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what is ophelia's role within the play hamlet
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The Character of Ophelia in Hamlet
In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, the character Ophelia plays an important role in the elaboration of the plot. In the beginning, she is in a healthy state of mind, in love with Hamlet, yet controlled by her father. During the play she has several troubling experiences involving Hamlet - causing her to become distressed. The death of Ophelia's father leaves her mentally unstable and in a state of madness that eventually leads to her own death.
Ophelia and Hamlet's love for each other begins as a very real experience. Hamlet is quite attracted by Ophelia's beauty and falls in love with her. However, Ophelia is very much controlled by her father, Polonius, a highly respected individual who is the chief advisor to King Claudius. Her father demands that she tell Hamlet that she can no longer be with him.
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth
Have you so slander any moment leisure
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you. Come your ways (I.iii.139-142).
It is clear that here Polonius is making decisions for his daughter, without regard for her feelings. Ophelia is used to relying on her father's direction and has been reared to be obedient to his commands. She is helpless to question her father's wishes and, because of this, she is never able to develop emotional strength and stability. All she can reply is, "I shall obey, my lord"(I.iii.143). Ophelia's brother Laertes gives her no support as he agrees with what their father is saying. He tells Ophelia that Hamlet is no good for her.
For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor,
Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood;
A violet in the youth of pri...
... middle of paper ...
... as hers, does not have the tools necessary for coping with the stresses of life.
Sources Cited and Consulted:
Boklund, Gunnar. "Hamlet." Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.
Jorgensen, Paul A. "Hamlet." William Shakespeare: the Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publ., 1985. N. pag. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/jorg-hamlet.html
Pennington, Michael. "Ophelia: Madness Her Only Safe Haven." Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of "Hamlet": A User's Guide. New York: Limelight Editions, 1996.
Pitt, Angela. "Women in Shakespeare's Tragedies." Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint of Shakespeare's Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Signet Classic, 1998
In Swift’s satirical essay he stated the main issue to be the hunger and starvation of Irish country and their lack of money to support oneself. He said the complication was they themselves don’t have food, to many families in poverty, and that the Englishman took their land and charging high prices for rent. Swift makes this argument because he too is an Irish men and he struggles to see his fellow men parish in the streets. He desires his people to stand up against England and take back what’s theirs. He argues that the Irish...
The main issue Swift is trying to touch on is the overpopulation of beggars within Ireland. This happened because of the poor having numerous children, and both the higher class of Ireland and England not doing anything to aid them. Swift creates an unbiased opinion because of his upbringings; he was born in Dublin, was raised in England, and attended Trinity College in Ireland. He is trying to aim the piece towards both countries because he experienced the severe conditions Ireland was enduring. The piece is satirical to outrage and capture the attention of readers. The assumption Swift reveals is that Ireland will want to change from this piece.
During the 18th century Ireland was on a very serious crisis. Jonathan Swift decides to write “A Modest Proposal” as a satirical response to this crisis. In that essay he gives a solution for each of the problems that Ireland was having during that time. The main points that he wanted to discuss were domestic abuse, over population, poverty, thieves, and the lack of food. This crisis lead the great nation of Ireland into economical struggles. By all of this problems, the parents couldn’t maintain their children so they needed a solution. Now this incredible man comes with a solution that is going to blow your mind, Swift decides to give them a proposal. It was a really uncommon one but very helpful for them. This proposal is going to stabilize once again the country of Ireland.
The work is a great example of how a text can have more than one thesis, depending on how it is read, or who reads it. In it’s time, A Modest Proposal was taken as serious by the audience of rich men. It caused some hysteria and confusion in upper class communities. Imagine reading an anonymous work which promotes cannibalism! Swift eventually had to reveal himself and his purpose of his pamphlet, which was to exaggerate the steps necessary to stop the Irish famine and poverty epidemic. A Modest Proposal is almost a scare tactic. It brings attention to the distances people will go to stop hunger and homelessness. The audience of rich, land-owning men were planned to take the text to heart. It should shock them into lowering taxes and decreasing the cost of shelter. Jonathan Swift uses irony and sarcasm to hint at his essay not being serious, and uses his writing skill to try and solve a serious problem. And of course, the solution Swift is actually looking for, is not about eating
During the 1720’s, the Irish people were suffering dearly, due to the oppression by Great Britain. There oppression came in the form of being displaced by wealthy English people who were buying up land in Ireland and then not living there. They would proceed to rent some of their land to the Irish people at extremely high rent, which eventually led to them not being able to pay neither their rent or provide their families with food or clothes. The reason behind Swift’s proposal is simple. He is an Irishman. He has a sense of patriotic duty to attempt to help his fellow Irish people. He wants them to know that it is possible to move forward form poverty and out from under the oppression of the British. He structures his essay through a basic form of presenting an idea and then backing it up with “facts” like the growth in weight of babies or expert accounts on the taste of children from a credible source. Something that Swift just assumes that the audience will take for granted. Additionally he assumes that the audience won’t simply put his article down, taking it as the ramblings of a mad man talking about eating babies like it’s a normal everyday thing.
Considering the variation in clinical presentation of PCOS there was no fixed diagnostic criteria available until 1990. In April 1990 National Institutes of Health (NIH) held a conference and defined Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) as having 1) hyperandrogenism, 2) oligoovulation, and 3) exclusion of known dis...
Jorgensen, Paul A. “Hamlet.” William Shakespeare: the Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publ., 1985. N. pag. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/jorg-hamlet.html
Mack, Maynard. "The World of Hamlet." Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996.
Swift used irony throughout the essay, beginning with the title, “A Modest Proposal”. The irony of the title gives the audience a false idea of what the essay will be, later on he gives his argument and the title serves as an ironic statement. Swift also used the irony of the title to emphasize how absurd his idea truly is, by claiming the proposal is modest he allows the reader to understand how
In Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, the audience finds a docile, manipulated, scolded, victimized young lady named Ophelia. Ophelia is a foil to Hamlet. Plays have foils to help the audience better understand the more important characters in the play. The character of Ophelia is necessary so that the audience will give Hamlet a chance to get over his madness and follow his heart.
Jonathan Swift is the speaker in the story, A Modest Proposal. He is also the author of many other books and stories. In the text of A Modest Proposal, Swift addresses what he believes to be a big issue in the magnificent country of Ireland, Dublin to be exact. Therefore, he proposes a solution to the problem, however, the solution is not what we would call humane, orthodox, reasonable, or even one that we would consider performing today. Swift wrote this piece for anyone that can read and comprehend what the text implies.
In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare developed the story of prince Hamlet, and the murder of his father by the king's brother, Claudius. Hamlet reacted to this event with an internal battle that harmed everyone around him. Ophelia was the character most greatly impacted by Hamlet's feigned and real madness - she first lost her father, her sanity, and then her life. Ophelia, obedient, weak-willed, and no feminist role model, deserves the most pity of any character in the play.
Ophelia, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, represents a self-confident and aware female character. She analyzes the world around her and recognizes the multitude of male figures attempting to control her life. Her actions display not only this awareness, but also maturity in her non-confrontational discussions. Though she is demeaned by Laertes, Polonius, and Hamlet, Ophelia exhibits intelligence and independence and ultimately resorts to suicide in order to free herself from the power of the men around her.
During the eighteenth century, Jonathan Swift was distributing pamphlets around Ireland in hopes of promoting intellectual growth in his homeland. As he noticed this was not making an impact, he decided to address the problems in Ireland with a different approach. Jonathan Swift took to paper and constructed “A Modest Proposal”, a satirical piece that proposes a humorous solution to the social, economic, and political problems in Ireland. Swift’s proposal suggests that babies who are born to poor families become a source of food for public, which benefits Ireland by reducing the overpopulation and adding to the food supply. In “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift uses satire to draw attention to his argument that the problems in Ireland are greatly affecting his homeland; in doing so, he portrays the themes of class division, suffering, and greed.