1. ROLE OF WOMEN IN HAMLET

2. Shakespeare explores roles of women in Hamlet.
The play Hamlet sees women placed in an Elizabethan England. In Elizabethan time, women were not accepted in society without a husband.
Shakespeare explores roles of women in Hamlet.
He tries to give Gertrude and Ophelia some way to rebel against their male captivity.

3. Gertrude, Hamlet's mother
Gertrude influenced Hamlet significantly throughout the course of the play.
Hamlet was very angered by his mother's remarriage. Not so long after his father's death, Gertrude married Claudius, Hamlet's uncle.

4. Hamlet found his mother on the bad and he said:
Act 1, Scene 2, Line 146
Hamlet found his mother on the bad and he said:
“Frailty, thy name is woman”
This show his extent of anger because he makes a generalization that all women are weak.

5. To sum up Shakespeare wants to focus the attention of the reader on Hamlet's scenes with his mother, they are tumultuous in their overtones and over actions.
Hamlet is hurt and embarrassed by Gertrude's actions and he feels responsible for his mother's wrong choices.
He is unable to guide and convince her that her behaviour is unacceptable.

6. Ophelia, Hamlet's love
Another female character is Ophelia, Hamlet's love.
She is outside the family connections but still has a major impact on the reader of the play.

7. We first meet Ophelia in Act One, Scene three, when Laertes is speaking to her.
He is warning Ophelia that before committing herself to Hamlet she needs to think about what he can offer her.
This scene is just one of many in the play where men have speaking to her.
He is warning Ophelia that before committing herself to Hamlet. Laertes is talking down to Ophelia and making her feel small.

8. Which view of Ophelia did Shakespeare wish us to focus on?
Ophelia has two sides to her character, the quiet, calm side and the dark side, when she becomes mad.
Which view of Ophelia did Shakespeare wish us to focus on?
The dark side of Ophelia shocks us more so therefore this is the image of her we remember.

9. Ophelia is a character who has been viewed differently by audiences from different ages.
A modern reader would view her as weak and timid in comparison to today's women.
A Victorian audience would view her as an ideal woman, they would see her as idealistic, beautiful and as a role model.

10. Her death reflects her attitude towards life, she was very passive.
Shakespeare will have left Ophelia's death with a question mark over whether it was an accident or a suicide. He has done this to allow the audience to picture her death as the wanted to.
Her death reflects her attitude towards life, she was very passive.