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The Dehumanization Of Ophelia In Shakespeare's Hamlet

2166 Words9 Pages

Helpless. The characters around Ophelia's life treat her as an infant who can't make any decisions on her own. The men in specific, look at her as a mere puppet. Her father and brother guide her to make the choices they see fit and she follows their advice even if she disagrees with it. Overall Ophelia is dehumanized and characterized as an object that is to be manipulated and taken advantage of to help others achieve their goals. Whose emotions are not taken into consideration. The entirety of Shakespeare’s Hamlet highlights and rejects the sexist treatment of Ophelia and depicts it in a negative light.
During the beginning of the play we are encountered with the biggest piece of manipulation. In just Act I her father Polonius has commanded her to stay away from Hamlet after her brother Laertes, …show more content…

A man (her father) told her what to do and then attempted to blame her as if it was all her idea. Men as her father are at fault. Only men are the ones who are depriving Ophelia from any true thought. And this shows that there is sexism going on throughout the span of the play. After being told to do something they expect her to do as she told and have created a diluted image in their heads that a women should be well behaved and should act upon request. Hamlet in rage says, “ … Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow,/ thou shalt not escape calumny.” (3.1 137-138). This shows that no matter what it is that Ophelia does she will be judged. There is no escape from her torments and she has been doomed to be only a pawn with due to her being a women. Her gender being female has brought her a life of oppression from men and a treatment of a child. In this play one women didn't have much say and all male personages clearly display

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