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Ophelia Syndrome In Hamlet

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Hamlet a tragic play written by William Shakespeare is most commonly known as the main character avenging his father, King Hamlet’s death. Deep under the surface of Hamlet’s trials and tribulations lies his lustful love connection with Ophelia. Residing in Denmark, a young woman named Ophelia lives under the household of Polonius and is the sister of Laertes. As Ophelia struggles with the expression of her thoughts and emotions, her voice is trampled by a patriarchal society. Her male influences coupled with the lack of female attention she receives lends itself to a term that is known as “Ophelia Syndrome” or hysteria. Mental health resources define this syndrome as “being dependent on another person's thoughts, feelings or actions. The syndrome …show more content…

In today’s modern society, young women are exposed to television, smart phones, books and magazines which perpetuate unrealistic body images as standards that they should meet. Young women are bombarded with visual advertisements and videos with photoshopped images which younger audiences misconstrue as a “normal” person. Ophelia is dependent on Hamlet and Polonius for what to say and do along with women looking at magazines and watching videos with advertisements and purchasing the products that are shown. We are drawn into persuasive ad’s that make us think if we purchase a product then we will be able to achieve the far-fetched standard of beauty. When we purchase the product then we are letting the companies manipulate our sense of control. As part of a consumer economy companies are focused on conditioning consumers to purchase and re-buy their products. Ophelia is the consumer who is trying to conform to the images she sees, whereas Polonius is the company demanding her to purchase the products and achieve that standard of beauty. Ultimately, both the women and teens who are the consumers and Ophelia will fail to reach their perceived potential. Both are set up and are doomed to fail due to the unreasonably high

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