by Magius

Created on: May 30, 2007

One of the more wonderful elements in Shakespeare's works is that there are so many ways to interpret and approach them; in a single play one might find a strong message regarding God's relation to man, a warning against emotions such as revenge and greed, a comical look at royalty, and many more perpsectives all blended into a single artistic creation. The same is true of the women in Shakespeare's plays.

There is no archtypical "Shakespeare woman"; in each play, women take different and varied roles, just as the men do. Because of this, to speak of "Shakespeare's portrayal of women", it is necessary to choose one of his plays only; I have chosen "Hamlet", with its two women characters, Gertrude the queen and Ophelia, Hamlet's lover. Plot details are included in the article.

Gertrude's character can be spoken of lengthily because of its interesting blend of evil and respect. Hamlet attacks her sharply, but his main accusation is that she was a disappointment as the wife of Hamlet's father, who he admired extremely. Gertrude's sin is in her inaction; she was willing to accept Claudius' (Hamlet's uncle) usurping of the throne and did not reject him. It seems that while Hamlet respects his mother, he cannot bear the comparison between her and his father; while Hamlet sees his father in a heroic, almost divine light, and speaks of him in only the most positive terms, he views Claudius as his precise opposite, and because of this he is frustrated at Gertrude's willingness to replace Hamlet's father with Claudius, without so much as objecting. In Gertrude's character, Shaekspeare uses a common stereotype of the "weak willed woman"; while the males in the play are active and attempt to stand by their principles, the woman accepts her surrounding and remains passive. While this is indeed a harmful and offensive stereotype, Shakespeare's Gertrude cannot be seen as a template for all the women in his plays; in Macbeth, for example, the women are very active (though not particularly righteous). The fact that Gertrude still retains some respect in Hamlet's eyes shows that Shakespeare did not create this character superficially.

Ophelia's character is even more interesting and far more complex. Ophelia is Hamlet's lover, and her character is founded on a reaction to Hamlet's. The love between them is intense, that can be seen clearly, but Hamlet's obsession with revenge distances him from Ophelia. Hamlet is constantly plotting to kill Claudius, and he spares no means to achieve

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