A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF POWER, IDEOLOGY AND GENDER REPRESENTATION IN ACT 3, SCENE 4 OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET

Abstract

This paper provides a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, regarding the interaction of power, ideology, and gender, in Act 3, Scene 4, which Evidently, is known as the Closet Scene. Through the application of the three-dimensional CDA model of Norman Fairclough and Feminist CDA model of Michelle Lazar, the research unveils the way language works and perpetuates the patriarchal and ideological systems in the Elizabethan period. A qualitative study of the interaction between Hamlet and Queen Gertrude proves that imperatives, pronouns, metaphors, and interruptions are used linguistically as control measures. At the end of it all, findings indicate that the moral rhetoric of Hamlet and the verbal repression of Gertrude uphold the patriarchal ideology, which links virtue to masculinity and guilt to femininity. This work extends CDA and feminist studies of Shakespeare by showing how power operates not just within the story or the characters but also within the nuances of the structure of language in such a way that discourse seems to be a product, as well as an instrument of ideological reproduction.