Hamlet’s impulsiveness also characterizes him as feminine, as the tendency to act out of emotion rather than rational thought is traditionally considered feminine. Although Hamlet thinks often, he does not often apply this thought to his actions and instead, when he does act, he does so impulsively. Hamlet’s impulsiveness “which induces him to jump into Ophelia’s open grave with Laertes, which leads him to slay Polonius the instant that he see the hangings stir, and which enables him at last to take his full revenge upon the spur of the moment and without premeditation” exemplifies his femininity in that he does all of these things without thinking before and instead acts completely on his emotions (Vining 54). In jumping into Ophelia’s grave, Hamlet acts …show more content…
Although Hamlet plans to kill the king the entire play, he ultimately does so in an impulsive manner, acting purely on emotion rather than acting out a planned course of action. In this moment, Hamlet displays his feminine characteristics because women are characterized by impulsive behavior in the play and the inclination to act on emotion. In killing Polonius, Hamlet exemplifies his impulsiveness perfectly, as his murder was not premeditated, rather abrupt and based on emotion. Hamlet does not rationally think through killing Polonius, as the ideal Shakespearian man would, he simply acts out of his rage and does what first comes to mind—killing the intruder. Hamlet’s inclination towards acting out of emotion and without thought in all of these instances of impulsive action characterizes him as feminine, as women are traditionally considered creatures “of feeling” rather than “thinking” (Guo 91). Hamlet’s femininity is increasingly perceived as madness by the men around him due to the correlation between madness and femininity perceived throughout history. Madness is traditionally thought of as an “exclusively female complaint, as the
By verbally harassing Ophelia and estranging himself from her, Hamlet provides the apparent image of losing his prior care without a great amount of consideration. Additionally, Hamlet further displays his anger for his father’s death through this display. By dissolving his relationship with Ophelia, Hamlet furthers his image of insanity to further illustrate himself as incapable within Claudius’s eyes while still communicating distaste for his loss of his father. With Hamlet’s intentionally swift change of heart for Ophelia, Hamlet’s procedure warrants a certain level of sanity. Regardless of the sudden nature, Hamlet’s continual barring from Ophelia possesses procedure which causes further doubt of Hamlet’s mental instability from the audience of the
He is more than willing to obey and respect his mother. Then in the company of Ophelia he denounces his love for her reassuring her he does not love her. Lastly, he comments on women’s inability to remain faithful by comparing a short prologue to their love. Despite these unsavory incidents, Hamlet contains a genuine and caring nature. Shakespeare provides enlightenment on his true nature through his soliloquies and asides because it is only
Anger is experienced by almost all characters in Hamlet on and off throughout the play, but in the finale, more anger and hate is displayed there than in all the collective of the Tragedy of Hamlet acts combined. Dan Ariely continues to deduce that, the concept of being impassioned can severely affect our decisions in the heat of the moment and what we deem as acceptable (133). The majority of anger is displayed primarily by Hamlet himself once he is given his chance to display his anger in its entirety, which culminates with him killing Laertes and Claudius in Hamlet’s immense state of anger. Dan Ariely makes an adequate representation of how self-control and immediate gratification for our actions play a big part in how individuals can be so irrational (157). Hamlet’s truly embodies the concept of the appeal of immediate gratification in that during the final scene of fighting, he commits actions that he may not have had he not been so immensely affected by his emotions, particularly the sting of anger.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Shakespeare uses range of literary techniques such as soliloquies to express Hamlet’s depression and anger. Hamlet’s emotions play a crucial role to achieve his secret ambitions. Events such as King Hamlet’s death, Hamlet’s mother’s expeditious marriage, conflict between Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet’s depression and anger is expressed throughout the play but what are the causes. The root of Hamlet’s feelings of depression and anger was his father’s death.
Looking through the critical perspective of feminism, Hamlet shows the influence of
Throughout Hamlet, the thoughts, intentions, and actions of all of the characters can be explained through predisposed gender roles in the play. Hamlet is a tragedy in which the main character, Hamlet, attempts to seek vengeance for his father’s murder, while the relationships with him and around him begin to strain. In the play, gender plays a huge role in assuming the capability and worth of people. Women are most commonly depicted as being weak, powerless, and confused, while men are commonly shown as being strong, analytical, and intuitive. Hamlet features Ophelia and Gertrude as the only two female roles, and even then they show little independence from the males.
Ophelia’s death results from Hamlet's madness, his telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, and Polonius's death. Hamlet telling Ophelia to go to a nunnery made Ophelia feel insecure. Especially when Hamlet told Ophelia that he would marry her just so she would sleep with him. Then, Hamlet comes back to Ophelia telling her that she needs to go to a nunnery. Which is basically calling Ophelia a whore, because a nunnery is like a whorehouse. Ophelia at this point felt very insecure about herself and she questioned her relationship with Hamlet.
What would one expect the personality of a man whose father was murdered by his uncle, who becomes his step-father? The personality in question points to Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark—who William Shakespeare depicts in his play “Hamlet.” A character analysis of Hamlet reveals that through his internal dialogue, his interpretation of his father 's murder, and his actions, his traits—bitterness, depression, and anger—emerge. Scholars have studied Hamlet for decades, and most have concluded that Hamlet 's personality indicated insanity. However, after observing Hamlet 's actions, his actions throughout the play do not resemble those of an insane person.
Hamlet: a Feminist Perspective Hamlet by William Shakespeare is considered to be the apogee of canonical texts. Hamlet who is seen to be the hero, seeks revenge of his uncle for killing his beloved father and marrying his mother. In the finale, all characters find an unfortunate end and leave the kingdom of Denmark to prince Fortinbras who coincidentally passes through to invade Poland. The play Hamlet has received great stricture from feminist critics due to the actions and behaviors of many of the characters in the play. Feminism is “the advocacy of woman 's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men” (Dictionary.com).
In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, there are a series of events that causes Hamlet to act abnormally. He has to deal with his father’s death, mother’s remarriage, and his lover Ophelia. However, it is often argued whether Hamlet’s madness is real or fake. Throughout the tragedy, he is over-exaggerating his madness for his plan of revenge.
Hamlet’s dislike of women is shown through his behavior and language toward his mother, Ophelia, and women in general. In the play it is very obvious that he is heartless towards the opposite sex by the actions that he takes and the words that he speaks. During the time that this play was written women were viewed as insignificant human beings. Hamlet found himself having feelings for a woman and he does not know how to portray these feelings because he holds his mother responsible for his inability to love Ophelia.
Another way that changes how we behave is the things that we hear from others. When we are presented with some shocking news, like a loved one has passed away, our emotions seem to shift and we start behaving differently. For instance, Hamlet’s behavior changes when he finds out that Ophelia has died. In Shakespeare’s play, we are presented a scene where Hamlet, still known as a lunatic, stays hidden in a cemetery to eavesdrop and finds out that Ophelia is dead. As the priests brings forth a coffin to be buried, Laertes jumps into his sister’s grave and ask to bury him with her.
In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the idea of characters mimicking or doubling each other is prevalent throughout the text. However, the role of doubling characters and foiling characters indicate two different meanings throughout the play. Doubling characters indicates that the characters are similar in the way that they act, whereas foiling is often when two characters contrast or differ greatly from one another. Two of the most important characters in the play, Hamlet and Ophelia, double one another with their madness; however, Shakespeare uses their madness to show how crazy Elsinore is. Madness is described as the state of being mentally ill or in the state of frenzied, chaotic activity, and is also when one cannot be trusted which, is shown multiple times throughout the play.
He did not innately hate all women, but slowly as he reserved rejection after rejection he snapped. Hamlet’s relationships differed between Gertrude and Ophelia, but both had the same goal of Hamlet having someone to love and care about him. With the goal of compassion being accomplished, he spiralled in a growing hatred of the female population. Hamlet’s misogyny is not the result sexual repression , but rather his environment and the interactions with women. Ernest Jones argues that Hamlet’s misogyny stems from the sexual repression of Gertrude and Ophelia.
Due to himself being too idealistic and restrained, he does not take decisive actions even after using the planned play to test the Claudius's conscience that could possibly expose himself and left himself in unfavorable circumstances. Hamlet’s inability to act is caused by his overanalysis of the situations that further render him from not carrying out actions in response. If Hamlet is not indecisive, he would not be uncertain about the evidence regarding to his uncle’s crime, he would not be delaying his revenge, he would not be having emotional breakdowns and become a tragic figure. Hamlet’s personality ‘borns’ and develops under his royal position and the growing