Many people have dishonourable, disastrous and dreadful histories. Due to these tragic events they have a negative outlook on the rest of their life.
It is an individual’s past that plays a role in shaping their attitudes. Correspondingly, their attitude is reflected in the person by the way they behave, speak and treat others. In the play Hamlet, the character Hamlet has a horrible attitude towards women. As a result, he belittles them and treats them terribly.
Hamlet gets a sense of betrayal by his mother. He feels this because two months after her husband passes away she remarries Claudius. Furthermore, he believes that all women will take the same path Gertrude does in her love life. Hamlet says, “Why, she would hang on him, As if increase of appetite had grown. By what it fed on, and yet, within a month—Let me not think on ‘t. Frailty, thy name is woman (1.
2.44-46)”! Usually when someone passes away, people who are close to the person grieves and reminisces about the loved one for a period of time. According to Hamlet it is wrong for Gertrude to progress with her life by marrying Claudius.
He considers that to be a sign of weakness. Based on that one incident Hamlet categorizes all women to be weak and needy because of this one incident with his mother. Ophelia is another character in the play that is affected by Hamlet’s actions due to his attitude towards women. Hamlet continuously bad-mouths Ophelia in the play. Hamlet believes that Ophelia is disloyal to him, so he says to her, “Get thee to a nunnery, go. Farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them (3.1.
138-141)”. When an individual gets their trust broken, especially when the damage is done by a loved one it can be difficult to express that emotion to others. Humans tend to believe that since one situation has occurred, history will repeat because other people will take the same course of action. Therefore, making it hard to have faith in humanity. Hamlet sees the same characteristics in Ophelia that he considers his mother to have.
He tells Ophelia to go to the nunnery because that’s where the prostitutes are. He believes men are smart enough not marry women because they are smart enough see their “true colours”. Finally, Hamlet believes that because of a few incidents, classifies all women as two-faced and untrustworthy. He says to Ophelia, “I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God has given you one face and you make yourselves another (3.1.145-146)”. Women wear makeup for many different reasons.
Some include for self-esteem or to boost confidence, to enhance their look or even for fun. Many consider make-up to be a form of art. Only a few do it for pleasure or to impress others but that’s not always the case. Hamlet bluntly states that girls paint god’s given face to present themselves to be something that they are not. This is not the case at all. Putting on makeup has nothing to do with the way they act or if they are changing who they are. In conclusion it can be seen that because of Hamlet’s past experiences, he thinks that all women are horrible people. As a result, he looks at all females and treats them as if they have little to no value.
This can be seen through his interactions with Gertrude then Ophelia and finally escalating to every woman. Everyone has a difficult past or some type of struggle. However, their outlook on life should not be so negative to the point where others are shown unfair treatment especially towards an entire group of people.
