Essay on the Oppression of Ophelia in Hamlet -- Essays on Shakespeare H

Male Oppression of Ophelia in crossroads In The Tragedy of small town, Shakespeare developed the story of prince Hamlet, and the murder of his father by the kings brother, Claudius. Hamlet reacted to this event with an internal battle that harmed everyone around him. Ophelia was the character most greatly impacted by Hamlets feigned and real madness - she first mixed-up her father, her sanity, and then her life. Ophelia, obedient, weak-willed, and no feminist role model, deserves the most pity of both character in the play. As the play opened, Hamlet and Ophelia appeared as lovers experiencing a time of turbulence. Hamlet had just returned home from his schooling in comte de Saxe to find that his mother had quickly remarried her dead husbands brother, and this gravely upset him. Hamlet was sincerely devoted to the idea of bloodline loyalty and sought visit upon learning that Claudius had killed his father. Ophelia, though it seems her relationship with Hamlet is in either the d evelopmental stage or the finalizing stage, became the prime choice as a steerer for Hamlet. Laertes inadvertently opened Ophelia up to this role when he spoke with Ophelia nigh Hamlet before leaving for France. He allowed Polonius to find out somewhat Hamlets courtship of Ophelia, which led to Polonius misguided attempts at taking care of Ophelia and obeying the kings restrain to find the root of Hamlets problems. Ophelia, placed in the middle against her wishes, obeyed her father and brothers commands with belittled disagreement. The totally time she argued was when Laertes advised her against making decisions incompatible with the expectations of Elizabethan women. Ophelia tells him, in her boldest lines of the play But, my good brother, ... ...She had lost her father and her lover while her brother was away for school, and she was no longer useful as a prick in a greater scheme. Ophelia was displaced, an Elizabethan woman without the men on whom she had been taught to de pend. Therein lies the problem - she lacked independence so much that she could not persist living without Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet. Ophelias aloneness led to her insanity and death. The form of her death was the only fitting end for her - she drowned in a nearby river, falling beneath the gentle waters. She finally found peace in her mad world. That is how Ophelia is so useful as a classic feminist study - she evokes resource of the fragile beauty women are expected to become, but shows what happens to women when they submit as such. Works CitedShakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. David Bevington. New York Longman, 1997.