What Is Your View on the Importance of Either Gertrude or Ophelia or Both in Shakespeare’s Play, Hamlet? Support the Points You Make by Reference to the Play.

I believe that both Gertrude and Ophelia have a great deal of importance in Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’. The portrayal of women in this play is obnoxiously negative. Women in the play are treated as second class people in such a patriarchal society. The female characters in the play indulge the feeling of being objectified. They are portrayed as extremely malleable and are seen to be pathetically subservient. In this essay, I will discuss why I think Gertrude and Ophelia are important characters.
Gertrude
Gertrude is seen by Claudius’ side in the play. She married her brother-in-law soon after her first husband was killed. I think her role embodies the theme of corruption. Her marriage to Claudius highlights how corrupt Denmark has truly become. Although her actions nauseate the audience, she still fascinates us unknowingly.
Gertrude is very sexualised in the play. Her sex life appears to bear no secrets, especially not to her son Hamlet. Hamlet has a strange obsession in knowing about her intimacy with her and her newly-wed husband Claudius. His obsession is unhealthy and bewilders the audience in my opinion. We learn that her “o’erhasty marriage” agitates Hamlet and displeases him undoubtedly. Gertrude causes Hamlet to feel like the world is a contaminated “unweeded garden” that is “rank and gross in nature” I think his mother’s sexuality disturbs him more than discovering his father was murdered. Hamlet constantly taunts Gertrude because of her sexuality.
Gertrude can be seen as insensitive towards her only son. He is grieving over his father’s death and she can’t seem to understand what the big deal is. “Thou know’st tis common, all that live must die” I think you could question whether Gertrude really cherished King Hamlet before he was murdered. She disrespects and ignores Hamlet’s feelings, causing him to feel suicidal leaving Gertrude partially responsible. “O cursed spite, that ever I was born to put it right”
The way Gertrude acts results in Hamlet’s...