Women

“Like Niobe all tears”

In the beginning of the play when Hamlet comments on Gertrude’s hasty marriage. In Greek mythology Niobe wept so hard she turned into stone. Allusion and Similie. Her overwhelming grief contrasts with her rapid remarriage. Exposing Hamlets disillusionment with female loyalty and the tension between authentic emotion and outward appearances.

“God hath given you one face, yet you paint yourself another”

Hamlet accuses Ophelia of concealing her true identity behind an artificial appearance. Explores tensions of authenticity and deception. Religious allusion

“Frailty thy name is woman”

Hamlet after Claudius and Gertrude attempt to persuade him to stop mourning his fathers death. Personification Generalisation. Influence Hamlet’s grief into a misogynistic worldview. tendency to universalise personal betrayal into the condemnation of the female identity.

“A second time I kill my husband dead when second husband kisses me in bed”

The player queen during the mousetrap. Metaphor, repetition. Presents woman’s identity as inseparable from her devotion to her husband. reflect expectations of female fidelity and chastity.