A New Year rhetorical gift for PM!

It happened at the inaugural ceremony of the month long Dhaka International Trade Fair at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on the very first day of 2016. When being profusely praised for her success in trade and the commercial sector, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was attributed with a simile from an oft-quoted line from Shakespeare "Frailty, thy name is woman!"

In fact, in Hamlet Act I, Hamlet is speaking directly about his mother whose "O'erhasty marriage" offends him to his core and causes him to think her frail, or weak, in all regards. Spiritually, she is frail because she has committed an unforgivable sin by marrying Claudius. It most directly foreshadows Ophelia's betrayal of Hamlet in Act III. In Hamlet's eyes, this is just one more betrayal by one more frail woman: "Frailty, thy name is woman."

The line generalises the attribution of weakness of character from one particular woman to womankind. So the export wing of our commerce ministry and Export Promotion Bureau who organised the show thoughtfully prepared and robustly delivered in their welcome speech such a New Year gift to the prime minister!

Anonymous
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