Misogyny In Hamlet

Hamlets’ treatment towards Gertrude (mother) is not unreasonable, but the way Hamlet treats Ophelia is a little harsh in the beginning when she is completely innocent. Further along through the play Hamlet’s treatment towards Ophelia can be considered reasonable since she basically decided to side with Claudius and Polonius. The way in which Hamlet treats Gertrude and Ophelia doesn’t seem to be a part of the misogyny in the culture. Hamlet does seem to possess a great hatred for women, especially the women in his close circle of peers. The hatred he has for women is strong and visible to readers. The way in which Hamlet treats Gertrude is completely just. Hamlet feels his mother has betrayed him because she married his father’s murderer shortly …show more content…
Hamlet’s behavior towards the women he has interacted with throughout the play has been spiteful and hateful. Hamlet views all women as liars and traitors in response to how Ophelia and Gertrude have hurt him. Hamlet doesn’t believe that women are capable of loving and that any women, who claim to love him or any man, are lying because they want something. Whenever Hamlet encounters and speaks with a woman the conversations never seem to end well. The conversations usually end with yelling and violence. For example, When Ophelia attempts to give Hamlet his necklace he lashes out at her and gets violent with her by shoving her up against the wall. Hamlet even goes far enough to tell Ophelia that she was a prostitute and that he never loved her at all. During, the play that Hamlet wrote to swindle his uncle into confessing to what he did to Hamlet’s father; Hamlet lays his head in Ophelia lap and acts extremely vulgar. In the play he designed a character, which represented his mother, to act like a terrible person and a harlot. Hamlets mother was appalled by what she witnessed. The way Hamlet had his mother portrayed should express to the audience his hatred he has towards his mom at least. Hamlet gets aggressive with his mother when he tells her that she sleeps with a murderer and he gets rough with her too. Hamlet calls her a bad mother and a whore. Gertrude was scared he was going to kill her, or cause her some sort of harm to her because, he was shouting and getting forceful with her. Hamlet grabs and flings his mother around her bedroom and pulls his sword out on her to scare her. Only pure hatred could drive Hamlet to treat the supposed love of his life and his mother that way. The way that Hamlet treats Ophelia and Gertrude can give the audience insight on how Hamlet may feel about women in general. Hamlet has an enormous lack of respect for women and thinks of them as nothing more that whores and