Examples Of Obedience Kills In Hamlet

Julia Marks
Mrs. Phaneuf
Ap Lit
14 April 2023
Obedience Kills
For centuries, women have been bound to conform to a male world; what happens to women who fall victim to patriarchal control? The famous play Hamlet, a great tragedy written by William Shakespeare, is set in Elsinore, Denmark, during the 13th- 14th century. The play revolves around the story of Prince Hamlet, who is trying to avenge his father's death. Ophelia, a beautiful, delicate, well-behaved young woman, who is in love with the prince of Denmark, must constantly obey men throughout the play. Ultimately, she must decide between Hamlet and her father because she has no power. In her line, "I shall obey my lord" (1-3-145), Shakespeare dramatizes that young women with no power,

Hamlet has murdered Polonius, and Ophelia comes to the King and Queen and starts singing a song. Her song alludes to her life story as she sings it to the audience. This is the first time that the audience sees the extreme heartache that she has been put through. As she speaks to her brother mid-song, she says, ¨ The false steward that stole his master's/ daughter¨(4-5-196/197). Ophelia is referring to a story when she states this line; however, she speaks this line because she believes that this alludes to her life. The false steward refers to Hamlet, whom she does not know killed her father. The master is her father, the word master could imply that Ophelia might have loved her father, but he was controlling, manipulating the man she was forced to obey. Her insanity comes from losing her controlling father. When a person has been held under the control of another, they often find themselves more in love with them than in fear of them. She hands the court multiple flowers; however, when she gets to, Violets, she says,¨I would/ give you some violets, but they withered all when/ my father died¨(4-5-207/209). The violets symbolize faithfulness, but Ophelia states that they all died with her father, giving us a theory that her faithfulness in her father died with him. He may have controlled her when he was alive, but now that he is dead, he no longer has that emotional hold on her. When Ophelia dies, the Queen comes to relay the message that Ophelia has died. She states, ¨One incapable of her own distress¨(4-7-203). The Queen wants us to believe that the insanity was too much for poor Ophelia. However, we may never know if she killed herself to relieve herself from the emotional grasp she was forced to hold on to or if it was purely an accident. We are told to believe that Ophelia is such a delicate woman, but how do we