Exploring Feminist Criticism in Hamlet For thousands of years the role of women in society has changed vastly throughout our world. Since the beginning of time, women have been on an uphill climb to achieve the same equality as her male counterpart. Women have been taught to limit themselves, and those who have been courageous enough to surpass these limitations have faced great adversity. During the time of Shakespeare, the patriarchal society that ruled had consequential effects for the freedoms of women. Women were dominated by men, seen as second tier, inferior, and were to obey their husband and father undoubtedly. In the play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, the closer we look at the female character of Ophelia, the further we see the detrimental effects of the restraints that were placed on her. "Controlled by her father Polonius, underestimated in her intellect by her brother Laertes, manipulated by the more powerful Claudius and Gertrude to meet their own purposes, caught in the crossfire between Hamlet and his parents...Ophelia is arguably the most isolated character in the play and the one whose welfare is most routinely disregarded"
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The dominance of men was not only over the female's mind, but their body as well. The sexual objectification of Ophelia can clearly be seen throughout Hamlet, by the treatment of men around her. Hamlet, Ophelia’s boyfriend, asks Ophelia, "Lady shall I lie in your lap? When she replies, "No, my lord," he then states, "Thats a fair thought to lie between a maids' legs" (3.2.119-125). Hamlets comments bring about and remind us the view men took of women, and show us the worth they perceived was only found in what the female body provided for them. Men did not look at women as an insightful being, but instead as a sexual one. A women's body was considered another piece of the male’s property, in which he
The dominance of men was not only over the female's mind, but their body as well. The sexual objectification of Ophelia can clearly be seen throughout Hamlet, by the treatment of men around her. Hamlet, Ophelia’s boyfriend, asks Ophelia, "Lady shall I lie in your lap? When she replies, "No, my lord," he then states, "Thats a fair thought to lie between a maids' legs" (3.2.119-125). Hamlets comments bring about and remind us the view men took of women, and show us the worth they perceived was only found in what the female body provided for them. Men did not look at women as an insightful being, but instead as a sexual one. A women's body was considered another piece of the male’s property, in which he