Incest and Sexism in Hamlet - 1022 Words

In my readings of Hamlet, sexism was a immense element in the story. It is not fairly unambiguous where the incest comes in and who is involved, but the unorthodox relationships that have taken place shows how things were during the Elizabethan Age, or were they? My goal in this paper is to research the gender roles between the males and females in the story and to prove how women were treated during these times, and to determine who was involved in incest and sexism. The characters in focus will be Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, and son of the deceased King Hamlet; Polonius, counselor to Claudius; Laertes, Polonius’ son who has returned home due to King Hamlet’s death; Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother and Queen of Denmark; and Ophelia, daughter of†¦show more content†¦In the relationship between her and Hamlet, he desired her like bait. He only showed lust for her, and wanted her to fulfill his sexual desires. â€Å"The majority of the critics have viewed Ophelia as a week character, in both form and function, and many have dismissed her as a woman †¦ she has been consistently viewed as the least complex of the principal characters of Hamlet, the least useful.† (Resetarits). Ophelia loses her identity as a woman as she becomes a pawn to the men. Incest flows abundantly through this play like no other. The relationship between Claudius and Gertrude could be considered incest from Hamlet’s perspective even though they are not blood related. He sees his blood uncle and his blood mother together which tortured his conscience. Why did the thought of his mother having sex deter him so bad? Did Hamlet want to look to his mother for sexual comfort? Hamlet was said to have ‘Oedipus Complex’ which is explained as every sons supposed desire to kill his father and have sex with his mother. Whether this is the case is unsure the reason for him to beShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Shakespeare s Hamlet 1021 Words   |  5 Pages Ochoa1 Daniela Ochoa English Mrs. Levine 19 April 2016 Women’s Roles in Hamlet â€Å"There’s a remarkable amount of sexism on TV. When male characters are flawed, they’re interesting, deep and complex, but when women characters are flawed, they’re just a mess.† Ellen Pompeo. In â€Å"Hamlet† Ophelia and Gertrude are the only females mentioned throughout the Shakespeare’s tragic play. The two women are unappreciated and are consideredRead More Shakespeare in Contemporary Movies Essay4875 Words   |  20 Pagesthis context, school is seen as completely out-of-touch with the (post) modern world and unable to teach necessary survival skills. In the one scene where Danny does go to school, his elderly teacher (Joan Plowright) shows a 16mm film of Oliviers Hamlet. Since the film is set in the present day, this is anachronistic; even the most old-fashioned teacher would use a VCR and tape, since that is what the audio-visual department would provide. Moreover, the much more action-packed Zeffirelli version