Handouts

=The Strenth of Women in Hamlet in Comparison to Elizabethan Society =

I. Life of Women during the Elizabethan years (1558-1603) • The life of married women from wealthy families and those from poorer families varied greatly beginning with their age of marriage o The standards were for brides of nobility, gentry, and wealthy urban elite to marry to ten years younger than their counterparts among ordinary women during early modern England, 1550- 1720. o One could consent to marriage as early as the age of seven and women of the upper class were not given as much choice as the lower economic classes, nor freedom in who they would marry. • After the wedding, there was the ritual of “giving the women away.” • The point was to “putteth women in the mind of dutie” and was greatly intimidating to the women of this time to such as great degree that many eloped to avoid a public wedding. • In a marriage, the wife had no legal stake in the physical and economic resources of the household and almost always no way to leave the marriage. · Women had very limited job opportunities; therefore, a woman’s first priority in a marriage was to create a social and economic partnership before the concern of romantic attraction. • During Elizabethan times, a woman’s love towards her husband was judged based on her subjugation to him, and rebelling was not only unacceptable, but dangerous as well.

II. Shakespeare and feminine influences throughout his life

• Shakespeare lived and worked during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I • She was the first woman to truly have all power in ruling over England. o Elizabeth represented herself as both queen and king, manipulating contemporary images of monarch and gender. o She wanted to be portrayed as strong as a king, · Elizabeth utilized her femininity to achieve goals. o Such “feminine characteristics,” from her vanity to her virginity, facilitated her manipulation to turn enemies against one another, and to always have the upper hand. · This type of power can also be exemplified in another form, through a woman’s power of control through love.

III. Shakespeare’s Women • Shakespeare writes of his experiences with the torment of love in a series of poems referred to as “the Dark Lady.” o Throughout these poems, it is apparent that Shakespeare acquiesces to his love towards her, for she has power over him. Lady, “the poet says he loves her ‘dearly’ but bitterly regrets her power over him, which he sees as manipulative and controlling. • He becomes a slave to her dominating personality, beauty, and power.” • There is reason to believe that she is of a higher social standing than Shakespeare; the issue of love among different social classes is a prominent matter within Shakespeare’s works, such as Hamlet.
 * In reference to the Dark

IV. The women of Hamlet

• From a modern perspective, Gertrude and Ophelia would be seen as weak female characters, as they were intended to be represented. “Ophelia has no chance to develop an independent conscious of her own, so stifled is she by the authority of the male world…a condition which makes her incapable of coping with a world she has no part of.” • With this in consideration, Ophelia is not a weak woman in relation to her death. • Suicide is actually one of independence and liberation from the male dominated society in which she suffocates. • Superficially, it appears as though Gertrude is a weak character; however, analyzing what she does, and doesn’t do, can lead to conclusions of a stronger woman. • “He begs her not to sleep with Claudius again, but although she promises not to tell anyone what he has said, she avoids giving a direct answer. It may be that Gertrude is attempting a practical compromise.” • Despite the negative connotation, there are numerous references to the physical relationship of Gertrude and Claudius. o Hamlet states, “but to live in the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed sweat in corruption, honeying and making love over the nasty sty,” placing her in a position not necessarily of power, but one in which she has power over her own actions. • In Elizabethan society woman did not have the choice of who she married let alone decisions once they were married. • Hamlet declares of his mother, “O most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” • Similar to how Gertrude chose to jump into the bed of incest with Claudius, she makes the decision to no longer sleep with him, “Hamlet implores Gertrude to discontinue sexual relations with Claudius.” Gertrude has headed Hamlet's plea and has rejected Claudius' affections.” • Wood’s Shakespeare refutes any Freudian views between Gertrude and Hamlet, rather bases their relationship on the 1550 Latin version of Euripides’s Orestes.
 * They had no means to grow their independence based on the manner in which women were viewed during Shakespeare’s time.
 * According Shakespeare and the Nature of Women by Juliet Dusinberre,
 * Gertrude is somewhat torn between her new husband and her son.
 * By not giving Hamlet an answer she lets Hamlet believe what he chooses, while evading commitment.
 * This is another instance of Gertrude doing as she chooses regardless of the moral ramifications of her actions.
 * Her response to his urgings would then color her (and Claudius') behavior for the rest of the play… it is clearly the case that
 * This concludes in a strain on her marriage with Claudius that results in Gertrude as a dependent woman. Her ultimate break from Claudius is her warning to Hamlet about the poison in the drink.
 * “Nothing is better than a loyal friend…and now again do spur my fit revenge and still are by my side,” refers to the bedchamber scene between Gertrude and Hamlet.
 * By naming Gertrude a “loyal friend” she is not merely placed above the status of women in Elizabethan times, but as an equal to Hamlet.