A final examination of the role of guilt and innocence within Hamlet questions the concept of accountability. There are characters such as Ophelia, whose madness makes her irrational. Is it fair for her to feel or assume guilt if she is not in a healthy state of mind? Ophelia’s situation is helplessly tragic as Gertrude poetically describes her death “as one incapable of her own distress” (4.4.177). Gertrude, arguably, does two things when she makes this claim of Ophelia’s death: she was trying
In the article “Ophelia: Hamlet’s hapless girlfriend is reborn,” Lisa M. Klein analyzes Ophelia and her relationship with Hamlet. At first, she questions who Ophelia is with the simple “Who is Ophelia?” question, then goes into depth with a quick summary of who she is throughout the play. Ophelia is Hamlet’s girlfriend who becomes distraught when Hamlet rejects her love and even kills her father. She kills herself by falling into a brook and drowning. After questioning Ophelia and different possible
Women: Victims of Society Since the birth of society, women have been placed in socially inferior roles. Society have established a woman’s inherent nature to be fragile, obedient, and naive. In the play, Hamlet, Shakespeare reflects and addresses this ideology through the portrayal of the two main female characters, Gertrude and Ophelia, as victims and tools of manipulation. Throughout the play, women serve as assets that acquiesce to every command made by man. Ophelia, in particular, becomes
appropriate accounts of the patriarchal society in which he lived. The portrayal of women in Shakespeare’s Hamlet support this theory of gender inequality, particularly through the construction of the character Ophelia. By constructing
Simba and Hamlet, lost their fathers. Simba’s father, Mufasa, was thrown off a cliff by Scar, Mufasa’s brother, and Hamlet’s father was poisoned by his younger brother, Claudius. There is also a striking resemblance between Hamlet’s father and Mufasa. They were both kings of their respective kingdoms, betrayed by their brothers, and come to their sons in the form of a ghost. Through their arrivals, they encourage their sons to take back their land and royalty (McElveen). Then, Hamlet and Simba,
people muddle through time trying to find purpose in their being. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet allows depression and anger to overcast him as he attempts to sort through the confusion that his father’s death has caused him. In David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle Edgar struggles to understand how the life of his father was stolen from him. The lack of discernment of death haunts Edgar and Hamlet. It is a demon that stalks each young man. Many say that once they understand their significance
subjugation. Ophelia of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a powerful representative of universal struggle of women .The quest of understanding the universality of mental conflicts of the women and also the reason behind the increasing rate of self destruction among young girls , Mary Pipher wrote ‘Reviving Ophelia’. This paper is an attempt to unravel female sensitivity through ‘Reviving Ophelia’. Revelation of Universal Women’s Sufferage through ‘Reviving Ophelia’ Hamlet is a tragedy