The Status of Women in Hamlet and The City of Ladies

Essay Instructions:

Although Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play, the work contains only two female speaking roles: Gertrude and Ophelia. Nevertheless, the role of women in Hamlet has been a central critical concern for over a century, and has figured prominently in debates over Shakespeare’s views on gender. For this essay option, you will read Hamlet through the lens of the excerpt from Christine de Pizan’s City of Ladies in order to come to your own conclusion about whether the play as a whole seems to perpetuate the sexist views to which Pizan objects or instead critiques them in much the same way that she does. It is also possible that the play lands somewhere in-between these two extremes, or that it critiques its culture’s sexism but for different reasons and from a different perspective than Pizan’s text. Remember that you aren’t making an argument about whether or not Hamlet qualifies as feminist work in a modern sense, but instead whether or not it supports or rejects the assertions of Pizan’s book. Also keep in mind that the views of one (or more) characters in a play are not necessarily the views of the play as a whole.

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The Statuses of Women in Hamlet and the City of Ladies
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The Statuses of Women in Hamlet and the City of Ladies
Hamlet as a critical work in the world literature is a Shakespeare's masterpiece that is currently a subject concerning the place of characters in the society. The play speaks out for the specific worldviews regarding the character Hamlet and his treatment towards women as he met his tragedy. Gertrude and Ophelia are women characters of victimization under the power of male character in the Elizabethan society. Nevertheless, Christine de Pizan in her work, The City of Ladies brings out the high duty of women in the closed society as the building blocks and valued participants when they attend education.
Shakespeare through Gertrude and Ophelia shows the general status of women in the Elizabethan society where women had no voice and experienced suppression by males in their lives. The women were inferior as Gertrude and Ophelia have little or no power to embrace an idea or contribute to the society. The women experienced restricted legal, economic and social rights. Besides, the male characters such as Hamlet reflect the sexist viewpoint through his judgment when he said, "frailty, thy name is a woman" to show that women are lesser beings compared to men in Elizabethan society (Shakespeare, 2016, 88).
Ophelia who is a beautiful daughter of Polonius who is the Lord Chamberlain of Claudius' court is valuable at the royal family of Elsinore. However, she has no authority to exercise her freedom and is not allowed to behave the way she wants like the rest of the people especially the males. The royal family has Ophelia under full restrictions regarding her actions, attitudes, emotions, and thoughts since patriarchal society shapes the role of women. Therefore, Ophelia is under the suppression of male power which affects both her public and personal life. The patriarchal society places male dominance over females. Therefore, living in the patriarchal society makes Ophelia face numerous challenges. The women are seen as dead but sexually available. Thus, she is the fair Ophelia, chaste treasure, ministering angel, innocent young virgin as well as physically, morally and psychologically weak (Shakespeare, 2016).
Separately, women in Hamlet are victims of male oppression. Polonius, Hamlet, and Laertes encircle Ophelia. Nevert...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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The Status of Women in Hamlet and The City of Ladies

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