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Hamlet Seminar: Feminism
Feminism in Hamlet
___________________shows how woman were treated in the past throughout Hamlet
High-born women are presented as _______________________ to be passed between
husbands and brothers
Lee Jamieson, English author, journalist, and lecturer
How woman were treated
Psyche of the women _________________ by the cultural psyche of the man
Viewed as mans property
________________ family structure rested on men's control of most or all property, starting
with land itself; marriage was based on property relationships and it was assumed that
marriage, and therefore subordination to men, was the normal condition for the vast
majority of women.
Women __________________the culture of patriarchalism, holding that it was their job to
obey and to serve men and accepting arguments that their aptitudes were inferior to those
of men.
Characters associated with women
Hamlet:
Hamlet is the prince of
_______________
His parents are Queen Getrude and King
Claudius
He is a depressed, unpleasant and
pessimistic man
Is in love with Ophelia
O God a beast that wants discourse of
reason/ would have mourned longer
Claudius:
Antagonist
Decieving man and only wants to acquire
nothing but more and more power
Is Hamlets new Dad and King
Marries _______________in order to
acquire more wealth
Ophelia:
Questions Hamlet's __________
___________ Hamlet
Shows readers how the woman are
treated
Becomes key in the play
Ordered to by her brother and father not
to see ________________
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Themes in Hamlet
Definition:
Theme: It is a subject of _____________, discussion, meditation, or composition topic
Feminist would not find the theme of Hamlet to be very _______________
Womans roles as well as their treatment would be seen as a _____________ in modern day
Many elements of theme toward woman consist of mindsets that are out dated in our
______________
Men always knew what was best for woman concerning women themselves (Eg. Polonius
Prohibiting Ophelia from seeing Hamlet)
Woman did not _______________opinions at all if any
As a result woman resembled ____________ in Hamlet
Feminist Language in Hamlet
Definition:
________________: A body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of
the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition
Polonius to Ophelia:
"Affection, puh! You speak like a green girl / Unsifted in such perilous circumstance./ Do you
believe his tenders, as you call them?" ( I,iii, 110-111).
"green girl": Ophelia is naive and ___________
______________: Hamlets affection towards Ophelia
In Hamlets 1
st
soliloquy:
Frailty, thy name is woman! (I, ii, 150)
Hamlet insults his mother, ______________
Suggests that Gertrude is ___________
