HAMLET ESSAY QUESTIONS
“The female characters in ‘Hamlet’ follow the traditional roles and experiences
of women in a patriarchal society.”
Critically discuss the extent to which you AGREE or DISAGREE with this point
of view.
● Completely valid
● Traditional roles of women in a patriarchal society include submissive
behaviour, to be pure and chaste, to only speak when spoken to and always to
be beautiful and presentable. Ophelia and Gertude display all of these traits,
and are completely vulnerable to how patriarchy chooses to treat them
● Patriarchal dominance comes through very strongly within the household
○ Ophelia = submissive to her father’s every command
○ To her, his word is law
○ Act 1 = Polonius tells her that she must ignore Hamlet’s advances
towards her, she return his gifts and does not reciprocate his love
○ Laertes mimics Polonius’s behaviour
○ Ophelia puts her own desires and affections aside to follow the
commands and dictatorship of her father and brother
○ She is under complete control
● Furthermore, women in patriarchal society were expected to be unintelligent
and unable to reason properly
○ Audience can see these characteristics in Gertrude as she can never
read or interpret her own son’s actions
○ When he is grieving, she often wonders why he is upset when it is clear
that it is about his late father
○ When Laertes and Hamlet argue, she wonders what the fighting is about
○ Another example of this unintelligence is when Polonius instructs Ophelia
to pretend to be reading a book in the passages so that he, Claudius and
Gertude can determine whether Hamlet’s madness is from his
undesirable love for Ophelia
○ This implies that he does not believe she is smart, and instructs her
every action because he does not think she can reason these details for
herself.
● Gertrude allows men to make all of her decisions for her
○ She allows Claudius to send her son into exile to England, and does not
argue against him but only says that Hamlet is sorry for his actions
○ She does not dispute Claudius’s final decisions
○ In addition, when Voltemand (Danish ambassador) asks for permission to
move through Denmark with Fortinbras, she does not give her opinion
and simply allows Claudius to decide
“The female characters in ‘Hamlet’ follow the traditional roles and experiences
of women in a patriarchal society.”
Critically discuss the extent to which you AGREE or DISAGREE with this point
of view.
● Completely valid
● Traditional roles of women in a patriarchal society include submissive
behaviour, to be pure and chaste, to only speak when spoken to and always to
be beautiful and presentable. Ophelia and Gertude display all of these traits,
and are completely vulnerable to how patriarchy chooses to treat them
● Patriarchal dominance comes through very strongly within the household
○ Ophelia = submissive to her father’s every command
○ To her, his word is law
○ Act 1 = Polonius tells her that she must ignore Hamlet’s advances
towards her, she return his gifts and does not reciprocate his love
○ Laertes mimics Polonius’s behaviour
○ Ophelia puts her own desires and affections aside to follow the
commands and dictatorship of her father and brother
○ She is under complete control
● Furthermore, women in patriarchal society were expected to be unintelligent
and unable to reason properly
○ Audience can see these characteristics in Gertrude as she can never
read or interpret her own son’s actions
○ When he is grieving, she often wonders why he is upset when it is clear
that it is about his late father
○ When Laertes and Hamlet argue, she wonders what the fighting is about
○ Another example of this unintelligence is when Polonius instructs Ophelia
to pretend to be reading a book in the passages so that he, Claudius and
Gertude can determine whether Hamlet’s madness is from his
undesirable love for Ophelia
○ This implies that he does not believe she is smart, and instructs her
every action because he does not think she can reason these details for
herself.
● Gertrude allows men to make all of her decisions for her
○ She allows Claudius to send her son into exile to England, and does not
argue against him but only says that Hamlet is sorry for his actions
○ She does not dispute Claudius’s final decisions
○ In addition, when Voltemand (Danish ambassador) asks for permission to
move through Denmark with Fortinbras, she does not give her opinion
and simply allows Claudius to decide
