Act 1 Reflection

     When reading Hamlet written by William Shakespeare it becomes clear in the first act of the play that women and men are portrayed in two very different ways. There are two women in Hamlet, Ophelia and Gertrude. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius and the love interest of Hamlet. Gertrude is the queen of Denmark and Hamlet’s mother; she is also married to Claudius who is the brother of Hamlet’s father.

    At the beginning of Hamlet it becomes clear that women are dependent on men, a good example of this is Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. After the death of Gertrude’s husband she quickly marries her husband’s brother so that she can keep her title of queen. Gertrude’s actions show us that she her status as queen is very important to her but in order to keep that status she has to married to the king.

 In Hamlet the men have all of the power and they do appreciate women. In the play Hamlet says:

“Let me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is woman!”(I. I I.146)

When Hamlet says this he is speaking about his mother Gertrude but when he says this he is saying that frailty is a trait that all women have. This line in the play demonstrates that Hamlet’s attitude is very sexist. The men in the play have control over the women, in the play when Polonius and his daughter Ophelia discuss Hamlet, Polonius says:

“ Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,

When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul

 Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,

Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,

 Even in their promise, as it is a-making,

 You must not take for fire. From this time

 Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;

 Set your entreatments at a higher rate

Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,

Believe so much in him, that he is young

 And with a larger tether may he walk

Than may be given you: in few, Ophelia,

 Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,

 Not of that dye which their investments show,

 But mere implorators of unholy suits,

 Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,

 The better to beguile. This is for all:

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,

 Have you so slander any moment leisure,

 As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.

Look to't, I charge you: come your ways.” (I.III.114-135)

     In Polonius’s speech he is telling Ophelia that Hamlet’s love for her is not real and that she can no longer see him. Ophelia does not question Polonius and she says that she will obey him. This part of the play shows the readers that the women have to obey the men because the men have more power.

    When looking at the examples in Hamlet of how women and men are portrayed we can see that they are opposites. The men have all of the power and the women have none which causes the women to obey and depend on the men

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet ." Shakespeare Online. N.p., 2010. Web. 19 Apr 2012.       <http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet_1_3.html>.