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Hamlet and the patriarchal society
Analyse Hamlet from the feminist point of view
Analyse Hamlet from the feminist point of view
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Ophelia is one of the characters in Hamlet with the most unrealized potential for character development. Even though she is relatively important to the plot we don’t know much about her. She is used as a pawn by almost every character in the play, and because she is woman, she is unable to say no, or speak her mind. She is essentially trapped. Throughout the play, she faces arguably just as much emotional trauma as Hamlet. She believes herself to be in love with Hamlet, but both her father and her brother insist, rather harshly, that she is being used and must stop seeing him. Neither of them seem to care for her feelings, they are mostly concerned with her reputation. After she breaks off her relationship with Hamlet at her father’s
Ophelia is portrayed as a sensitive, fragile woman. Easily overpowered and controlled by her brother and father, Ophelia is destined to be weak. Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, warns and pushes Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet and is further supported by their father Polonius. “Polonius enters and adds his warning to those of Laertes. He orders Ophelia not to spend time with Hamlet or even talk to him. Ophelia promises to obey” (“Hamlet” 95). Ophelia’s obedience to her father’s directions prove the side she
The life of Hamlet is without a doubt very interesting, he suffers from unfortunate events in his time that are often major blows to his ego. His father dies while he’s away at college, Hamlet is next in line to be king until his “uncle-father” steals it from him; but it is to be known his “uncle-father” would not have stolen it if his “aunt-mother” hadn’t allowed it. It’s very apparent from the beginning of the play that he is very well obsessed with his mother and her doings. He harasses, humiliates, and abuses her because she has done such an unforgivable act by marrying Claudius. His thoughts and feelings towards his mother are very strong and well known, he even describes the odd pair as “little more than kin and less than kind.” That’s not all with Hamlet; his mother remarrying is just the tip of the iceberg so deeply rooted in the ocean of his emotions. His relationship with Ophelia is twisted, Hamlet goes through episodes of
Ophelia in the fourth act of Hamlet is demonstrably insane, but the direct cause of her slipped sanity is something that remains debatable, Shakespeare uses the character Ophelia to demonstrate how women during this time were unable to break away from social norms. While it is evident that Ophelia is grieving over the death of her father, Polonius, as Horatio says of her “She speaks much of her father, says she hears / There’s tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart” (4.5.4-5), as lines from one of her many “songs” points towards grieving over an aged relative, “His beard as white as snow / All flaxen was his poll” with flaxen indicating a white or grayed head of hair (4.5.190-191).
Denmark is in a state of chaos shown by the opening death of the true
1. Plays have foils to help the audience understand important characters in the play. Foils are minor characters that have similarities and differences with a more important character in the play. Sometimes the minor character is just there for the character to talk to; this is the basis for being a foil. In the play "Hamlet," [Titles] by William Shakespeare, the character Ophelia is a foil to Hamlet.
The story of Hamlet is a morbid tale of tragedy, commitment, and manipulation; this is especially evident within the character of Ophelia. Throughout the play, Ophelia is torn between obeying and following the different commitments that she has to men in her life. She is constantly torn between the choice of obeying the decisions and wishes of her family or that of Hamlet. She is a constant subject of manipulation and brain washing from both her father and brother. Ophelia is not only subject to the torture of others using her for their intentions but she is also susceptible to abuse from Hamlet. Both her father and her brother believe that Hamlet is using her to achieve his own personal goals.
The reader is left guessing on Hamlet’s true feelings for Ophelia through his various insults, sexual innuendos, and admitted desire. Hamlet’s claim, “God hath given you one face, and you / Make yourselves another.” (3.1.155-156) is laced with irony and hypocrisy given Hamlet’s own deception regarding true feelings. This proclamation comes at the end of a lengthy tirade against Ophelia and womankind in general for their conniving deceit leading men astray. The fact that Hamlet cannot see this duplicity in his very own actions shows the double standard he holds for females. Ophelia’s immediate reaction is one of shock and defense due to the aggressive nature of Hamlet’s attack. She calls out “O, woe is me!” (3.1.174) in distress to the ferocity of Hamlet and is unable to form a particularly coherent response akin to the ones seen against Laertes and Polonius. She does show her intelligence and rebellion from this assumption of power by Hamlet in her songs while Hamlet is gone. While many attribute her madness to the death of her father, a large portion of her instability should be attributed to Hamlet and his earlier actions. In her first introduction as insane she sings, “And I a maid at your window, / To be your Valentine. / Then up he rose and donned his clothes / And dropped the chamber door, / Let in the maid, that out a maid / Never departed more.” (4.5.55-60). Due to her references to sexuality and deceit the
With the men’s constant abuse, they each start telling her different things. Unsure of whom to listen to, she starts to get confused and starts losing herself. When finally there was no one there to tell her anymore she goes mad, and on the brink of her madness she ends up killing herself. Throughout all these events, no one stops to think of her as an actual person, but instead like a rag doll they could just toss around. The play Hamlet itself was discussed without any bother of Ophelia for nearly four hundred years before scholars started to think of her and read the play with a Feminist viewpoint.
Melancholy, grief, and madness pervade Shakespeare's great tragedy, Hamlet. The emotional maladies presented within Hamlet, not only allow the audience to sympathize with prince Hamlet, but also with the tragic lady Ophelia as well. It is Ophelia who suffers at her lover's discretion because of decisions she was obligated to make on behalf of her weak societal position.
During my reading of hamlet it be came apparent that if you observe the characters and environment, threw a psychoanalytical point of view. That the story of hamlet is actual a representation of hamlets mind, and how he viewed these events as he reviewed them in the afterlife. Each of the characters in hamlet are an aspect of hamlet. Whether It is Ophelia being a symbol of his guilt, or Claudius being a representation of his indecisiveness. The events did happen, but not in the way it is shown in the play. The whole play is hamlets perception and afterthoughts on the matter. And as he goes threw the events the actions of the others represent his thoughts on how it turned out. The death of characters is symbolic of when he was no longer able
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia is the most static character in the play. Instead of changing through the course of the play, she remains suffering in the misfortunes perpetrated upon her. She falls into insanity and dies a tragic death. Ophelia has issues surviving without a male influence, and her downfall is when all the men in her life abandon her. Hamlet’s Ophelia, is a tragic, insane character that cannot exist on her own.
Hamlet’s Gentle Ophelia William Shakespeare created a gentle little creature in the character of Ophelia in the Hamlet tragedy. Her strange misfortunes, as well as other circumstances, make her life an interesting one to explore in this essay. Ward and Trent in The Cambridge History of English and American Literature maintain that Ophelia is interesting in herself, aside from her relationship with the hero. Of Ophelia, and Polonius, and the queen and all the rest, not to mention Hamlet himself (in whose soul it would be absurd to attempt to discover new points here). After this we need not say anything.
Despite Ophelia’s weak will, the male characters respond dramatically to her actions, proving that women indeed have a large impact in Hamlet. Her obedience is actually her downfall, because it allows the male characters to control and use her in their schemes. Ophelia’s betrayal ends up putting Hamlet over the edge, motivating him in his quest for revenge. Ophelia is one of the two women in the play. As the daughter of Polonius, she only speaks in the company of several men, or directly to her brother or father. Since we never see her interactions with women, she suppresses her own thoughts in order to please her superiors. Yet however weak and dependent her character is on the surface, Ophelia is a cornerstone to the play’s progression. One way that her manipulation is key to Hamlet’s plot is when Polonius orders her “in plain terms, from this time forth/ Have you so slander any moment leisure/As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet,” (1.3.131-133). She complies with his wishes, agreeing to return any tokens of Hamlet’s love to him, verify t...
Her character comes off to be one where essentially, “Ophelia has no control over her body, her relationships, or her choices” (Shmoop Editorial Team, 6-7). While Ophelia is not married to hamlet she is answerable to her father and brother and is expected to obey what they want her to do, but if she were married to hamlet she would be his wife and would be compelled to do as he says as his wife. In the play her father; Polonius and her brother; Laertes forbids Ophelia from having any relationship with Hamlet as he would beseech her name and her virginity. She responds and denies their judgement “I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, as watchman to my heart. But, good my brother, Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine,Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his own rede.”(i.iii.45-51). Showing she would not stop loving hamlet and listening to her brother as he is preaching something he does not follow himself. In the beginning of the play they show us how both Hamlet and Ophelia are in love and would do anything for each other, but later on he learns that Ophelia is playing as the devil’s advocate and is spying on him for her dad and
Ophelia's insanity is driven by the fact that she has basically been cut out of Hamlet's life. " Like sweet bells jangled, out of time and harsh,/ That unmatched form and feature of blown youth/ Blasted with ecstasy" (III.i. 158-160).Her role as an "innocent lady" is to complete the picture of faithfulness and obedience. Without Hamlet, it is difficult for Ophelia to fulfill her role. Ophelia is completely pushed over the edge whe...