An Exploration Of Femininity I
n Shakespeare's Tragedies.
In a patriarchal structured society femininity and the female are restricted or defined by the socio-cultural precepts imposed by the male hegemony. Therefore, in order to examine the feminine as presented in Hamlet and other plays, I believe, we must have at the fore-front of our minds the masculine system which surrounds the feminine. For this reason, I propose the most satisfactory means of examining the role of the female is by comparison with that of the male. In order to examine the notion of friendship, bonding and duty between men and women and in purely male relationships, I intend to establish a number of comparisons to demonstrate the importance of the ...
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relationship with Horatio. Hamlet, at first, distances himself from Horatio, and is wary of placing too much trust in his friend. Indeed, Horatio recognises the individual nature of the Ghost's plight, and implicitly, therein, Hamlet's task:
It beckons you to go away with it,
As if it some impartment did desire
To you alone.
(1.4.58-60)
Hamlet also refuses to confide in his friend, believing that Horatio would not be able to comprehend his predicament, that the dilemma presented by the Ghost would not adequately fit into Horatio's "philosophy" (1.6.166-7). However, Horatio has numerous characteristics which endear him to Hamlet: most notably, Horatio represents the Ghost's herald and therefore knows of its significance, while remaining a point-of-contact wholly external to the distressed father-son relationship. This fact is highlighted when Hamlet finally decides to confide in his friend; Hamlet mentions that Horatio is "not a pipe for Fortune's finger/ ...
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is prevalent throughout Hamlet and King Lear; in particular on the Heath in Lear, where the normal superiority of Civilisation over Nature is overturned. For example, Edgar's and Lear's naked vulnerability is contrasted with the imagined sumptuous clothes of Goneril and Regan ("Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear'st/ Which scarcely keeps thee warm" [2.4.267-8]).
The intimacy and masculine respect between Hamlet and Horatio is demonstrated in the final scene. Hamlet, referring to Horatio, exclaims "as thou'rt a man", and the power of Horatio's feeling is expressed through his lines on Hamlet the 'sweet prince's' death, as his "noble heart cracks". This is a particular ...
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"An Exploration Of Femininity I." Essayworld.com. August 20, 2008. Accessed April 26, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/An-Exploration-Of-Femininity-I/88611.
"An Exploration Of Femininity I." Essayworld.com. August 20, 2008. Accessed April 26, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/An-Exploration-Of-Femininity-I/88611.
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