Ophelia is often thought of as one of the most obscure characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This is the result of her voice throughout the play only being heard in response to the voice of others and often dismissed as opaque nonsense. In turn, this leaves the audience open to depict her mute and physical interactions in a way which will correspond with their own thoughts and reasoning, forming Ophelia into much more well-rounded character than that of which we see in the text. As Showalter states in her essay, Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism, “there is no ‘true’ Ophelia […] but perhaps only a Cubist Ophelia of multiple perspectives, more than the sum of all her parts,” (Showalter 297). If you agree with Showalter, you’ll believe that in order for one to fully understand Ophelia’s …show more content…
Many feminist critics would agree that Ophelia’s madness is directly related to her femininity and sexuality, suggesting that the female figure is inherently deranged. Showalter examines these ideas, posing the question, “[…] does she represent the textual archetype of woman as madness or madness as woman?” (Showalter 283). Showalter acknowledges a few different renditions on this topic, most of which center around the belief that Ophelia and Hamlet were sexually involved with each other and Ophelia’s psychosis was ultimately the “predictable outcome of erotomania” (Showalter 287). She later states that “Late Augustan stereotypes of female love-melancholy were sentimentalized versions which minimized the force of female sexuality, and made female insanity a pretty stimulant to male sensibility,” (Showalter 288). This idea further emphasizes the belief that Ophelia’s madness was purely the result of “female love-melancholy” originating from her sexual indiscretions with
One primary example which proves the insanity behind Hamlet’s loss of love for Ophelia is when he berates her for being a pawn of her father. During his encounter with Ophelia, Hamlet states that, “If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go. Farewell” (x).
I partially agree with Camden about Ophelia’s insanity is due to her father’s death because Ophelia is a “delicate-minded young girl, obedience to her father” meaning Ophelia always obeyed her father’s commands. What I question is, has she not once have the urge to do something that will disobey him? Or even thought about disobeying him? What I believe proves her sanity is mainly based on Polonius’ death is when John Draper [Camden’s source] had quoted “because that father, whom she loved so dearly, come to a sudden shocking end,” as he is her remaining parent figure she had left who is now gone (para. 1). It seems as if she was taught throughout her life to always obey her father, who is the lord of the household or because he is the king’s
This is where we first see Ophelia deteriorating a person. The next thing that drove her off a cliff was her father being murdered. Claudius said “O, this is the poison of deep grief;
It is far too often that women, in even the most modern of literature, are portrayed as nothing more than snivelling cowards, used merely to motivate the inevitably male heroes. Certainly, this is still the case in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which is inarguably a product of its time; sexism runs rampant, as Ophelia, the female lead, is told by Hamlet himself to “Get thee to a nunnery” (3.1.121), with not a batted eye nor consideration of why this would be wrong. In this day and age, such blatant disrespect for women would be greatly frowned upon by a modern and discerning audience, no doubt filled with cultured women who would take offence. Bonham-Carter’s Ophelia is far from the frail and tragically beautiful flower that she is often interpreted as; “ she's like a rag doll losing its stuffings” (Hinson).
Hamlet views Ophelia as a naive and ignorant girl who is nothing but Polonius and Claudius's puppet. This was revealed when Hamlet said "God has given you one face and you make yourself another. . You jig and amble, and you lisp, you nickname God's creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance." (III, i, 143-146) In this quote Hamlet knows that Ophelia is spying on him for Polonius and Claudius.
Firstly, the state of madness is tentative and difficult to define, as shown through various characters' inability to recognize Hamlet’s madness as acting. So, those characters' trustworthiness in their statements on Ophelia’s statements are shown to be false: if they cannot recognize Hamlet’s madness then who is to say they can recognize Ophelia’s? Continuing on, Ophelia’s ‘madness’ rant contains too much hidden meaning to be simply written off as delusional speeches. She references flowers, something she has done before she went ‘mad’, and also connects Hamlet to her father’s death using those same flower metaphors: a kind of wordplay that cannot be believed to be executed by one whose speech is nonsense. Ophelia thus must be sane to some degree.
Ophelia goes mad throughout the story. She is overwhelmed by the loss of her father and the rejection of Hamlet. Her character is seen spiraling down a dark path that also ends in death. Ophelia is depicted as not having control over her actions; speaking and acting erratically. While Hamlet is speaking erratically and behaving oddly, he still maintains control over his actions and movement throughout the story.
Thus, Ophelia’s “madness” is determined by the extent to which she subverts female gender expectations. The more she exhibits traits traditionally associated with men, the more “mad” she becomes. In this context, Ophelia serves as both a caricature and a warning against female enlightenment as told through a patriarchal lense. She is ultimately ostracized from society, implying that women who seek freedom will receive the same fate as
Emily Dickinson once said “Much madness is divinest Sense— To a discerning Eye—“. This type of madness can be found in the play “Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Though many characters show madness throughout the play, Ophelia’s madness is the most prevalent. Ophelia has good reason for this irrational behavior because of the trauma she has gone through. First, her boyfriend dumps her, then he calls her vulgar names, and lastly, he kills her father.
For the duration of the play, Ophelia was portrayed as a naïve and submissive woman. Her passivity and powerlessness reinforce the voicelessness of women during the Elizabethan era. For example, “I shall obey, my lord” (I.iii.134) shows that Ophelia concedes to her father’s will, even though she believes Hamlet’s love is genuine. She is willing and expected to obey her father despite the fact that she still loves Hamlet, which emphasizes her character’s submissive nature. Furthermore, in Act I Laertes warns Ophelia that it would be shameful of her to love Hamlet, and she responds with “I shall the effect of this good lesson keep as a watchman to my heart” (I.iii.45).
As a young woman of the 1600’s Ophelia is most likely unaware of the patriarchy that shadows above her. “I do not know my lord, what should I think?”. Ophelia is so unsure about her affair with Hamlet that she
Hamlet’s dislike of women is shown through his behavior and language toward his mother, Ophelia, and women in general. In the play it is very obvious that he is heartless towards the opposite sex by the actions that he takes and the words that he speaks. During the time that this play was written women were viewed as insignificant human beings. Hamlet found himself having feelings for a woman and he does not know how to portray these feelings because he holds his mother responsible for his inability to love Ophelia.
In Shakespearian society, the “perfect” female is cherished beyond their physique, beauty and wholesomeness. These virtues are appreciated and these limitations are set up to shield the ingénue. An acquiescent woman assents to the standards and inhabits to the space that is created for her. Ophelia is repetitively admired by her prettiness and purity, as Gertrude states, “And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish that your good beauties be the happy cause of Hamlet’s wildness. So shall I hope your virtues will bring him to his wonted way again to both your honours,” (Hamlet
This is encapsulated in Hamlet exclaims, “frailty, thy name is woman!” about his mother’s hasty marriage to her deceased husband’s brother (Shakespeare 1.2.150). In this quote, Hamlet is dismissing all women as weak-willed like he believes Gertrude to be, which affects his interactions with Ophelia also. Hamlet is cruel to her because of this anger he has towards women in general, so when pretending to be mad, he goes “full force in the misogynist rage” when telling her he used to love her, but now she should go to a nunnery (Traub 192). Ophelia can be seen as weak in this scene because she protests little against Hamlet and only hopes that his insanity will end.
Women have suffered an extreme misdeed by men throughout the history. Women in Shakespearean times were bounded with their husbands and their fathers, the women weren’t expected to do much rather that just looking pretty and not talking. In the play Hamlet women are mistreated and are shown in Shakespeare novel. There are women that have experienced exploitation in the novel. Hamlet poor mistreatment and misjudgment of Ophelia, her behavior started to change throughout the novel and eventually she ended up killing herself.