lead to her death. A feminist critic may argue that Ophelia’s final plea for empowerment and agency lies in her madness. This scene, and her suicide is the culmination of her grievances with men and the patriarchal society which has driven her to ‘hysteria’. By the end of the play, Ophelia is significantly less sheltered than she once was, and the events of the play have taken their toll on her sanity. Often in criticism, Ophelia is agreed to be a foil for Hamlet, and this is certainly true in the presentation and perception of their individual madness. Hamlet embodies a melancholic madness, typical od Elizabethan theatre. His ‘antic disposition’ is somehow accredited to his hamartia of intellect and romance: he becomes a tragic figure for many audiences and scholars. The ‘method in his madness’ affords him lengthy introspective soliloquies where the audience are made to feel compassion for him. As a play, Hamlet is hailed as a groundbreaking exploration of the human psyche, however it’s entirely singular male narrative voice demeans Ophelia’s madness to such a base nature. Hamlet’s soliloquies and emotional depth are contrasted with Ophelia handing out some flowers, singing crude songs, and an off-stage suicide. For most critics, Ophelia’s madness is deeply rooted in her sexuality (as all female madness in this era was thought to come from the womb, hence ‘hysteria’) which the contemporary audience would feel no compassion for. The scene where she hands out flowers to the other characters has often been read as a symbolic ‘deflowering’ of herself. Furthermore, the songs she sings may reveal more about her story than is told to us through Hamlet’s voice: ‘Let in the maid that out a maid never departed more’. The suggestion here is that Hamlet slept with Ophelia, and it is his spurning of her that has driven her to madness. Stanton argues that Hamlet does this not because of her immorality with him, but because he feels she has been ‘used’ by another man- specifically her father. When Polonius offers Ophelia as a potential bride for Hamlet, he is prostituting out his daughter for his own political gain. Hamlet tells him this under the guise of his madness when he calls him a ‘fishmonger’. It would have been clear to the Elizabethan audience that Hamlet is calling Polonius a pimp here. Ophelia’s complicity makes her just as bad in Hamlet’s eyes. Hamlet’s misogyny towards all women is directed at Ophelia in Act 3, Scene 6. He commands her ‘Get thee to a nunnery’, lest she become a ‘breeder of sinners’ i.e. men. Here hamlet is blaming women for creating evil or sinful men like Claudius, and perhaps himself, and suggests Ophelia should lock herself away in a convent so she may never have children. However, a nunnery was also Elizabethan slang for a brothel, and he could also be calling her a whore. Hamlet perceives both his mother and Ophelia as sexually immoral at this point as previously discussed, and therefore asserts that women make ‘monsters’ out of ‘wise men’. Perhaps suggesting he feels his situation and madness is caused by both Ophelia and Gertrude, which is ironic as he has caused Ophelia’s madness. This demonstrates how Shakespeare traps the women in the play in a situation where they cannot win. If Ophelia has slept with Hamlet and has taken back sexual agency she is a whore, and if she does things the ‘proper way’ through her father, she is letting him prostitute her and is once again a whore. Similarly, Gertrude is amoral in Hamlets eyes even though her loyalties (arguably) ultimately lie with him. In the end the only real choice and autonomy the women have is to commit suicide, which they would have been condemned for in Elizabethan society anyway. Their attempts at controlling their own destinies are unsuccessful, and the only option Shakespeare gives them is to become tragic figures. Even when this happens however Gertrude’s attempt to save Hamlet is in vain, and Ophelia’s death is overshadowed by a notion of her being ‘mermaid like’ and beautiful in death. Contextually the image of a mermaid was overtly sexual, and paints a picture of Ophelia as a siren who lures Hamlet into peril. In conclusion, compassion for the women in the play really only becomes significant in modern readings. To the Elizabethan audience, their plight is overshadowed heavily by the male characters and an ignorance of the female experience. Shakespeare’s presentation leaves the women with no real option for happiness, and historical expectations damn them from the start.