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How Does Shakespeare Present Ophelia's Treatment Of Women In Hamlet

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Humans often regard flowers as beautiful. In legends and lore, men grant their lover flowers, while women tend to a garden of beauty and grace. The flowers bloom and grow, fawned over by an audience, serving an aesthetic or romantic purpose, or perhaps no purpose at all. Akin to a flower, the young woman leads a life of beauty, blossoming into something pleasing to the eye. Though outdated in the modern day, authors from centuries prior have continually treated female characters as innocent, meek, and, above all, dependent on their male counterparts. The same authors then portray the women as mad without male guidance. Ophelia from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet proves no exception, as she is controlled by her chastity and the desires of the …show more content…

When Hamlet and Ophelia finally meet, as formulated by Polonius and King Claudius, Hamlet directs his anger at Queen Gertrude towards Ophelia. In their exchange, he repeatedly cries out, “Get thee to a nunnery,” demanding that Ophelia go away to repent for her sins; in reality, Ophelia herself has done little sinning, but Hamlet believes all women to be vile, dishonest creatures. Ophelia is clearly hurt by his words, puzzled by his sudden behavior shift. During the performance of The Murder of Gonzago, Hamlet showers Ophelia with affection and sexual innuendos, an action which obviously confuses her, but as she tells Hamlet of the brevity of the play’s prologue, the prince makes the analogy, “As woman’s love” (Act III, Scene ii, line 159). Despite the love he is showing her, Hamlet insists that women love only for a fleeting second. Hamlet manipulates Ophelia not only because of his erratic behavior but by murdering her father. Without a majority of the men who dictate her life, Ophelia wilts into a state of melancholy, singing songs pertaining to her despair (Act IV, Scene V). Her disheveled likely brought shame upon her family, yet she has become numb to the world around her. Due to Hamlet’s inconsistent behavior and accidental murder of her father, Ophelia becomes little more than a madwoman. The final effect of Hamlet’s insanity on Ophelia occurs when she commits

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Historically, a woman’s value has come from her marriage. This is reflected in Shakespeare’s work Hamlet, especially in Ophelia’s role. While Ophelia’s brother is encouraged to travel the world and interact by their father, Ophelia is told to keep her purity and stay away from men until a proper marriage can be arranged. This represents how Ophelia’s value is tied to her marriage and her virginity, rather than any other positive characteristic she may have, and reminds the audience that Ophelia holds little value, especially compared to her brother, who serves as her male counterpart.

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I believe that Ophelia’s act was that of despair. Ophelia suffered a great deal of emotional trauma throughout the course of the play. The man she loves viciously rejects her before leaving Denmark, which leaves her feeling betrayed and heavy-hearted. Not only this but, Hamlet is believed to have gone insane and was the one who took her father’s life. With all of this going on, her brother and confidant, Laertes is off in England.

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Ophelia is Hamlet's lover and gets involved with Hamlet. Because of Hamlet's madness and their connection, the madness rubbed off on her. He would go over to her and say crazy things. Although his revenge was in no way directed to her, his madness rubbed off on her. We see her madness come out when Ophelia laments; "Please just listen.

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Interpretations Of Ophelia In Different Hamlet Film Adaptations Across all different movie interpretations of Hamlet, Ophelia’s character has always been subjected to a tragic fate. Spiraling into madness after the death of her father, Ophelia acts strange--singing and dancing in front of the king, queen, and her brother. While some directors may make different stylistic choices when interpreting the scenes of her madness, each scene helps to effectively portray Ophelia's grief and madness. By comparing the scenes that showcase Ophelia’s madness (Act 4 scene 5) across several different adaptations, the true nature of Ophelia’s character and the different interpretations of Ophelia can be determined. While some interpretations are stronger and

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Set in early Denmark, Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, specifically victimizes the two major female characters by succumbing to the repercussions of Hamlet’s vicious cycle of vengeance through unfortunate death. Shakespeare’s misogynistic portrayal of Queen Gertrude as lustful and weak for affection causes an unwanted drift between her relationship with her son. Although the queen’s intentions are illustrated as naïve and pure, Gertrude’s motives throughout the play are driven by her infatuation with Claudius and motherly love for Hamlet. On the other hand, sweet innocent Ophelia serves as the epitome of how young women behaves in the 11th century; Ophelia only acts upon the demands of her father and brother, equivalent to a hostage confined to

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Even though, for part of this play he treated her poorly, it could have been to make Ophelia forget about Hamlet and move on without the possibility of getting hurt. She ironically ends up dying in the

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Anna Brownell Murphy Jameson states, “The love for Ophelia is deep, is real, and is precisely the kind of love which such a man like Hamlet will feel for such a women like Ophelia.” as well as she states, “But I weigh his actions against his words, and find them here of little worth.” ("Anna Brownell Murphy Jameson, Shakespeare's Heroines:Characteristics of Women (1889), AMS Press, New York, 1967. p. 161.) It is relevant to the first point because Anna Brownell Murphy Jameson explains her thoughts about Hamlet’s true love for Ophelia, but his actions towards Ophelia makes it seem as if he did not love her.

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Ophelia in Hamlet As #Metoo movement has suggested, “feminism” is probably the most controversial concept of the 21st century. Feminism, according to Britannica.com, is defined as “the belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes” (Elinor Burkett, Laura Brunell). However, in modern society, some radicals tend to regard feminism solely as “anti-male” or “women dominance” movement. Today, no matter it is discussed in an online forum or class discussion, the term “feminism” turns out to be the most controversial topic.

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When examining Act IV’s of Shakespeare’s Hamlet through a feminist perspective, it becomes evident that Ophelia is a clear symbol for the oppression women faced by the male patriarchy during the time period Hamlet was written in. Through the marginalization of Ophelia’s independence (The Ophelia effect), Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia and Ophelia’s subsequent death, Shakespeare shows the types of oppression and malpractice women faced. Throughout the entire play, Ophelia consistently has decisions made for her by men and this is demonstrative of how women were “puppets” of men, lacking any individuality/independence. For example, her father, Polonius, dictated much of her relationship with Hamlet by telling her what to do and how to act around Hamlet.

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Misogyny has been a societal issue, which was exceptionally prominent during the Shakspearean era. Particularly, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, may be interpreted in various ways to analyze and dissect the play. Delving into the play from a feminist perspective, sexism is evident. The representation of women in the literature clearly distinguishes the patriarchal society present. Turning its focus onto Ophelia, who falls victim to the denigration received from numerous male leads.

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In the play, Hamlet written by William Shakespeare, Polonius, Hamlet, and Laertes are the people Ophelia loved the most. During the play Hamlet, Ophelia was overlooked, ignored, and taken advantage of by the men she cared the most about. They all used her and disregarded her feelings about the situations that affected her. Not only was Ophelia taken advantage of but she was objectified throughout the whole play. Even though they didn't respect Ophelia, she still did what she was told.

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Even when her own father, who was to be respected in the era of Hamlet, warned her about Young Hamlet she argued,“My Lord, he hath importuned me with love and honorable fashion” (1.4). Her brother and father tell her repeatedly of their suspicions that Hamlet is using her. Although she listens she continues to love Hamlet. Ophelia is portrayed as naive character with little experience of love. The only reason she wasn’t more open about her love was because “she was obedient to a father who was rash, intruding fool” (Bloom 219).

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Hamlet has loved Ophelia, but since the death of his father his mental state is decreasing, causing him to treat her worse. Laertes is telling Ophelia, “…his affection will fade after a minute. Not a second more” (41). As a brother thing to do, Laertes is looking out for Ophelia because he knows that Hamlet could break her heart and her reputation. Ophelia was returning Hamlets belongings and he tells her, “you shouldn’t have believed me…I didn’t love you” (143).

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1735 Words | 7 Pages

However, she is a key figure in the love tragedy between Hamlet and Ophelia which is truncated by Hamlet when he decides to embark on a mad journey to avenge the death of his father (Gates). Hamlet cannot participate fully considering he is attempting to get revenge on Claudius. Generally, a love tragedy, “explores the vexed relations between individual desire and conformity to social duty,” (Gates). Accordingly, Shakespeare gives Ophelia a family that opposes her sexual desires for the idea of social rank (Gates). Laertes voices his opinions on this when he tells Ophelia that Hamlet’s, “will is not his own.

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Farewell.” (3.1.136-141) He tells her that all women make husbands into monsters. Hamlet is assuming that all women are unfaithful and that all wives cheat, and this is why he tells her to go to a nunnery. Even her own father doesn’t trust Hamlet and demands that Ophelia does not talk to him.

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