“The women in Hamlet are helpless ciphers in a man’s world”

In Hamlet, Shakespeare shows that women are not considered to be equal to men. Men hold a higher position, treat women as lesser people and believe that women should listen to them and do as they are told. Women have no power or influence and are portrayed as slow, weak and neurotic characters easily controlled.
Hamlet realizes that women might, because of their emotional characteristics, unconsciously commit serious, immoral mistakes and that women put on men psychological pressures that can interfere with men's ability to do what is morally right. Gertrude's marriage with Claudius, as well as how her psychological impact on Hamlet's mind gets in the way to kill Claudius, are manifestations of these facts. These facts disturb him and he becomes extremely cynical and even disturbed, about women in general, showing a particular obsession with what he perceives to be a connection between female sexuality and moral corruption.
The two women in the play – Gertrude and Ophelia share a c...