ipl-logo

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

Show More
Related
1792 Words | 8 Pages

It is far too often that women, in even the most modern of literature, are portrayed as nothing more than snivelling cowards, used merely to motivate the inevitably male heroes. Certainly, this is still the case in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which is inarguably a product of its time; sexism runs rampant, as Ophelia, the female lead, is told by Hamlet himself to “Get thee to a nunnery” (3.1.121), with not a batted eye nor consideration of why this would be wrong. In this day and age, such blatant disrespect for women would be greatly frowned upon by a modern and discerning audience, no doubt filled with cultured women who would take offence. Bonham-Carter’s Ophelia is far from the frail and tragically beautiful flower that she is often interpreted as; “ she's like a rag doll losing its stuffings” (Hinson).

Read More
1415 Words | 6 Pages

Ophelia, a beautiful, delicate, well-behaved young woman, who is in love with the prince of Denmark, must constantly obey men throughout the play. Ultimately, she must decide between Hamlet and her father because she has no power. In her line, "I shall obey my lord" (1-3-145), Shakespeare dramatizes that young women with no power,

Read More
286 Words | 2 Pages

Ophelia’s mental health and emotion status from Act 4 scene 5 to 7 is like a horror movie because she’s in a position in her life where everything is horrifying and cannot get out. All the horrifying things she went through in Denmark made her feel like she was in hell. Ophelia has a unique development that has given her a permeable psyche because she’s motherless and mistreated by the men around her. Ophelia is used, mistreated, abused, confused and manipulated by the men in her life. In Act 3 of the book, Ophelia’s lover Hamlet killed her father and did not care.

Read More
939 Words | 4 Pages

Ophelia’s character went through quite a large transformation. In the play her father tells her that she is to stay away from Hamlet and she readily agrees. In the movie Ophelia doesn’t disagree with her father but she also doesn’t agree just to please him. This shows that Ophelia isn’t easily persuaded, even by her own father. Despite her father’s warning about Hamlet, Ophelia met with him in secret at her apartment until her father found out.

Read More
932 Words | 4 Pages

Ophelia goes mad throughout the story. She is overwhelmed by the loss of her father and the rejection of Hamlet. Her character is seen spiraling down a dark path that also ends in death. Ophelia is depicted as not having control over her actions; speaking and acting erratically. While Hamlet is speaking erratically and behaving oddly, he still maintains control over his actions and movement throughout the story.

Read More
655 Words | 3 Pages

The male dominated society has forced Ophelia to rely on males for the whole life, thus it was the social norm that has deprived Ophelia’s opportunity to develop independency, which ultimately made her into an “abandoned puppet” as the death had taken Polonius away. As Sigmund Freud commented “Clearly, extreme environmental stress, pressure and heart break efficiently lead Ophelia into a state of melancholia and possible suicide.” (“Ophelia and feminism”), Ophelia is no longer protected in the society. She has no reason to continue her painful life as a woman. As a result, she finally makes a decision to kill herself which was the last agency as a

Read More
870 Words | 4 Pages

In “Hamlet” William Shakespeare uses the character Ophelia to get to the men around her. She’s portrayed as a weak, trusting woman that tells her father and brother everything. They see her as a virtuous, unsuspecting, loyal daughter. Hamlet sees her differently. He sees her as an object, easily disposable.

Read More
799 Words | 4 Pages

Sometimes referred to as the “pawn” of the novel, Ophelia, while more of minor character relatively, plays a significant role in the novel when looking at it from a feminist perspective. A quote by Jacques Lacan, a Freudian critic, states “What is the point of the character Ophelia? Ophelia is obviously essential. She is linked forever, for centuries, to the figure of Hamlet” (Felman). This point, although made in psychoanalysis, can be applied to this situation because it counterpoints the notion that the novel presents, that the female characters are not as important and should remain in the background.

Read More
1234 Words | 5 Pages

Ophelia was the daughter of polonius, the love interest of hamlet who was brutally torn up mentally throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel all was well for her as well, her boyfriend was off at college and she was perfectly fine at home with her father. It was until her father took away a note from hamlet to her that things started going downhill. She was a weak person not like hamlet who when faced with injustice takes thing into his own hands to seek justice or revenge. She was a quite simple girl who had a gentler soul.

Read More
930 Words | 4 Pages

Every modern society since the beginning of time has painted the female as frail and individuals at the mercy of men, unable to reap the same freedoms and aspirations as their male counterparts. The English Renaissance is no different as women were not allowed to play themselves on stage, and more often than not were seen as weak characters in their portrayal. In Shakespeare's “Hamlet”, all the female protagonists all have flaws that eventually leads to them meeting their deaths. The characters of Ophelia and Gertrude are two different women trapped in the same predicament, partly being due to the inefficacy of being taken seriously, and are therefore perceived as feeble women; looking at the persona of Ophelia, she tends to follow the direction

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

This provokes him to say that god gives women one face, but they use make up to paint on another one. This quote suggest that Hamlet sees woman as naive and gullible creatures, as he sees Ophelia as nothing but an object that is owned by her father, as she is helping him with all of his dirty work. Hamlet believes that woman cannot be trusted as they have are deceiving. He also sees Ophelia as a grown women who is unable to make her own decisions. Hamlet is utterly disgusted by how feeble Ophelia is as she was following her father's scheme.

Read More
745 Words | 3 Pages

Ophelia is grieving the loss of her father after Hamlet kills him. Ophelia doesn't know that Hamlet killed her father. But Ophelia has gone mad from learning about her father's death. Also, after Hamlet telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, Ophelia is a little bit discouraged. She is discouraged because Hamlet had told her before that if Ophelia would sleep with him that they would get married.

Read More
1370 Words | 6 Pages

Hamlet: The Tragedy of Female Oppression Feminism has erupted over the past century. The theme of patriarchy has ruled over women for centuries. With the uprising of the critique of patriarchy, more feminists have analyzed Shakespeare’s literary works as in favor of the male gender roles. In Act 1 scene 3, the station of Polonius and Laertes reveals their patriarchal position over Ophelia by constructing advices that molds their expectations of her and degrading her in ways that exemplify the oppression of women during the 1600’s.

Read More
1566 Words | 7 Pages

At the beginning of the play, Ophelia didn’t have the strongest mind in the room, but she certainly wasn’t broken as she was towards the end of the tragedy. There were certainly clues of Ophelia’s downfall, as she was easily broken and constantly used as a political tool instead of being treated as a human being. Shakespeare has the reader notice this, which makes them uneasy from the start about Ophelia’s character. There are constant moving parts in this play, most of which have the consequence of being negative to Ophelia. The suspense in the play builds regarding Ophelia’s character when Hamlet admits that he never loved her, making the reader worry about the girl since it was cruel and Ophelia truly loves Hamlet.

Read More
1056 Words | 5 Pages

Hamlet does not value Ophelia 's feelings he belittles her. In Hamlets defense this is the way he was brought up to treat women, during that time this was a common way to treat a women. Even though in today 's society it is not at all ok to treat women with such disrespect. He also likes for everything to go as planned and this may result in why he can not have a stable relationship with a woman. This also causes him to have many stumbling blocks in his life that causes some emotional pain

Read More

More about The Dehumanization Of Ophelia In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Related Topics

Open Document