Editing Hamlet (section)

===Feminist===
[[File:Ophelia - Henrietta Rae.jpg|thumb|[[Ophelia (character)|Ophelia]] is distracted by grief.{{refn|''Hamlet'' 4.5.}} Feminist critics have explored her descent into madness (artist: Henrietta Rae 1890).]]
In the 20th century, [[feminist literary criticism|feminist critics]] opened up new approaches to Gertrude and Ophelia. [[new historicism|New historicist]] and [[cultural materialism (cultural studies)|cultural materialist]] critics examined the play in its historical context, attempting to piece together its original cultural environment.{{sfn|Wofford|1994|pp=199–202}} They focused on the [[Gender role|gender system]] of [[Early modern period|early modern]] England, pointing to the common trinity of ''maid, wife, or widow'', with ''whores'' outside of that stereotype. In this analysis, the essence of ''Hamlet'' is the central character's changed perception of his mother as a whore because of her failure to remain faithful to Old Hamlet. In consequence, Hamlet loses his faith in all women, treating Ophelia as if she too were a whore and dishonest with Hamlet.{{sfn|Howard|2003|pp=411–415}}
[[File:Nicolai Abildgaard - Hamlet hos sin moder - KMS1019 - Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg|thumb|Hamlet tries to show his mother Gertrude his father's ghost (artist: [[Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard|Nicolai A. Abildgaard]], {{circa|1778}}).]]

[[Carolyn Heilbrun]]'s 1957 essay "The Character of Hamlet's Mother" defends Gertrude, arguing that the text never hints that Gertrude knew of Claudius poisoning King Hamlet. This analysis has been praised by many feminist critics, combating what is, by Heilbrun's argument, centuries' worth of misinterpretation. By this account, Gertrude's worst crime is of pragmatically marrying her brother-in-law in order to avoid a power vacuum. This is borne out by the fact that King Hamlet's ghost tells Hamlet to leave Gertrude out of Hamlet's revenge, to leave her to heaven, an arbitrary mercy to grant to a conspirator to murder.{{sfn|Heilbrun|1957}}{{sfn|Bloom|2003|pp=58–59}}{{sfn|Thompson|2001|p=4}}

Ophelia has also been defended by feminist critics, most notably [[Elaine Showalter]].{{sfn|Showalter|1985}} Ophelia is surrounded by powerful men: her father, brother, and Hamlet. All three disappear: Laertes leaves, Hamlet abandons her, and Polonius dies. Conventional theories had argued that without these three powerful men making decisions for her, Ophelia is driven into madness.{{sfn|Bloom|2003|p=57}} Feminist theorists argue that she goes mad with guilt because, when Hamlet kills her father, he has fulfilled her sexual desire to have Hamlet kill her father so they can be together. Showalter points out that Ophelia has become the symbol of the distraught and hysterical woman in modern culture.{{sfn|MacCary|1998|pp=111–113}}