Comparing Nora From A Doll 's House And Ophelia From The Tragedy Of Hamlet

The women in Hamlet are affected greatly after being exploited by the men in the play. Ophelia goes mad – her nature is “indeed distract”- not only because of the exploitation, but also because of her Father’s death,

In today’s world, women of all ages are given equal rights and freedom. In Shakespeare’s time, woman’s obligations were to follow the rules of the men and obey the men in their lives’. “Frailty, thy name is woman;” Hamlet implies the powerlessness of the two women characters in the play. In Hamlet, the roles of Gertrude and Ophelia are very important in that they are the only two female characters in the play. Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark and mother of Hamlet, and Ophelia, the lover of Hamlet, are characterized as controlled and lost in their lives because they are being used by the men throughout the play. Fundamentally, Shakespeare illustrates the nature of Gertrude and Ophelia as powerless victims by the women being subjects of men,

   Poor Ophelia, she lost her lover, her father, her mind, and, posthumously, her brother. Ophelia is the only truly innocent victim in Hamlet. This essay will examine Ophelia's downward spiral from a chaste maiden to nervous wreck.

Ophelia’s corpse has been eroticized throughout Western culture, she may be dead but she still has sex appeal. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the female characters are static and the least important of all the pivotal characters. Ophelia’s character is a very one dimensional character, however, she has a type of representation which is uncommon for a character of her type. Instead of overcoming the obstacles she faces throughout the play, she spirals into insanity and ultimately kills herself. The image of Ophelia’s death and her descent into madness became romanticized throughout Western art, and the morbidity encompassed the feminine ideal, strewn peacefully in a river with flowers surrounding her.

    Queen Gertrude and Ophelia, the main female characters in Shakespeare’s dramatic tragedy Hamlet, have a variety of personal qualities and experiences in common. This essay, with the help of literary critics, will explore this commonality.

In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, pointedly captures the reality of the Victorian Era within the play. Nora Helmer, the protagonist of the story, represents the typical women in society during that era. The audience’s first impression of Nora is a money obsessed, childish, obedient house wife to her husband, Torvald Helmer. However, as the play progresses one can see that Nora is far from being that typical ideal trophy wife, she is an impulsive liar who goes against society’s norm to be whom and what she wants. Her husband is illustrated as the stereotypical man during the 19th century, as he is the dominate breadwinner of the family, who too deserts his position as the play reaches its end. A key theme that is brought to light in A

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be read as a feminist play given Ophelia’s experiences within the Danish society. Through Ophelia’s interactions with the men of the play, the audience can see that the male-dominated society brings inequality, distrust, and destruction. As Ophelia interacts with her brother, her father, and Hamlet, she is completely unable to assert her own independence, and her lack of personal autonomy eventually drives her to madness. These three men all deny Ophelia’s individuality and desire for self-control because they are accustomed to their male-dominated world. However, once Ophelia is driven to madness, she is regarded as an individual and finally has political and social power. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a feminist play located within a misogynistic culture that Ophelia struggles to escape.

Have you been in love? Love does not have any shape, It does not look at social classes, skin color, even if your parents do not like you to be with her o him, but sometimes those are small obstacles that do not allow us to be with the person we love. A clear example, can be Ophelia and Hamlet on the play called Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. This pair of characters were in love with each other, but, Polonius, Ophelia's father, was against this relationship because he thinks Hamlet is playing around with her. As many relationships, everybody has parallel and contrast things. Even though compared to Hamlet, Ophelia has someone who supports her after her father's death , Hamlet and Ophelia loss of a parental figure and both of them

    The Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet features two female characters in main roles, Ophelia and Gertrude. They are similar in a surprising number of ways. This essay proposes to elucidate the reader on their likeness or similarity.

   Michael Pennington in “Ophelia: Madness Her Only Safe Haven,” elucidates the character of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet:

The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, is set in an anti-feminist era. Women traditionally have been seen inferior to men. This was an intellectual as well as a physical issue. Women were to raise a family, cook, clean, be pretty and not be smarter than any man. The main characters Ophelia and Gertrude are both depicted with these characteristics as powerless and frail people. This illustration of helpless women affects one's understanding of what their true selves could be.

Hamlet, a tragic play written by Shakespeare in the 1600s, portrays the struggle of young Hamlet in the face of avenging his father’s death. While major themes throughout this tragedy include death, loss, madness, revenge, and morality, another important theme to include in discussion is the theme of womanhood. The only two female characters in a cast of thirty-five include Queen Gertrude and Ophelia, both of whom die unfortunate deaths. The importance of womanhood and female sexuality is shown through several literary techniques; though, most importantly, the characters Queen Gertrude and Ophelia are both symbols for female sexuality. Both characters are developed as negative and positive sides to womanhood through dialogue as other characters approach them, their own actions, and most importantly, their individual deaths.

Throughout the course of time, women have been discriminated against and have been viewed more as objects than humans. Both authors, William Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen, express the inequality of women throughout the two plays. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen expresses how women are degraded by society. Henrick characterized Nora Helmer as an average, “stay at home mom” who takes care of the children, and has no job to provide for her family. Throughout the story the reader sees how Nora fuels the play and also helps develop the plot. Although in Othello, Shakespeare presents women using the same approach, on the contrary, Shakespeare gave women more freedom, as we see in A Doll’s House, Nora is isolated from the outside world, while in Othello, Desdemona and Emilia are free to wander without supervision. Through the duration of both plays, the reader becomes aware of the characters flaws, Nora and Desdemona both demonstrate flaws as they become naive and allow their trusting and reassuring nature to deceive them. Also, both Torvald and Iago speak and view women in a prejudice manner, additionally; both male characters view women as possessions. Finally, the female characters disregard males dominance in the current society as the reader sees Nora and Emilia have a different approach on men, rather than being obedient as other women do in that current society.

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the character of Ophelia may be looked at and analyzed through a Feminist perspective. By using a Feminist lens, readers may observe the impact of patriarchal society and misogyny on the mind of a young lady doing her best to fit into the role of a Shakespearian-era woman. Women were expected to be virginal, yet sexual, subservient and inferior to men, and possessions of their fathers and later their husbands. Ophelia is made to go mad due to her inability to conform to the unfair and contradictory patriarchal ideals of women, because those contradictory ideals are impossible to achieve and what leaves Ophelia feeling unsatisfactory, lost, and questioning her personhood.

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. In this essay I will look at Hamlets perception of women in general but particularly Gertrude and Ophelia. I will also look at the historical presentation of women, comparing Hamlets time to today and seeing if the symbolic role that the females characters have is related to the period. Also I will look at Hamlets madness, whether it was real or not and also whether women could be the cause of it. Finally I will look at a possible ‘Oedipus complex’ in Hamlet. ‘Hamlet’ as the title suggests is based around the character Hamlet Prince of Denmark. This is why women are often presented the way that Hamlet sees them. Also Hamlet lives in a very enclosed world