As Ophelia has become an image of femininity, most often realized as a fragile and powerless maid with few words beyond “I shall obey, my lord” (I. III. 19) and rarely imaged as a woman in control of her own choices, with her own agenda, she has come to embody this virgin/villain dichotomy.
It is her attempt at gaining agency and a voice in the only way she can—through symbols of her femininity because she is constantly seen as only a woman and not an individual. Ophelia's voice blossoms through her womanhood and through the language of flowers and song, both linked to feminine sexuality.
Ophelia in Hamlet is a character who is jilted by Hamlet in love, controlled by her brother Laertes and father Polonius, and ultimately broken mentally and drowned to death. Her character in the play represents femininity and fragility.
As Laertes's mock-daughter, Ophelia is objectified as a play-thing for Laertes to act out his future patriarchal duties. For Polonius, objectifying his daughter as a pawn for his political pursuits is just another casualty in his bid to improve his social station.
She has followed her father and brother's power unconsciously since her childhood. Also, Ophelia can never feel her love; her love, as her life, has been forbidden by the males. Power of patriarchy steals her pure love from her like her life and victimizes her for the sake of canons of society.
Perhaps the most descriptive sexualization of Ophelia is when Gertrude describes her dead body as “mermaid-like” (4.7. 201) with “her clothes spread wide” (4.7. 200). Describing her clothes as “spread-wide” is especially suggestive, as to reference the act of removing clothing before sex.
During an angry tirade against Ophelia, Hamlet blames his madness on women, particularly on what he sees as women's habit of disguising themselves with make-up and feminine behavior. Hamlet often struggles with the difficulty of separating disguises from reality, but he also seems obsessed with female sexuality.
Ophelia's death symbolizes a life spent passively tolerating Hamlet's manipulations and the restrictions imposed by those around her, while struggling to maintain the last shred of her dignity.
Women are most commonly depicted as being weak, powerless, and confused, while men are commonly shown as being strong, analytical, and intuitive. Hamlet features Ophelia and Gertrude as the only two female roles, and even then they show little independence from the males.
Ophelia is used by two men in the play – her father and Hamlet – as a pawn for them to enact their deceptions. Polonius uses Ophelia to try to determine what the cause of Hamlet's madness is (although Polonius, arrogantly, already assumes he knows that Hamlet is 'mad for [her] love').
In recent years, she has become a strong feminist heroine, even surviving Hamlet in some fictional versions of the story, to lead a life of her own.
Ophelia's final words are addressed to either Hamlet, or her father, or even herself and her lost innocence: “And will a not come again? / No, no, he is dead, / Go to thy death-bed, / He never will come again. / … / God a mercy on his soul. And of all Christian souls. God buy you.” Next, she drowns herself.
The film portrays Ophelia as a strong woman with an independent mind. She thinks for herself and acts on her own decisions. Interestingly, she chooses to devote herself to Hamlet after they fall in love.
Hamlet's sexually objectifies Ophelia when he asks her if he can lie on her lap (Act 3, scene 2, 105). This behavior is Hamlet's attempt to transfer his frustrations about his mother. Hamlet reconfirms his sincere love for Ophelia at her death bed.
Background: Ophelia's syndrome is the association of Hodgkin's Lymphoma and memory loss, coined by Dr. Carr in 1982, while it's most remembered for the eponym in reminiscence of Shakespeare's character, Dr.
Ophelia is a character in Hamlet who is shown to be diagnosed with the mental illness “Schizophrenia”. Her diagnosis within the first acts of the play is weak, however, her mental illness reaches its peak in act 4, as a cluster of schizophrenia's symptoms are shown.
By this point, Ophelia would be well aware of her pregnancy, and well aware that she would soon begin to show outward signs of it.
Hamlet “assigns many contemptuous terms to women, such as 'whore,' 'drab,' 'strumpet,' 'bawd,' 'harlot,' etc. What underlies this gender hatred is a revelation of his self-negation and self-hatred” (De-yan 94).
Hamlet can be viewed through a feminist lens by focusing on Ophelia and Gertrude and how various other male characters treat them. Ophelia and Gertrude are dismissed as characters through the entire play because they are women. Hamlet refers to women as “frailty,” implying that they are weak and are dependent on men.
Ophelia's madness is overtaking her so much so that she does not even recognize whom she is talking to like her brother, Laertes. Polonius was such a vital figure in her life, she is insane beyond help and thus does not recognize her own brother nor anyone else she speaks to.
Some see Ophelia's death as an accident; others see it as a suicide resulting from the accumulation of a series of unfortunate events: her rejection by her boyfriend, her father's murder, and her possible pregnancy.
A red poppy floats near Ophelia's hand, a symbol of sleep and death. Despite her saying that there were no violets, we can see she wears a necklace of them.
Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia because he has transferred his anger at Gertrude's marriage to Claudius onto Ophelia. In fact, Hamlet's words suggest that he transfers his rage and disgust for his mother onto all women. He says to Ophelia, “God has given you one face and you make yourselves another.
Women were treated as a difference with men in Hamlet and also the male cast views the female characters as inferior. In most cases, they were limited to express their feeling about many things. They don't know how they can express their feeling toward the public.
Shakespeare repeatedly characterizes women in Hamlet as simple minded, impulsive, and under the ownership of male figures. This lack of consciousness is blatantly evident in the opening act of the play when Gertrude is introduced as a lustful tramp, married hastily to Claudius.