The Oppression of Women
For hundreds and hundreds of years, women have fought for equality. This fight for equality, commonly known as feminism, has the ultimate goal of finding fairness politically, socially and economically for men and women. The movement is pushing for rights that women have been fighting passionately to receive for years. Women are mistreated because of their gender. This is especially prevalent in both Hamlet by William Shakespeare and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. One sees an inequality of rights and the mistreatment of women because of their gender in both works. The works share a common theme of women having significantly fewer opportunities than men. Men completely dominate the power system, women are …show more content…
Women have no opportunities because men are the ones that are in control, making all the rules. Because of the power that men hold, women are oppressed. This can be seen in Hamlet because there are only two female characters in the play. This alone confirms male dominance because there are significantly more males in the work, outnumbering the women and dominating the gender field. In this play, Ophelia goes completely mad after Polonius, her father, dies. She has no control over her decisions or her thoughts because she was extremely dependent on her father. Laertes notes this when he says: "O heavens, is 't possible a young maid 's wits should be as mortal as an old man 's life? ”(3.5. 159-190) Note how even Laertes, who adores Ophelia and always looks for the best in her, is aware of how incapable Ophelia is of making decisions. If Ophelia had not been so dependent on her father, she would still be able to think for herself. Her insanity as a result of Polonius ' death is the epitome of the fact that men hold power over women in Hamlet. Claudius also becomes aware of this fact when he talks about her madness, saying that this madness: “springs all from her father 's death” (4.5. 75). Claudius says this because he is aware that Ophelia cannot live without a man in her life. Ophelia has no power over her life or her thoughts and she goes crazy because all the men in her life are gone. Polonius is dead and Laertes is in France. Because of the absence of these men, Ophelia ultimately goes crazy and dies, with questions surrounding suicide. Her dependency on men leads to her losing control of her life, which is her ultimate downfall. Hamlet also asserts dominance over his mother when he says: “Come, come and sit you down [and] you shall not budge” (3.4. 18-19). Even though Hamlet is Gertrude’s son and she should hold authority over Hamlet, he
For hundreds and hundreds of years, women have fought for equality. This fight for equality, commonly known as feminism, has the ultimate goal of finding fairness politically, socially and economically for men and women. The movement is pushing for rights that women have been fighting passionately to receive for years. Women are mistreated because of their gender. This is especially prevalent in both Hamlet by William Shakespeare and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. One sees an inequality of rights and the mistreatment of women because of their gender in both works. The works share a common theme of women having significantly fewer opportunities than men. Men completely dominate the power system, women are …show more content…
Women have no opportunities because men are the ones that are in control, making all the rules. Because of the power that men hold, women are oppressed. This can be seen in Hamlet because there are only two female characters in the play. This alone confirms male dominance because there are significantly more males in the work, outnumbering the women and dominating the gender field. In this play, Ophelia goes completely mad after Polonius, her father, dies. She has no control over her decisions or her thoughts because she was extremely dependent on her father. Laertes notes this when he says: "O heavens, is 't possible a young maid 's wits should be as mortal as an old man 's life? ”(3.5. 159-190) Note how even Laertes, who adores Ophelia and always looks for the best in her, is aware of how incapable Ophelia is of making decisions. If Ophelia had not been so dependent on her father, she would still be able to think for herself. Her insanity as a result of Polonius ' death is the epitome of the fact that men hold power over women in Hamlet. Claudius also becomes aware of this fact when he talks about her madness, saying that this madness: “springs all from her father 's death” (4.5. 75). Claudius says this because he is aware that Ophelia cannot live without a man in her life. Ophelia has no power over her life or her thoughts and she goes crazy because all the men in her life are gone. Polonius is dead and Laertes is in France. Because of the absence of these men, Ophelia ultimately goes crazy and dies, with questions surrounding suicide. Her dependency on men leads to her losing control of her life, which is her ultimate downfall. Hamlet also asserts dominance over his mother when he says: “Come, come and sit you down [and] you shall not budge” (3.4. 18-19). Even though Hamlet is Gertrude’s son and she should hold authority over Hamlet, he