The Role of Feminism In Discovering the Truth of Ophelia’s Madness and Death Hamlet is a tale that has become legend, creating many different interpretations of the characters and the plot itself. It has survived hundreds of years and solidified itself as a classic piece of literature, telling the tale of a prince seeking revenge for his father’s death. While Hamlet is the major protagonist of the story, other characters such as Ophelia are not only important players in the story, but also have intrigued readers for generations to discover who they really are. Ophelia’s death in Hamlet is a tragedy apart from just the initial tale of Hamlet (Teker, 113) and this makes the character a prime subject for analyzing misogyny and feminism/antifeminism. …show more content…
Ophelia’s character in the plays of these time periods shows the value of women at the time and how they were represented in society. It wasn’t until the Victorian era that actress Ellen Terry became one of the first actresses to radically shift her performance of Ophelia’s character into a more feminist viewpoint (114). As stated by Elaine Showalter on the subject, “[Ellen Terry presented Ophelia] in feminist terms as a consistent psychological study in sexual intimidation, a girl terrified of her father, of her lover, and of life itself.” (114). This more psychological shift in Ophelia’s portrayal, lead into the early twentieth century into the nineteen sixties versions of Hamlet that relied on Freudian/Johnsonian ideology in their expression of Ophelia’s character (114). These Freudian/Johnsonian based interpretations focused heavily on the reasoning for Ophelia’s actions and introduced more sexual themes that became a precursor for modern interpretations of Hamlet. Also, in “the nineteenth century… [Ophelia] was the single most often represented female figure of that time.” (Romanska, 485). Ophelia despite all of the changes in her …show more content…
She is grieving her father’s death, much like the grief Hamlet shows with his own father’s death, but the difference is that because she is a woman, the society around her pins her as hysterical and pushes her emotions out of their minds. Everyone that Ophelia knows now has deserted her: Hamlet is acting mad and too focused on killing Claudius to actually care about Ophelia at all, using her in his ploy: going as far to kill her father (3.4.785, Jago et al), and deepening her depression further; Laertes now parallels Hamlet as his only desire in life after his father’s death becomes seeking revenge on his father’s killer: Hamlet. Laertes, Ophelia’s very own brother, cannot be trusted by her anymore to give helpful advice like he once did at the beginning of the play: Laertes before he leaves to return to school in Paris, gives Ophelia advice on her relationship with Hamlet (1.3.734-736). Laertes is not mean to Ophelia in this scene, even though he disapproves of her actions. This characterizes Laertes as of being a caring brother: he does not intend to hurt her with his words, but instead guide her with them. Laertes’s conforming to Claudius’s plans shows not how easily he was manipulated, but the strength that Claudius imbues upon