Characters in Hamlet Essay

William Shakespeares Hamlet is a very dark play, filled with murders, and plots of revenge. The play focuses on a battle of wits between two men, Hamlet and Claudius, as Hamlet seeks revenge for his father. Even though the plays main plot concerns the struggle between the men, the women in Hamlet play a crucial role. Gertrude and Ophelia, even though they are not developed as well as some of the men in the play are greatly important to the men in achieving their personal goals.

Gertrude and Ophelia were both used by male characters within the play as tools to achieve their personal goals. They are therefore depicted in the play as being easily manipulated by men. This is uncommon in Shakespeares writing as he often made the female characters in his plays to be incredibly strong and powerful characters. For example Lady Macbeth in Macbeth is a complete contrast to the women in Hamlet. Lady Macbeth was portrayed as being very powerful because it was she who controlled Macbeth and manipulated him into arranging the murders in the play. The way that Gertrude and Ophelia were portrayed in Hamlet reflects the social status of women during the time period in which the play was written. (Feis, Womens Roles in Hamlet)

Throughout the play it becomes evident that Ophelia is easily manipulated and is completely controlled by the men in her life. This is most evident in the play when her brother and her father discourage her from following through in her love with hamlet. They both tell her to stay away from Hamlet and not to return any of his letters or gifts. Ophelia, despite her feelings obeys her father and brother without question. There is nothing more important to Polonius than the image of his family. He is worried that his daughter being associated with Hamlet might not reflect well upon his family. This is not the only instance in the play where Polonius uses his daughter as a pawn. Polonius and Claudius created a plan to discover weather Hamlet was acting crazy on account of his unreturned love from Ophelia or whether it was something different. They made sure that Ophelia was in the hall by her self and that Hamlet meet up with her. Following orders she returned all the gifts and letters that hamlet had given her. Polonius and Claudius would observe Hamlets reaction to this gesture to judge whether his love for Ophelia was the root of his madness. Ophelia no matter what affect this will have on her love life with Hamlet agrees to do this because she feels like she is obligated to do what she is told by the superior man in her family.

In this same scene in the hallway Hamlet uses Ophelia to achieve one of his goals. Once he becomes aware of the fact that Polonius and Claudius are spying on him he takes the opportunity to display his insanity. He takes his chance to lash out at Ophelia and he successfully convinces Claudius that he is insane. In this scene it is very apparent that none of the three men thought twice about Ophelias feelings in the situation and just use her as a pawn in their attempts to outwit each other.

Gertrude, Hamlets Mother is the other main female character in hamlet. It is an unanswered question in the play weather Claudius really loved Gertrude. It is a distinct possibility that he was just using her for her royal position so that he could become king. There are several events throughout the play that also question the strength of her character. She never suspects foul play in the death of Old Hamlet and stands by Claudius at all times. The fact that she stands by Claudius no matter what he is doing is a trait of women in that time period. She never thinks for herself even after being explained Hamlets side of the story she does not believe that Claudius played a part in the death of her husband. She even went as far to betray her own son and tell Claudius of Hamlets plan to kill him in revenge for his father.

While both of these women came off as being very weak and easily manipulated by men they both had a very significant emotional affect on Hamlets character. The marriage of Hamlets mother and Claudius left hamlet feeling betrayed. This feeling of betrayal gave hamlet the inspiration and the desire to seek the revenge of his father.