He despises women because of what his mother did and this is clearly visible in the way he treats Gertrude and Ophelia. He even insults Gertrude saying to her: "frailty, thy name is woman." Even though these women are treated as lesser beings, they are able to subvert patriarchal dominance and have their own identity.
The times in which Hamlet is set contributes to the way in which, he treats women. He tries to silence their voices and protrays them as being incapable of an intelligent thought. An example, it's when Hamlet demands to Ophelia that she must abandon her romantic persuits in favor of a passionless relationship. These metaphorical silencing, causes Ophelia to understand that her role in Denmark is provided by the men in her life.
These two female characters are able in the play to fight back the misogyny of Hamlet. Gertrude shows her true intelligence, while Ophelia reclaims the identity that has evaded her throughout her entire life.
The resistance that these women carried out shows how even in the most problematic situations women are able to overcome the representations that society tries to inpose on them, and we as society should work hard to end the misogyny that still exists nowadays.
References:
Dorey, W. (2013). Misogyny, Thy name is Hamlet!: Politics of Misogyny, Male Domination, and Female resistance in William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Shakespeare, W. (1603). Hamlet.
I´m utterly convinced that misogyny in Hamlet is partly due to the feeling towards his mother. We can see in the mouse trap how Hamlet represents a woman that is capable of doing anything for her husband, but that later on will forget a whole life spent with someone and rapidly replace him by no one else than her brother-in -law.
ResponderEliminarI´m not trying to say that misogyny is a good feeling but if we start to think about how such an event (having our mother getting married with the brother of his recently dead husband) will certainly cause a revelation in the subject that suffers tremendous trauma. Maybe Gertrude deserves to be treated in that way. It´s not something that happens only in books, I have heard about a couple of stories when a married woman after a separation or the death of her husband do not take too long in bringing someone in their beds, which in the case, talking about the King´s brother,makes things worse.
I remember a neighbor who, talking about another one, in a very similar context said: "She bring someone into her bed when it was still hot" a quite powerful comment but in this case true.