Question

Describe the connotation associated with the only two female characters in Hamlet. How does their character development contribute to the theme of gender? What type of view of gender does the play demonstrate?

Answer 1

They are both represented as weak. Ophelia goes crazy and kills herself, and hamlets mother is almost wicked for helping her lover, the kings brother kill the king. the women are either crazy and weak or evil. this contributes to how shakespear writes women as not being multidimensional characters an only adding to problems. it shows guys as the superior gender.

Answer 2

Answer:

Gender roles were pretty common in Shakespeare's time, and these appeared in his plays. Women were often thought of as the weaker sex, who were required to abide by social expectations. In Hamlet, the two female characters are Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, and Ophelia, Hamlet’s lover. Hamlet despises his mother for marrying too quickly and believes she committed adultery. The situation Gertrude is placed in shows that men thought of women as frail. Similarly, Ophelia goes ‘mad’ over Hamlet and Hamlet berates her and sees her as disgraceful.

Explanation: