Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
University of Sulaimani
College of Languages
English Department
Graduation Research
Supervised by
Tayeb Abdulrahman Abduallah
Prepare by
Slemany Adil Mohammed
Bayad Mohammed Namiq
2019-2020
Bayad and Slemani 2
Abstract
This paper explains Shakespeare’s view of female characters, compared to that of his
time period. And we have to know what women were and were not allowed to do and what was
the difference between men and women at that time, especially by Shakespeare. In this research
we are going to talk about two of his works in which women have been shown as less than men.
And throughout the research you will be familiar with Shakespeare criticism of women. At that
time women were not allowed to gain equal rights and they were not independent, but in most of
Shakespeare works, women have been treated as something weak, liar, manipulative and bring
evilness. These can be clearly see in his works for instance in (Hamlet and Macbeth) he shows
In Hamlet, Shakespeare shows his view of female role through couple of characters
Ophelia and Gertrude. Shakespeare tells us through these two characters that how was the life of
women at that time and how they have been treated and behave, and he tells how Gertrude had
involved in murdering king Hamlet, and then we have Macbeth again we see how she provokes
Introduction
renaissance and history of the world drama. This great writer Shakespeare was really better at the
picturing female character than the other play writers in that period. When he wrote Macbeth and
hamlet Shakespeare to be sure attempted His best to show the real life, but the time he lived in
there was a lit difference between genders. In the time when Shakespeare wrote female
acknowledged narrowly and Shakespeare was a masculine gender and that is why women in
Hamlet and Macbeth suffered so much, and women have been showed as one kind of slaves in
the history since they did not have any choice to do for their own sake. In the play Hamlet,
Gertrude and Ophelia are only two women characters in which the attitude of the dramatist
explores. Gertrude married Claudius (murder of king Hamlet) second time just after only two
months of king Hamlet’s death. even she is hated by her own son prince Hamlet, and Ophelia
another female character she controlled by his father and his brother. And also in Macbeth we
see how Lady Macbeth takes a huge role and she pushes Macbeth to kill King Duncan and the
representation of the witches is another example of showing women as a bad character, they
represent bad fate of Macbeth by giving him three prophecies. The study is a comprehensive
analysis on the tragedy of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth. The main hypothesis of the study
is that women in Hamlet and Macbeth are represented as less important and negative labels and it
Weakness
In Shakespeare’s two plays, Hamlet and Macbeth, women are represented as weak
characters. Women in Hamlet are weak and morally suspected. The female characters depend on
men because they are weak and cannot stand by themselves. Gertrude depends on Claudius to
make her happy, and Ophelia cannot decide alone: she is doing whatever her father and brother
ask to her do, According to the time when William Shakespeare wrote his plays women had no
rights and their responsibilities were located at home: raising children and keeping the house.
These views were reflected in many documents complied by Shakespeare’s contemporaries, and
women were often showed as a metaphor for weakness. Another example of Shakespeare’s
unconventional attitude concerning women is found in his play “Macbeth” the representation of
the witches and on the other hand Lady Macbeth cunningly controls her husband into the murder
“Frailty thy name is women” (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2, lines 146): the origin of this quote
is from Hamlet. In reality he is remember his father memory. He mourns the death of his father
and changing nature of women, referring to his mother, Gertrude, as she married his uncle
Claudius. By saying this and using “women” he refers it to his mother, Gertrude. Here he means
that her mother as women she is morally weak, because she has betrayed her husband by this
hasty marriage with her brother-in-law, Claudius, just one month after the death of king Hamlet,
The meaning of this quote is that he is saddened by the death of his father and the hasty
marriage of his mother. In Hamlet’s mind, women represent weakness, meaning women are
breakable, weak and delicate in nature. He alludes to inherent weakness in women’s character.
His mother, Gertrude, epitomizes frailty or weakness. Also Hamlet by calling women weak
human he means that his mother is emotionally, spiritually, morally and physically weak. By her
hasty marriage she is morally and emotionally weak. Morally weak because it was not for more
than two months since the death of her husband, she wanted to marry again with the one who is
the brother of her first husband. She is emotionally weak because she could not stand alone for a
long time; in a short period of time she wanted to remarry. Gertrude to be happy could not just be
herself, she depended on Claudius to make her happy. Gertrude is spiritually weak, because she
has committed a sin, and physically weaker than men. As the result of her weakness, she will die
in the end of the play. Her weakness in character led her to death.
The literal analysis of this quote that criticize women. As it is clear that Hamlet, grieving
for his deceased king Hamlet, denounces the swift remarriage of his mother. He thus calls
women kind weak and frail in character. He describes his mother as an archetypal woman
because Gertrude not only weakened her credibility by her second hasty marriage, but she also
failed pathetically to understand the reasons for her son’s prolonged mourning. That shows
Gertrude’s weakness. Therefore, Hamlet speaks his feelings loudly, denouncing the over hasty
marriage of his mother, degrading her for ignoring fresh memories of his father’s death. He was
angry by her marriage to a lecherous creature like Claudius, who was no comparison with a
celestial figure like his father. And it also can be a foreshadowing for Ophelia, who chooses to be
Ophelia, who used to follow the decision of her two major men in her life, and not stand
up for herself. In the beginning of appearing Ophelia in the drama, we see that her father and her
brother advising and ordering her about her relationship with princess of Denmark Hamlet. They
tell her that how she should be and how shouldn’t be with him, and tell her that hamlet wants to
be with just for his desire not for true love. And it makes effect on her. After that when hamlet
visit Ophelia she says “as you did command, I did repel his letters and denied his access to me”
(Hamlet, Act 2, scene 2, lines 180-110) she did what her father told her, she rejected the love and
letters of Hamlet. Hamlet loved for sure, but suddenly, she rejected him. And even she was
rejected him in front of Claudius, Gertrude and Polonius, just to show them how hamlet would
react. She gave back Hamlet’s letters, which make him to say “go thee to nunnery” (Hamlet, Act
3, scene 1, line 131). It because of in nunnery women are not allowed to marry at all they can’t
be under the influence of men. Hamlet believes that, where women have best chance to be
faithful, and she will cause the least amount of damage. At there she won’t have children to grow
up and be someone useless like his father, Claudius. Furthermore, Ophelia is not strong enough
she is weak, she cannot survive alone, and realizing this she calls for her brother to help her and
guide her, when her father had been killed by Hamlet.” I would give you some violet/but they
withered all when my father died...” (Hamlet, Act 4, scene 5, lines 207-209). The violets flower
are symbols for faithful, and it because of that Ophelia says the violets are gone because she feels
betrayed that her father left her , however it was not his fault he killed by Hamlet. Violets also
has another meaning which is forgiveness, which Ophelia does not feel compelled for Polonius’s
guidance has influenced Ophelia’s emotional growth, it just makes her to think and feel what
she is told to. After the death of his father, she couldn’t be strong, she was just as same as she
was before. In the end Ophelia’s weakness led her to her death, after her father death by Hamlet
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and the distance between herself and her brother she has no more men in her life to depend on
and make a decision for her that is why she couldn’t stand alone and kill herself (Hamlet, Act 4,
In the end Ophelia’s weakness led her to her death. After her father death by Hamlet and
the distance between herself and her brother, she has no more men in her life to depend on and
make a decision for her that is why she couldn’t stand alone and killed herself. (Shakespeare)
Lady Macbeth is one of the characters in Macbeth; she has desire for power, yet very
determined that her husband will be king. At the very beginning of the play, when she is first
seen, she is already plotting the murder of Duncan, Showing more ruthlessness and ambition
than Macbeth. But she is weak and she can’t do the murder by herself, as we see in Macbeth, Act
1, scene 5, lines 34-35 ) she says “unsex me”. Upon receiving the letter with the witches
prophecies from her husband, she begins to think that Macbeth lacks the courage for something
like this, she call upon the forces of evil to help her to do what must be done, but she suddenly
think that she is women. She wishes that she were not woman so that she could do it herself and
(Mahamud) Says “I think there is a connection between gender and power and here, that
is true. Many people don’t view women and power together as one but here, Shakespeare shows
Lady Macbeth, along with the witches include manipulation, to achieve certain male powers or
ambition”. And another reference that shows Lady Macbeth’s weakness is that she could not
continue until the end of the play, she committed suicide in (Macbeth, Act 5, and scene 5) and
could not be strong enough to continue with her husband and support him as a good wife and as
a strong woman. In Hamlet, the women play small roles in portraying their historical status.
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Although Gertrude is the Queen and Ophelia is the prince’s lover, their voices are never heard
and their actions are influenced by the men. Although Gertrude and Ophelia are not well
developed throughout the play, their actions, language and influence portray them as the type of
women that are constantly relying on men making them frail human beings. And in Macbeth
Lady Macbeth she is directly ask for changing her gender it is directly criticizing women.
(shakespeare)
Lies
In Hamlet another criticism of woman is that during the play they do not show up what is
true.
Gertrude and Ophelia are lies, and they always hide things.
One of the most important lies that effect the play is that when Gertrude decided to show
that she does not know whether Hamlet is mad or not. She hides it from her king Claudius. When
Gertrude and Hamlet talk they thought it’s better for them to show that Gertrude knows nothing
about Hamlet’s untrue madness, and she will pretend as is she is in Claudius’s side. When
Claudius comes back from England, he would deal with Hamlet. After killing Polonius, Gertrude
shows as if she does not know about Hamlet’s madness and says, "Mad as the sea and wind,
when both contend/ Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit,/ Behind the arras hearing something
stir,/ He whips his rapier out, and cries, 'A rat! a rat!'/ And in this brainish apprehension kills/
The unseen good old man." (Act 4, scene 1, lines 7-12 ). This action of Gertrude makes Claudius
Another lie that cannot be seen in the play and on the stage is that Gertrude lies to herself.
She lies to herself about her husband, King Hamlet. She convinces herself that it is something
normal to marry her husband’s brother within a month after her husband’s death. She constantly
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convinces herself that he is looking out for the family with his actions, and she fools herself into
Ophelia is Polonius’s daughter and Hamlet’s beloved. She is also lies and hides the truth.
She lied to Hamlet by taking away her intention from him. Ophelia tried to prove that for
Claudius and her father that why Hamlet is acting like a mad person. And during this meeting,
those two men hide themselves to see Hamlet’s reaction to Ophelia. Hamlet, while speaking with
Ophelia, directly asks for her father’s place and asks her "Where's your father ?/ At Home, my
lord." ( Act 3, scene 1, lines 131-133 ). She again lies with him, and she knows that he is hiding
himself. (Guitard)
Firstly, Macbeth considers as one of the best players in the play; he defeats the enemies
and he is a good warier, but he turned into a treasonous murderer by his manipulative wife. In
this play Lady Macbeth is presented as evil because she is the one who designs he plan to kill
King Duncan. It can be seen clearly after she is reading the witches prophecies. (Gupta)
And then she tries to provoke her husband that he is a worthy person to be the king as she
says "...Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness To catch the nearest
way" (Act 1, scene 5, lines 15-18). This is a soliloquy by Lady Macbeth. Under the light of this
quotation we see that she believes that she will be the king eventually, but she expressed
something else: she says that Macbeth is not ruthless enough to take the nearest way or the
quickest path to the throne. We see how evil she is; she does not want to wait for Duncan to die.
She wants Macbeth to be the king now, shortly, to kill him as soon as possible. Thus, her
statement shows the reader just as much about her character. In reality she thinks of him not as a
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brave man but as a weak man, and she thinks nothing for killing the king just for her own selfish
purposes. She says: "Come, thick night” (Act 1, scene 5, lines 57-60). Here evilness in this lady
can be seen. She wants to do the murder as soon as possible, In this quotation, Lady Macbeth
personified “night”, she asks upon night to come and cover her deeds from the eyes of heaven or
god and all people around her, she asks night to hide her deed and no one can see her evil crime,
she feels as if no person sees her deed, it will go away without punishment. (Gupta)
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Works Cited
<http://prezi.com/fgviztlvcrq/Top_Ten_Lies_in_Hamlet>.
<http://www.academia.edu/7811038/Macbeth>.
<http://www.academia.edu/35988854/lady_macbeth_character_analysis>.
<http://www.academia.edu/35552828/Two_Women_in_Hamlet>.
Sarkar, Sajal. "Shakespeare's Negative Attitude towards Women in Hamlet." The Millennium