Khalifa

Jamira Khalifa
Miss Persitz
English IV
6 December 2013
Hamlet To and Is Hamleetah
In the midst of the 18th and 20th century, Feminist Criticism, a theory that advocates equal
rights, examines gender roles, explores what it means to be a man or a woman, and displays how
characters may break gender norms, was used to describe a great number of economic and
cultural movements. Feminism is the inequality between men and women within a society and in
family life. Some key components of Feminism are how women are sub-human and inferior to
men or when comments are built upon how non-feminine objects or characters are portrayed
resembling women to be-little them. A limitation or constraint of Feminist Criticism may include
overemphasis on gender and power. Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, from the Shakespearean play,
Hamlet, is exposed as the daughter his mother never had while living with the actuality that his
father, former King of Denmark, was murdered by his uncle, who is now his step-father,
Claudius, King of Denmark. Throughout the text, Hamlet also faces the reality that his mother,
Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, became his aunt by marriage to Claudius within a total of two
months. On top of the lewdness, Hamlet experiences abandonment from Ophelia, the daughter of
the Danish counselor. Moving forward in the text, Hamlet poses as a half- mad man with
abandonment from the concrete roles in his life. Overall, Hamlet seeks out revenge for those who
have broken down the foundations of his life. Yet the question arouses whether Hamlet has really
become mad; or has he just become a woman?
Along with many other feminine characteristics, Hamlet is obedient; as a woman in the
18th century should be. Edited by A.R Braunmuller, Hamlet says, I shall in all my best obey

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you, madam (Hamlet. I.II.120). Hamlet requested permission from the King and Queen to
return to school in Wittenberg; but being declined something hed really wanted, he handled it
very well through obedience. Hamlet never again asked about going back to school which makes
him seem less manly. Persistence is a man-like attribute that Hamlet didnt really possess.
Hamlet shouldve continued seeking the okay to do something hed been wanting to but did as he
was told to and stayed in Denmark. Continuing, Hamlet exhibits more obedience and some
naivety. From Act I Scene VI, lines 57 through 64:
[Ghost beckons]
Horatio: It beckons you to go away with it, As if it some impartment did desire To
you alone.
Marcellus: Look with what courteous action It waves you to a more removed
ground. But do not go with it.
Horatio: No, by no means.
Hamlet: It will not speak. Then I will follow it.
Horatio: Do not, my lord.
Hamlet has shown that he really is obedient and that he also is very nave. Following a ghost-like
figure away where itd be just the two of them makes him as nave as an eleven-year-old girl.
While disregarding what the more familiar characters of the text were saying, Hamlet was being
obedient towards the ghost-like figure he thought was his father. This shows just how feminine
Hamlet is because if the ghost-like figure Hamlet is going off with is, in his eyes, his father, he is
behaving how he shouldas a daughter to her father. Feminist Criticism basically says that its
okay to be a nave woman if a father or male inferior is allowing them to do so. Hamlet, at this
point, isnt positive that this ghostly figure is his father. He can only just assume out of suspicion
that he is doing what daddy says; even though it may be nave. Together, with certainty, Hamlet
is behaving, in this part of the play, in a socially acceptable manner.

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Feminism clearly explores how and what it means to be a man or a woman in believing
texts and time periods. Passivity in the Shakespearean time was an attribute to women. Out of
Hamlet edited by A.R Braunmuller, Act II Scene II, lines 171 through 195:

Polonius: How does my good lord, Hamlet?

Hamlet: Well, God-a-mercy.
Polonius: Do you know me, my lord?
Hamlet: Excellent well. You are a fishmonger.
Polonius: Not I, my lord.
Hamlet: Then I would you were so honest a man.
Polonius: Honest, my lord?
Hamlet: Ay, sir. To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked
out of ten thousand.
Polonius: Thats very true, my lord.
Hamlet: For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing
carrion- Have you a daughter?
Polonius: I have, my lord.
Hamlet: Let her not walk i th sun. Conception is a blessing, but as your
daughter my conceive, friend, look tot.
Polonius: [Aside] How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter. Yet
he knew me not first. A said I was a fishmonger. A is far gone. And truly
in my youth I suffered much extremity for love, very near this. Ill speak
to him again.- What do you read, my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.
Presenting how passive he is, Hamlet speaks to Polonius as if he hadnt, earlier in the play, acted
out to his daughter. Although he did in fact make Ophelia believe there was something that
stirred him up; he is now hiding it very well, like a woman would. Hamlet preferred Polonius
believing that he was mad. Not mad in love, as Polonius had believed and that being the reason
Polonius confronted Hamlet. To do so, he acted as if he were just nonchalantly reading. Hamlet
personified feminine attributes by acting passively toward Polonius in order to move further into
his plot to throw the rest of the characters off with his madness in lieu of his being mad in love.
To continue, women that were examined through Feminist Criticism were not only passive,
obedient, and nave. They were needy as well. Stated in Act II Scene II, within line 239 and 261:

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Hamlet: But in the beaten way of friendship, what make you at Elsinore?
Rosencrantz: To visit you, my lord; no other occasion.
Hamlet: Beggar that I am, I am ever poor in thanks, but I thank you; and sure,
dear friends, my thanks are too dear halfpenny. Were you not sent for? Is it your
own inclining? Is it free visitation? Come, come, deal justly with me. Com, come.
Nay, speak.
Guildenstern: What should we say, my lord?
Hamlet: Anything but to th purpose. You were sent for, and there is a kind of
confession in your looks, which your modesties have not craft enough to color. I
know the good king and queen have sent for you.
Rosencrantz: To what end, my lord?
Hamlet: That you must teach me. But let me conjure you by the rights of our
fellowship, by the consonancy of our youth, by the obligation of our everpersevered love, and by what more dear a better prosper can charge you withal, be
even and direct with me whether you were sent for or no.
Rosencrantz: [Aside to Guildenstern] What say you?
Hamlet: [Aside] Nay then, I have an eye for you.- If you love me, hold not off.

Not only is Hamlet trying to pull the truth out of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern because they are
his old friends but because he is in need of honesty from the few trusted people left in his life. He
knows that his friends have lied to him but he still yearns for the truth. He needs it so that he
doesnt make himself believe that he is actually crazy. Hamlet is needy of honesty so he pulled it
out of his friends. A real man would have just left the matter alone but again, Hamlet let one of
his feminine qualities show.
Furthermore, with the many attributes of Feminism, being indecisive was an important
aspect of women in Hamlet. In Act III Scene I on lines 56 to 61, Hamlet questions, To be, or
not to be- that is the question: Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die,
to sleep No more, and by a sleep to say we end Contemplating his life, Hamlet doesnt know
if he should go on suffering through hardship and loss of self. He doesnt know if he wants to die
or to live; to sleep his days away or to just give up. Hamlet is now very indecisive. It comes
across as a normal question for a person in Hamlets position, but it adds to his bundle of

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feminine characteristics. As gender roles come into play in Feminist Criticism, it is known that
men are to be strong-willed, emotionless, honorable, and sure of themselves. Exposed, Hamlet is
the opposite of those things. He has broken and is now weak. He feels like he wants to die and he
doesnt know if he should. With these qualities, Hamlet is being viewed from a Feminist point of
view as a princess, not a prince. Additionally, with the idea being that women are indecisive is an
element of Feminist Criticism, so is it that women are dramatic. The play reads in Act III Scene
II from lines 344 to 354:
Hamlet: I do not understand that. Will you play upon this pipe?
Guildenstern: My lord, I cannot.
Hamlet: I pray you.
Guildenstern: Believe me, I cannot.
Hamlet: I do beseech you.
Guildenstern: I know no touch of it, my lord.
Hamlet: It is as easy as lying. Govern these ventages with your fingers and thumb, give it
breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these are
the stops.
Because his friend, Guildenstern, lied to him once before, Hamlet overdramatizes his lack of
honesty. Hamlet kind of snarks at Guildenstern about how playing would be as easy as lying.
Hes being super dramatic and using Guildenstern and Rosencrantzs lie about being sent for as
an excuse to justify that he doesnt really believe that Guildenstern cant play the recorder.
Hamlet is now being feminine by dramatizing little incidents that dont please him.
Going back to the attribute that is passivity of women under Feminism, Hamlet withholds
events that consist of little talk. Not all of the characters in the play are informed of every detail,
except Hamlet. In reply to questions about the body of Polonius, he replies, The body is with
the king, but the king is not with the body. The king is a thing- (Hamlet. IV.II.24-25). Speaking
as if its okay that Polonius is dead , and like no one is looking for the body, Hamlet makes a
witty remark. He tried making Polonius death out to be an incident that didnt happen. Hes

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acting against it in a passive aggressive tone. Hamlet doesnt want anyone to find Polonius body
because he doesnt necessarily care and he thinks other wont or shouldnt either. Therefore he
acts like a woman that just broke a pair of heels but still has fifteen more pairs. Though lots of
women under Feminist Criticism are passive, needy, or dramatic, there is still the stereotypical
feminism that is game playing. Hamlet reads, Not where he eats, but where a is eaten. A certain
convocation of politic worm are een at him. You worm is your only emperor for diet. We fat all
creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is
but variable service- two dishes, but to one table. Thats the end (Hamlet. IV.III.19-24). Hamlet
decides to completely play a little game with Claudius here. He plays with words and makes
witty comments to Claudius about where the body of Polonius is. Hamlet is exhibiting very
woman-like characteristics by playing games in, again, a passive tone to keep anyone from
figuring out where Polonius body is; which is also just a big game to mess with the other
characters. Fancy that. Eleven-year-old girls play games, too.
Finishing, Hamlet has been lost all throughout the play. He cries, I loved Ophelia. Forty
thousand brothers Could not with all their quantity of love Make up my sum. What with thou do
for her?(Hamlet.V.I.259-261). Hamlet is completely heartbroken now and hes hurting. More
importantly he is weak. He is in tears; and not for the first time within the play. From a
stereotypical Feminist Criticism point of view, Hamlet shouldnt cry because men dont cry.
Despite the circumstances, Feminism states that men are strong-willed and emotionless; yet
Hamlet is watery-eyed and stating how he loved. Backtracking, the theory that women are
indecisive hits once more in Hamlet edited by A.R Braunmuller in Act V Scene II when Hamlet
disputes, on line 152, How if I answer no? Hamlet hesitates and is uncertain if he should go to
trial. Hes unsure of himself. Men under Feminism are arrogant, confident, and strong. Hamlet

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doesnt decide right away. Again, he is indecisive about what to do which characterizes him as a
woman; in that case would make it socially acceptable to say no.
In conclusion, over the course of the Shakespearean play, Hamlet, edited by A.R
Braunmuller, Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, showcased the idea that Feminist Criticism theory
does in fact exist in this play. Prince Hamlet was needy, indecisive, dramatic, weak, and very
passive all throughout the play. With that, Hamlet was viewed as having been feminine due to
woman-like attributes and qualities. Hamlet went through lots of hardships but handled them in
an unmanly manner. Therefore, Hamlet is Hamleetah.