Performances of Hamlet’s
“OPHELIA”
By: Maggie Greene
Kayla Persichetti
Kate Corcoran
Jaclyn Marks
Performance Approach
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Plays such as Hamlet have been performed hundreds of
times in several different methods, in many languages,
in different time periods, and with different approaches.
By studying various performances of Hamlet and the way
specific characters are performed, in this case Ophelia, it
is possible to examine the underlying meanings of the
original play.
Actors and directors sometimes incorrectly portray
certain characters, but it can still give the reader insight
to see these performances.
The audience’s response also plays a key role in criticism
of Hamlet.
Certain points about the play will never be agreed on,
and an individual’s personal experience and beliefs can
affect the way they view the play.
Jean Simmons as Ophelia
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Jean is an actress that was born in
London in 1929.
She starred in the version of
Hamlet by Laurence Olivier in the
1940’s age of Shakespeare.
She began acting at age 14 and
playing Ophelia made her want to
be serious actress. It also made
her a star.
She was nominated at the
Academy Awards for best
supporting actress for her
performance in Hamlet
She was in over 70 movies and
won 2 Oscars.
In 1968 she sought treatment for
her alcohol addiction.
The Film
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Olivier’s Hamlet has been critiqued as “the artistic reprise
of a childhood sexual trauma suffered by the director.”
In Olivier’s Hamlet, much of the Shakespearian text was
cut out.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern disappeared entirely and
other major textual alterations occured.
Hamlet was played by the director, Lawrence Olivier.
The film’s prologue was very controversial. It seemed to
reduce the play to a story about a man who could not
make up his mind.
Female Approach
When looking for a traditional iconic Ophelia,
Lawrence Olivier’s Hamlet is the benchmark by
which all film adaptations should be compared.
 The iconic Ophelia is picturesque and obedient
with a goal to please everyone.
 After she becomes mad, Ophelia's hair is wild,
like her nature.
 Simmons played Ophelia as a secluded,
protected, well-brought up young girl, whose
sudden exposure to the backwash of jealousy,
intrigue, vendetta and murder is simply too
much for her
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Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia
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Helena is an actress born in London
that had no formal acting training.
She starred in Franco Zeffirelli’s
version of Hamlet, which was
released in 1990 and is the only
Hamlet movie set in Shakespearian
time.
This was the first film by Icon
Production.
The film was nominated for the
Academy Awards for Best Art
Direction and Best Costume Design.
Carter plays opposite Mel Gibson as
Hamlet.
Helena is innocent, naïve, and
obedient but in her acting, her
madness seems real and tangible.
The Film and Helena’s Version
Zeffirelli’s Hamlet is regarded as a textual
realization.
 The film is influenced by Gibson’s earlier
action-man roles and the movie is much
more fast-paced than other versions.
 Helena as Ophelia conveys the impression
of a woman that thinks for herself. She
opposes her father with her defiant looks
and challenges what men expect of her.
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Zeffirelli offers a fully sexual Ophelia.
In the mad scene, she is dirty, sweaty, wildeyed, and half dressed.
 She presses herself against the guard while
singing songs.
 She sits on the thrown in Gertrude's seat while
Leartes, Gertrude, and Claudius watch her.
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Helena thought Ophelia was under-written, but
she tried to make Ophelia as strong as possible.
Helena thought one of the hardest parts of
playing Ophelia was pretending she was dead
and being completely relaxed on her close-ups.
Helena plays Ophelia as a victim of emotional
double-binding and sexual trauma.
She also invokes the recovered memory hysteria
of the 1980s.
She appears to be a generation younger than
Glenn Close (Gertrude) and Mel Gibson
(Hamlet).
The “Mad Scenes”
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Epitome of the
preoccupation, child abuse.
Girlish madness-playful,
childish, vulnerability
Doomed victim of sexual
abuse mischievously
replaying a taboo scene
before skipping pathetically
toward death.
Express a traumatized
adolescent state of mind
rooted in sexual
transgression.
Kate Winslet as Ophelia
Kate Winslet is an English actress and occasional
singer that is known for playing many diverse
characters.
 She was born October 5th 1975 in Reading,
England as the daughter of a barmaid and a
swimming pool contractor.
 Kate played Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's film
version of Hamlet which was released in the
1990’s era of Shakespeare and was nominated
for 4 Oscars.
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Branagh’s Hamlet, which
runs over 4 hours, was
first unabridged theatrical
film version of the play.
The film includes all of
Shakespeare’s original
text.
Branagh directed the film
so it would be performed
in a way that he thought
Shakespeare would
appreciate.
In the film, Branagh stars
as Hamlet opposite
Winslet.
Kate Winslet’s Version
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When Kate plays Ophelia, it is made clear that she is no
virgin when she is shown twice in bed with Hamlet. It
seems hypocritical when she then chooses her father
over Hamlet and Hamlet’s feelings of betrayal are
understandable.
When Hamlet brutally accuses Ophelia, Winslet makes
the character seem as though she deserves it.
Branagh’s version seems to doom Ophelia more than the
original Shakespearian Hamlet. This is possibly because
the film was released in the post-feminist era and it
seems appropriate to blame Ophelia for being a traitor to
the man she loved.
No Audition?
For Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet, Kate Winslet was
not required to audition.
 She had previously auditioned for the role of
“Elizabeth” in Branagh’s Frankenstein in 1994.
 When Branagh was casting the roles for Hamlet,
he chose Kate without so much as a reading.
 When they began filming, Branagh wanted Kate
to play Ophelia with spunk, and not be limp or
submissive.
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Kate is one of the Best
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Many Ophelias play the sweet-but dumb card and are bossed around by all
the men in the play.
When Kate’s Ophelia speaks to her brother, she is intelligent and witty and
her mad scenes of some of the most vivid and startling.
Kate’s performance is that of a strong and rebellious woman.
Her straitjacket and padded cell show how dangerous her madness is, as
well as her desperation.
Winslet embodies the relatively liberated though ultimately thwarted 1990s.
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In Act 4, Scene 5 Winslet takes a
different approach by falling to
her knees during song.
Winslet’s Ophelia wears white,
indicating virginal and vacant,
but she also shows sexual
tension.
The audience feels bad for Kate’s
Ophelia, because she has the
evils of secrecy thrust upon her,
rather than seeking them out
herself.
Winslet’s character is also
sprayed by a hose in the film,
foreshadowing her watery death.
Video Clip of Kate Winslet
Marianne Faithfull as Ophelia
Marianne is an actress,
singer, songwriter, and
diarist born in London.
 She played Ophelia in
Tony Richardson’s Hamlet
in 1969 opposite Nicol
Williamson as Hamlet.
 She struggled with drug
abuse in her life.
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Playing Ophelia
Marianne played Ophelia as a drugged,
rebellious youth.
 She was very depressed at the time and
took heroin before performing her mad
scene.
 In her mad scene, Marianne is shot in
close up and she mocks the King and
Queen defiantly.
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She was a youthful sixties
icon and was cast at 17
years old.
 Nicol Williamson looks
much older than Marianne
in the film and an
attraction between drugs,
music, unbalanced
femininity, and male
students who should have
graduated long ago
explains the generations.
 As if Faithfull really was
Ophelia, later in her life
she attempted suicide
after her boyfriend
drowned.
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Casting Marianne Faithfull had intentional
consequences. She had a reputation that
involved drugs, rock and roll, and sex and
a relationship with Mick Jagger that would
definitely affect the audience’s
interpretation of Ophelia.
 This is using cultural criticism, showing
how perception of Ophelia is shaped by
popular culture- Marianne Faithfull in the
media.
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When Richardson
directed Faithfull in
her role as Ophelia, he
raises the question of
the character’s
innocence and hints
that she is a closet
whore.
 This would indicate
that her father’s
containment of her is
necessary.
 When Ophelia breaks
down into madness,
she reveals her
familiarity with sex.
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