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Hamlet-Feminist Lens

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Analytical Essay, Hamlet Lance Hoffman There were various lenses of reference available throughout the play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The feminist lens is one lens I will focus on. It was easy to detect that the text had some anti-feminist sentiment. Yet, there were other points in the play that were surprisingly feminist for the period. Ophelia played the anti-feminist stereotype of the time when Hamlet was written, while Gertrude performed the feminist part. Women didn't have any rights, had to follow men, couldn't work, and couldn't possess property throughout the Elizabethan age. which is what Ophelia stands for. Except for the one instance when she is speaking to her brother Laertes, Ophelia never challenges the patriarchy. Laertes was attempting to counsel her over her actions in Act 1, Scene 3 during their exchange. Ophelia rebuffed the advice, yelling at Laertes to stop instructing her how to live and to go about living his own life without interfering with hers. He tells Ophelia not to be afraid (Act 1, Scene 3). Hence, he portrays the patriarchal idea by demonstrating his lack of regard for Ophelia and her thoughts. In Hamlet, Ophelia was treated like an object in addition to the patriarchal purpose. …show more content…

In Hamlet, men in Ophelia's life took advantage of her to get what they sought, political power or something else. For instance, Polonius desired Ophelia to marry a powerful man so badly that it caused him to die. He thought Ophelia could fulfill his goals if she held herself to a higher standard (Act 1, Scene 3). Polonius misinterpreted Hamlet's return to Ophelia later in the play as a show of love because he needed to be seen as belonging to the upper class. He thinks Hamlet admires Ophelia and wants the two of them to wed. Even though he passed dead in the Elsinore

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