Hamlet
1. The Story
Summarize the story of Hamlet in your own words.
Hamlet is a play that takes place in Denmark. Hamlet is the son of the late king, who dies about two months before the play starts. After his father dies, his brother Claudius becomes king and marries the queen of Denmark, Gertrude. One night Hamlet's father's ghost is spotted and the ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius really did kill him by pouring poison into his ear while he was sleeping. Hamlet gets angry and devises a plan to revenge against Claudius.
2. Situation of women in Elizabethan England
Consider the situation of women in Elizabethan England: What were their “rights” and duties, what was expected of them by their families and husbands?
Women were taught from birth they were inferior to men. The concept of female inferiority predates Christianity. Young girls were given hardly any personal freedom. Religion was at the very center of life in Tudor England. And girls were raised to obey their parents without question. Girls were taught their only function in life was to marry and bear children. Husbands of upper class girls were chosen for them by their fathers or other male relatives. Very few men and women of noble birth chose their own partners. Marriages were arranged for political reasons, to cement alliances, for riches, land, or status, and to forge bonds between two families. The idea of marrying for love was considered bizarre and foolish. A woman's body and her goods became her husband's property when she married and the law allowed him to do whatever he wanted with them.