How Does Hamlet Present Ophelia's Treatment Of Women In Hamlet

In "No Fear Shakespeare Hamlet" Ophelia is just a innocent victim that acts on what people tell her to do and don’t respond to what she want. Hamlet and Ophelia's love was real and not a lust but she let people manipulate her. When you love somebody they will do whatever it takes to protect and support there loved one and Ophelia played victim of loving Hamlet.

The story of Hamlet is a morbid tale of tragedy, commitment, and manipulation; this is especially evident within the character of Ophelia. Throughout the play, Ophelia is torn between obeying and following the different commitments that she has to men in her life. She is constantly torn between the choice of obeying the decisions and wishes of her family or that of Hamlet. She is a constant subject of manipulation and brain washing from both her father and brother. Ophelia is not only subject to the torture of others using her for their intentions but she is also susceptible to abuse from Hamlet. Both her father and her brother believe that Hamlet is using her to achieve his own personal goals.

The play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, looks at the issue of madness and how it effects the characters of the play. Madness can be looked at from very different perspectives, such as strong and uncontrollable emotions, a person’s desires, and also a persons mental stability. Throughout the play, the audience is questioning the sanity of the main character, Hamlet, as he goes on his quest for revenge. The people around him also show signs of madness, such as Ophelia and Claudius, but in different forms. Existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzche says, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also some reason in madness.” What Nietzche is saying is that when you are in love with someone or something, there is always a little

There are volumes of critical analyses devoted to William Shakespeare's Hamlet. As the title indicates, Hamlet is the main character of the play, but there are other characters who are also important to the plot. So much attention has been given to Hamlet's antics that characters such as Ophelia remain relatively unexamined. Ophelia is a key figure in the play, and to understand her reactions to the patriarchal society in which she lives through her relationships with the men in her life adds more depth to the play. Ophelia's character is revealed through her relationships with her father, Polonius, her brother, Laertes, and her lover, Hamlet, and their characters in turn are revealed through their

Whether one is faced with oppression, such as sexism or racism, or confronted with something as simple as revealing one’s feelings to a significant other, humans have always struggled with being able to express their true thoughts and emotions. Specifically, in a tragedy, characters are unable to express their true thoughts and identities for a multitude of reasons: their struggle with hubris, the potential for a power vacuum, or one’s own choices effecting the lives of others. Interestingly, women in these tragedies are more often than not the ones who are silenced. Particularly, Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is placed in an environment where she faces seemingly unsurmountable challenges when it comes to expressing herself; in the play, Ophelia is treated not as a person, but as an object. Despite her treatment throughout the play, Ophelia creates a space for expression and, by doing do, transcends the masculine powers of Elsinore Castle.

Throughout Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” women are used as method for men to get what they want. The men in Hamlet, either directly or indirectly continuously use women to acquire something from other men. The only two women in the entire play are Gertrude and Ophelia, who are consistently used by the current king, Claudius, Polonius, and Hamlet. Ophelia is exploited by Polonius and the King (mainly together), and is also used by Hamlet. Gertrude is used by the King, as well as Polonius. In “Hamlet,” the women throughout the play are used as pawns for men to get what they want, mainly from the other men.

In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare, the author, creates female characters that occupy very different roles than in his other plays. In this play, Hamlet plays opposite two women who are used by the men around them in order to further their own interests. One woman is named Ophelia. In many of Shakespeare’s other plays, he creates women that are very strong and play a very real role in the life of the protagonist. In Hamlet, however, Ophelia occupies a very different role-she exemplifies a pawn of the men around her. She is used not only by her father and his associate the King, but also by her supposed lover, Hamlet. This is a very different role for a woman in a Shakespearian play. Also, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude,

Denmark is in a state of chaos shown by the opening death of the true

In Hamlet, the female characters can be seen as being subservient to men. This goes on to show how Shakespeare, goes against the feminist theory by not creating equality between all the characters. One of the main character’s Ophelia can be seen as being weak and undermined in the play. She spends most of her time following the actions of her father, Polonius and boyfriend, Hamlet, with little to no say in her own opinion on topics. Polonius displays his dominance over Ophelia when he expresses his opinion on her relationship with Hamlet. He informs Ophelia on exactly what her next actions need to be when dealing with Hamlet. He even goes as far as warning her to not go against his wishes because it will “ tender [him] a fool”, showing his superiority over Ophelia’s actions (I . iii. 109). The inequality can also be shown when comparing Laertes’s life with Ophelia's. Laertes is left alone to travel France, while Ophelia is stuck to follow her father's orders. Hamlet also tries to show his

In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare developed the story of prince Hamlet, and the murder of his father by the king's brother, Claudius. Hamlet reacted to this event with an internal battle that harmed everyone around him. Ophelia was the character most greatly impacted by Hamlet's feigned and real madness - she first lost her father, her sanity, and then her life. Ophelia, obedient, weak-willed, and no feminist role model, deserves the most pity of any character in the play.

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia, daughter of Polonius, is Hamlet’s secret lover. She is inert and simpleminded. She could have eventually become the hero of her own story-- to overcome the misfortunes in her life –but instead is dragged into insanity, becoming as insane as Hamlet. While we continue to read of Ophelia, we see Hamlet become a man. A man who is convinced all women are nearly objects.

Hamlet´s excuse for being “mad” is to confirm the validity of the accusations on his uncle, but this is only a way to conceal his own truth, that he is mad. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet states that he wants to die, and that by suicide, a circumstance of his constant depression. Ophelia is visited by Hamlet, only to be permeated with fear at the sight of his horrid actions. It is shown throughout the play that Hamlet is not faking his madness, but is using the antic disposition to cover the truth. Hamlet has openly stated that he had a desire to commit suicide. ”

While Hamlet’s love for Ophelia often takes backseat to his revenge plans, it is evident throughout the play that he truly does love her. His courtship of her appears to be honorable and driven purely out of love. During Ophelia’s first scene, she tells her father that Hamlet “hath importuned me with love in honorable fashion…and hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, with almost all the holy vows of heaven” (1.3 109-113) Despite warnings from her brother and father, Ophelia falls hard for the young prince of Denmark. He sends her gifts and love letters in which he expresses his great affection for her. One of these letters is made known to the court when the king and the queen are attempting to figure out what has caused Hamlet’s

Shakespeare was possibly the first writer to portray women as strong, crafty, and intelligent. However, he has still received criticism from feminists about his representation of women. Some have even accused him of misogyny. There are only two female characters in the play Hamlet - Gertrude, Hamlet's mother and Ophelia, daughter of Polonius. Any debate based upon gender roles must therefore focus upon these two characters.

Being the only two female characters in the play Hamlet, Gertrude and Ophelia are quite comparable to one another. Although very different these women seem to be trapped in similar circumstances in relation to hamlet. Both these women care for Hamlet in a similar way, one as his mother and one as his lover. Being involved with Hamlet shapes and brings life to their characters, eventually bringing an end to these characters as well. Ophelia is an innocent, young woman in reality, but because Hamlet’s opinion of women in general has been morphed by his mother, Gertrude, Hamlet changes from being in love with Ophelia to viewing her as a representation of her sex.