Does Hamlet Hate Women?

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Does Hamlet Hate Women?
The women in Hamlet are depicted as the bearers of rage and insult from
Hamlet, the namesake of William Shakespeare’s famous play, which exposes his
tragic obeisance to filial duty and his emotional sensitivity. In order to fulfill his
father’s many commands, Hamlet denies himself the love of the two closest female
characters: Gertrude, his mother, and Ophelia, the woman he loves. Actually, his
mad cries about brothels, painted women, and nunneries reflect the outer shell of a
man who, corrupted by a sense of duty towards his dead father, directs his anger
towards women. If the old king’s influence on Hamlet is discounted as his personal
psychological state of mind, it can be argued that the apparent hatred for women that
Hamlet shows throughout the play stems from his Oedipal disgust towards his
irresolute, capricious mother.
Hamlet’s expressive revulsion towards the two main characters is meant for
Gertrude, but in turn, it is redirected at Ophelia as well. The first factor that triggers
Hamlet’s disgust for Gertrude is her disloyalty to his dead father. Gertrude’s decision
to marry Claudius, his uncle, when she is still grieving over her dead husband
shocks Hamlet. Her decision brings hostility in his heart towards his mother but also
arouses incestuous feelings, simply to usurp Claudius’ wife as well as the kingdom.
The mother-son emotions in the play show how Hamlet suffers due to his mother’s
follies, as if he is repenting for his mother’s mistakes. However, even though the
disgust that Hamlet feels towards his mother creates an ambiguity in his identity, his 
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hatred does not encompass only Gertrude, but surpasses her. Hamlet’s inability to
understand or name this anger makes his existence more complicated and muddles
his actions. Nevertheless, Gertrude’s character is so inconsequential that the reason
for eliciting such a deep anger is unfathomable.
Hamlet’s aversion of his mother’s actions is expressed most insinuatingly in
his beginning soliloquies. He expresses his dislike of his mother’s explicit sexual
appetite when he blames Gertrude for remarrying Claudius so soon after her
husband died. His disgust over his mother’s desire for sex is shown when he says,
“But two months dead: nay, not so much, not two: …As if increase of appetite had
grown / By what it fed on: and yet, within a month” (Shakespeare 1.2.142-149).
Hamlet’s anger is intensified because Gertrude could not even wait until the
mourning period had passed to marry Claudius. This frivolity of Gertrude is one of
the primary causes of Hamlet’s anger, which he then extends to all women. Hence,
he exclaims, “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (Shakespeare 1.2.141-150). He believes
that like Gertrude, all women are weak and irrational and that their judgement is
blurred by their obsessive sexual desires.
Gertrude’s marriage to Claudius incites further insults when Hamlet accuses
her of removing herself from “my poor father’s body” to “incestuous sheets”
(Shakespeare 1.2.152). Hamlet’s loathing of Gertrude only increases when he learns
of her willful subjugation to the orders of the new king, flouting the will of his dead
father. To Hamlet, this is an act of defilement that blurs the line of Gertrude’s identity
as his mother, as the queen to the late king, and as the queen to the new King
Claudius. The main reason for the hatred that swarms Hamlet’s heart is Gertrude’s
marriage “with my uncle” with the “most wicked speed” (Shakespeare 1.2.155-156).
Indeed, his outrage towards his mother stems from his desire to look up to his 
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parents as ideal figures, wherein his father nurtures every wish of his loving wife: “So
loving to my mother / That he might not beteem the winds of heaven / Visit her face
too roughly” (Shakespeare 1.2.144-146). This shows how Hamlet wishes his queen
mother to be under the tutelage of his father’s symbolic rule. Hamlet’s desire for this
perfect motherly image, contrasted with the reality of his mother’s actions, blinds him
with rage. His distress at his mother’s supposedly overt sexuality, even on his
father’s deathbed, compels him to throw verbal atrocities at her, depicting her as a
source of both moral and sexual weakness.
Hamlet extends this rage that originates with his mother to all women
including the one he loves, Ophelia. In act 2, scene 2, Hamlet is spurred on by his
illusions of the eroding maternal goodness of Gertrude to question Ophelia’s
intentions and her use of her female body. Hamlet extends his negative perception of
women—caused by Gertrude’s perceived betrayal—to Ophelia, whom he designates
as “gold kissing carrion” who breeds worms (Shakespeare 2.2.197). This image of a
worm-breeding female body is an abject description of femininity as moral decay. In
act 3, scene 1, Hamlet again expresses his disgust of motherhood and the