Hamlet: Feminism through the ages

One issue we are often faced with when reading texts from different time periods is cultural relevance. Often times, ideas or themes in texts carry great cultural and historical significance. These themes and ideas can help us to shed light on the way of life in another time, place, and world, although they may not always be applicable to the modern day world that we live in. Much of Shakespeare's work written late 16th and early 17th centuries falls into this category. Social norms, language, gender status, and culture were all very different in the late 16th and early 17th centuries in England than they are in modern day America.

In this blog post, I'm going to take a look at one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, Hamlet, through a feminist lens. Furthermore, I will be looking at different ways in which we can read this play and Shakespeare in general through a modern day lens and/or a 16th/17th century lens.

Two of the significant and only women characters in the play are Gertrude and Ophelia. Gertrude is Hamlet's mother and the Queen of Denmark who married Hamlet's Uncle Claudius following the death of her first husband, King Hamlet. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius who falls in love with Hamlet during the play. These characters are very similar in certain ways; both Gertrude and Ophelia are very mysterious characters who are submissive towards the men in their life. It is very difficult at times to understand the motives of Gertrude. At times, she seems very loving and nurturing towards Hamlet, yet as a reader we question whose side she is really on. Does she truly love Claudius? Or is everything she is doing simply a coy to protect her only son, Hamlet? Ophelia at times seems very mysterious as well; we find ourselves questioning whether or not she truly does Hamlet. However the characteristic in both of these characters that stands out the most is their submissiveness towards men. Both Gertrude and Ophelia are completely surrounded by males in their lives. Gertrude seems to be living in submission to her husband, Claudius, while Ophelia seems to be living in submission to her father, Polonius. Gertrude betrays her own son to Claudius while Ophelia spies on Hamlet for her father. Although we can deem these characters mysterious and question their love for Hamlet, in both cases it is clear that a dominant male force is influencing their actions.

This male superiority was certainly a societal norm in Shakespeare's time, but it is almost irrelevant today. Women have gained a much greater sense of independence in our generation. One would think that perhaps a modern adaptation of this story would slightly adjust the role women play in this play however this was not exactly the case. In the modern film adaptation of Hamlet set in New York City, the societal character of women is relatively the same.

Regret

Most of my blog posts so far have all been about perspective and analyzing different perspectives on the same issue. However, today I'm going to be looking at a much more universal topic in which I believe perspective is minimally varied: regret.

Regret as an issue every one faces, it seems it is just human nature. We are all different and have our personal regrets, but are there some regrets that are simply universal to all people.

I would argue, yes. I recently read a very intriguing article in the Guardia titled "Top Five Regrets of the Dying." (see article here) According to this article the five biggest regrets of the dying were as follows:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Now as I was reading this article, it made sense and seem pretty reasonable to what I would think the regrets of the dying were, However what freaked me out the most when reading this article was how applicable it was to my life. I may not be dying, but in some way every one of these points could fit into my life and the regrets I have so far. After reading this article, I talked about it with a friend of mine who felt the same way as I did. Furthermore, I showed this article to my mom who also felt that these regrets were applicable to her life.

"Top Five regrets of the dying seemed to me to also be "Top five regrets of the living". Although I did not get to discuss this article with an extremely wide variety of people, I believe that most people could find some piece of themselves reflected in these regrets. No matter what age we are, where we come from, our friends and family, our gender, our race, these life regrets seem to me to be universal. What is your perspective on this article and the idea of universal regret?

Lost in Translation

The past couple of weeks, we have been reading a story titled "L'hote" in French class. (The title translates too both "the guest" and "the host" in English) . This story was about an Algerian-born French man named Daru who is a school teacher at an Algerian school. Daru encounters a French gendarme named Balducci who brings an Arab prisoner to the school at demands that Daru take the prisonner to police headquarters in Tinguit, a town 12 and a half miles away. (see short summary here) We first analyzed this text and its themes in French discussions. However this past week, we were asked to read the same story in English.

After reading both stories, we started discussing the two stories: how they were different, how they were similar, and what was lost in translation. Although the English translation told the story accurately, certain minute details were lost when the story was translated into English from its original language of French. Many French words have certain meanings and connotations that cannot be fully translated to English. The title of this story is an example of this complication. In French, "L'Hote" can technically mean "the guest" or "the host". However in the English version of the story, the title was simply translated to the guest. The double meaning of the word "L'Hote" was lost in translation. Although this may seem insignificant, the double meaning of the title in French carried a lot of meaning. Throughout the story, Daru is conflicted as to whether or not he should turn the prisoner in. On the one hand, he feels it is his duty to the country he came from, France, to turn the prisoner in. Yet he also feels some sort of connection to the prisoner because he was born in Algeria and he feels turning the Arab man in would be a betrayal of his Arab culture. This conflict leaves the reader to wonder whether Daru is really the "the host" or "the guest" in this country. He was Algerian born and he belongs to Algeria but he is of French nationality so he is also a guest in this country. Connotations and meanings of words is lost in translation because not all French words and phrases equate to English words and phrases.

After discussing the two stories, we went further in depth and had a discussion about whether or not it is important to read translations of stories in other languages. Some people argued that translated stories should not be read because translations often insufficiently portray the original story because much is lost in the complications of translations. However many people argued that it is very important to read stories from other languages even if they are translations because you can be exposed to other cultures and other world views. There are many ways to look at this issue. By reading foreign stories that are translated, you risk losing important meanings from the text that are lost in translation, but by not reading stories in other languages from other cultures, you lose the world views and perspectives that are carried in foreign stories. I personally believe that the gain is worth the risk. Language is a form of communication and it should not act as a barrier to communication. Although details may be lost in translation, much can be gained from reading stories from other cultures and other countries. Do you think students should read stories in other languages that have been translated?