Ophelia’s Starring Role
William Shakespeare’s portrayal character Ophelia is a blatant symbol for
how women were treated and viewed throughout Hamlet. Just as the women
of her time were treated, Ophelia was subject to the terms and restrictions of the
Patriarchy into which she was born. This often displaying her as a weak woman
who is less resolute than her male counterparts.
Shakespeare’s use of Ophelia as a symbol for all the aristocratic women
of the period exemplifies how women were viewed in addition to societal
expectations may seem somewhat cryptic to the common reader while
ingenious to the more thoughtful. To have frank views about the idea of females
in society, as well as how they are prominently viewed, would have been looked
at with great disdain by the majority of Patriarchal society. Rather than this,
Shakespeare uses both the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia to develop the
ideas of Feminism through contrast and comparison.
Hamlet and Ophelia both underwent the tragic loss of their fathers. I find
Ophelia’s undertaking more grave than that of Hamlet due to the fact that her
father’s death was directly caused by her love, Hamlet. This predicament
leaving her to cope with not only the sorrow of her father’s death, but also with
how to forgive Hamlet while overcoming her anger with the situation.
Hamlet.
Come, come and sit you down; you shall not budge.
You go not till I set you up a glass. Where you may see
the inmost part of you.
Queen.
What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
Polonius.
[Behind arras] What, ho! Help, Help, Help!
Hamlet.
[Drawing] How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead.
[Makes a pass through the arras
Polonius.
[Behind arras] O, I am slain!
Queen.
[Falls and dies.
O me, what hast thou done?
(III. iv. 72)
As a result of Claudius’ death, Ophelia goes mad from her beloved
having murdered her father. One thought is that Shakespeare insinuates that
women being the lesser of a patriarchal society cannot undertake the mental
anguish of a father’s sudden death whereas a man can. Another theory is that
a female would lose her mind if her beloved killed her father, while a male
would simply avenge his death as is Hamlets’ driving objective. Both are
touched upon in Elaine Showalter’s Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness,
and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism.
Insofar as Hamlet names Ophelia as “woman” and “frailty,”
substituting an ideological view of femininity for a personal one, is
she indeed representative of Woman, and does her madness stand
for the oppression of women in society as well as in tragedy?
Furthermore, since Laertes calls Ophelia a “document in madness,”
does she represent the textual archetype of woman as madness or
madness as woman?
(Showalter1)
I do not see the “frailty”, as Hamlet puts it, in morning a father’s death.
Perhaps he is too “distraught” to successfully complete the process of grief; it is
apparent that he is merely throwing a temper tantrum more than grieving the
loss of his father. Moreover he is more upset with his mother having married his
uncle. His attitude towards his father’s death, however, changes drastically
when he is made aware by the ghost of the late king that he was murdered
rather than having died naturally, thus propelling the play in a completely
different direction than what it originally was depicted to be. Hamlet was no
longer simply depressed, but was driven by the quest for revenge against his
uncle. Ophelia felt no sense of obligation to avenge her father’s death leaving
me to interpret that the idea of revenge is more of a masculine idea than
feminine.
Even after the death of Ophelia, Laertes goes on to say that his crying
over his sister’s death is a sign of too much femininity and improper for a man to
behave in such a manner, much as Hamlet’s sulking was with the start of the
play. “When Laertes weeps for his dead sister he says of his tears that ‘When
these are gone, / The woman will be out’—that is to say, that the feminine and
shameful part of his nature will be purged (Showalter 2).” Absurdity is probably
the best word to describe Laertes mindset. Having cried releases all of his
“shameful” and “female” emotion and when his tears have dried then he will
again be a man. I can only accredit the fall of the Elizabethan Era European
hierarchy to lacking of feminist influence in society.
For the Shakespearean time period of Hamlet women really only had four
real options as female members of society: fluidity, irrationality, silence, or
madness. There really were no other options that would be accommodated by
society without having grave consequences. Besides having no real say in her
life other than her love for Hamlet, which brings her more harm than help,
Ophelia doesn’t have a real story without him either. Ponder that for a moment.
“We can imagine Hamlet’s story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no
story without Hamlet (Showalter 1).” Why is it that in this period of literature that
men “appear” to have independence from women but this is just the wishful
thinking of the patriarchy. The fact of the matter is, without women there would
be no men at all. There is no other information for Ophelia’s character beyond
the facts that she is the love of Hamlet, the Daughter of Claudius, and the sister
of Laertes. When you analyze every characteristic of Hamlet and Ophelia the
conclusion can be made that Ophelia is the foil of Hamlet. Both having many of
the same circumstances and undertakings, but how society views their situations
differently alters their ability to respond to their obstacles solely due to the
differentiation in the chromosomes they each possess.
Lenz, Carolyn Ruth Swift, Gayle Greene, and Carol Thomas Neely, eds. The
Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. University of Illinois Press, 1983.
Showalter, Elaine, William Shakespeare, and Susanne Lindgren
Wofford.Representing Ophelia: women, madness, and the responsibilities of
feminist criticism. Macmillan, 1994.
Shakespeare, William . Hamlet. New York: Dover Publications, INC. , 1992. Print.