In William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”, the protagonist accuses women of being unfaithful, uncaring, deceitful creatures. Hamlet’s misogynistic feelings towards women spring from his mother, Gertrude, and, unfortunately, reflect upon the unsuspecting Ophelia. Yet, his relationship with the female of the species is more complex than that of a simple woman hater.
Gertrude is the root cause of Hamlet’s suspicion towards women. Her hasty, and incestuous, remarriage to Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, within a week of her former husband’s death causes Hamlet much distress as he questions the fidelity of all women; "O, most wicked speed to post / With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" (1:2:156-157) Gertrude, though, cannot see that her actions are wrong. More than anything in the world she wants a happy family. At one point she begs Hamlet to "let [his] eye look like a friend on Denmark," (1:2:69) in other words, cast aside his hatred of Claudius. It is likely that she truly loves Claudius, and theirs is the only relationship that might actually be considered healthy. They rely mutually on each other, and the King often takes Gertrude into his confidence, expressing his misgivings to her.
In Hamlet’s mind though, his mother has become a cruel and adulterous creature. Furthermore, according to Amanda Mabillard, "Gertrude is a very sexual being, and it is her sexuality that turns Hamlet so violentlyagainst her." Eventually a woman’s sexuality becomes a gross and despicable thing in Hamlet’s mind and his is filled with nausea at the idea of his mother sleeping with Claudius: "In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed, / Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love / Over the nasty sty!" (3.4.94-96) Hamlet’s disgust with such actions lead to a verbal outbreak of anger with Gertrude in Act Three, Scene Four. In this climatic scene Hamlet finally shows an intense desire to save his mother’s soul by trying to convince her that she must repent for the marriage to Claudius. He begs her to "Confess [herself] to heaven; / Repent what’s past; avoid what is to come, / And do not spread the compost on the weeds / To make them ranker." (3:4:151-154) He gently tries to teach Gertrude that celibacy shall become easier with practice. Thus, it seems, the "pure misogynist" title that was so easy to place of Hamlet begins to break down.
The only other woman in this play is Ophelia, the one time love of Hamlet’s life, with whom his relationship becomes contradictory and confusing. At the beginning, his deep devotion to Ophelia is revealed in a love letter that he wrote to her: “O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers; I have/ not art to reckon my groans; but that I love thee best, / O most best, believe it.” (2:2:120-122) Unfortunately, circumstance, and Hamlet’s newly formed suspicion against women, mean that this relationship is doomed. As Rebecca Ramp states:
Perhaps the most tragic of failed relationships in Hamlet is that between Hamlet and Ophelia. This relationship was one that both participants considered real, until Hamlet was forced by the pressures of vengeance to make it appear superficial.
The failure of this relationship can be most simply blamed on Hamlet’s anger with his mother, which causes him to express that anger on Ophelia; "In his destruction of his beloved creature Hamlet is lucid and brilliant, fuelled by rage and thoughts of Gertrude’s betrayal." (Mabillard) Hamlet plays with Ophelia’s heart, and cruelly tells her to go to a nunnery; he becomes physically violent (in some stage interpretations) and is degrading; he is rude to her and explicit in his bawdy talk at the mute play: "It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge." (3:2:255-256) He goes as far as to mock her for being so innocent as to think that he ever loved her: "You should not have believed me." (3:1:117)
Yet, there was more at work in the destruction of Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship that merely the emotional baggage that Hamlet was carrying. Ernest Jones, in his essay "The Psychoanalytic Hamlet" argues, "[Hamlet] can forgive a woman neither her rejection of his sexual advanced nor, still less, her alliance with another man." In the case of Ophelia, it seems that she has allied herself with Polonius. She is forced by her father to ignore Hamlet entirely: "I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth/ Have you so slander any moment leisure/ As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet." (1:4:132-134) In the "nunnery scene" Polonius even sets it up so that Ophelia is placed in a position where she must use her femininity in order to bring Hamlet out of his insanity. This act, though, only succeeds in reinforcing Hamlet’s belief that women are twofaced, all having secret agendas. In Hamlet’s anger of her supposed betrayal he denounces any love that he ever had for her saying "I loved you not," (3.1.119). He is convinced that he is the victim of women’s foul and deceiving nature:
God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another. You jig, you amble, and you lisp; you nickname God’s creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go to, I’ll no more on’t! It hath made me mad. (3.1.144-149)
In truth it is Ophelia, the passive character in this relationship, that has become the hapless victim. She believed that Hamlet loved her, so much so that she feared he became "mad for [her] love." (2:2:84) She accepted his love letters and tokens. However, Hamlet becomes so concerned with how vindictive women are to men, (or more precisely, how much of a threat they are to him) that he cannot stop for a moment and realise the pain he is causing Ophelia. "Through Ophelia we witness Hamlet’s evolution, or de-evolution into a man convinced that all women are whores; that the women who seem most pure are inside black with corruption and sexual desires." (Mabillard)
However, Ophelia’s death, and subsequent burial scene, in Act Five, Scene One, changes all of that. Here, at her graveside, Hamlet is finally able to reveal his true feelings of love, as Ophelia can no longer deceive or hurt him. In this scene Laertes’ enrages him by suggesting that his love is greater than that of Hamlet’s. In a melodramatic reply, Hamlet throws himself into Ophelia’s grave pronouncing, "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers / Could not (with all their quantity of love) / Make up my sum." (5:1:277-279) This is a very tender moment, one of the few that Hamlet is allowed; it is a moment when he is passionate but also gentle towards the creature of his affection. Hamlet’s honesty at Ophelia’s grave emphasise to the audience that his madness was feigned, and that he has loved her all along, but conflicting emotions and the situation got in the way.
In the end, such evidence means that classifying Hamlet as a misogynist is far too simple and does no justice to the difficult and realistic character of Hamlet. For, as it turns out, the feelings of hatred contracted by moments caring and concern. Though it is doubtful that he would have ever truly trusted a woman again, in the end, he did reveal his love for Gertrude and Ophelia.
Bibliography
Durrani, Osman. European Tragedies 6. Shakespeare: Hamlet. Online. Available: http://www.ukc.ac.uk/secl/german/ge50116.htm December 19, 2001.
Guth, Hans P., and Gabriele L. Rico. Discovering Literature. Toronto: Prentice-Hall Canada Inc, 1997
Johnston, Ian. Introductory Lecture on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. February 27, 2001. Online. Available: http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/eng366/lectures/hamlet.htm . January 3,2001.
Jones, Ernest. “The Psychoanalytic Hamlet”. Discovering Literature. Toronto: Prentice-Hall Canada Inc, 1997. 1198-1199
Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare’s Ophelia. Shakespeare Online. 2000. Available: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/opheliachar.html.
December 20, 2001.
Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare’s Gertrude. Shakespeare Online. 2000. Available: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/gertrudechar.html. December 20, 2001.
Rampp, Rebecca. Relationships in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Cause and Effect of Superficiality. 1997. Online. Available: http://odin.english.udel.edu/dean/205/papers/rampp.html. December 20,2001
Sorensen, Tue. Fatal Love, Courtly Love, Beauty- A groundbreaking Discovery of Shakespeare’s Work Method? Shakespeare Online. Available: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/essays/tue.asp. January 3, 2001.
Copyright Ginny Linstrom, 2002
