Ophelia's Codependency

Hamlet the misogynist "When a man gives his opinion he is a man. When a woman gives her opinion she is a bitch. "- Bette Davis Throughout time society has used woman as a scapegoat for societal issues that have occurred.

Ophelia is by far one of the most tragic characters in Shakespeare ’s play The Tragedy of Hamlet. She loses everything she holds precious, such as her father and Hamlet’s affections, and is manipulated by the men who claim to love her. Throughout the play, Ophelia is nothing but a pawn in the men’s schemes. The people around her mask their true intentions, leading her to a life of deceit.

The witches, Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth display the theme of appearance versus reality throughout the whole play. Even though the witches deceive through the truth and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decieve through lies, Shakespeare sends a reocurring message of deciet. Things are not always as it seems. Foul is fair and fair is foul in this world.

Sexism is obscenely visible in his very own, Hamlet. Sexsim is the prejudice or stereotyping, typically against women solely because of their gender. In Hamlet, Shakespeare shows absolute disregard for women when he uses Lord Hamlet as someone who blames women for his sanity, by making them seem weak, vulnerable, and submissive due to the time frame, and using women for certain topics or occurrences needed to keep the story going.. In Hamlet, Lord

Every modern society since the beginning of time has painted the female as frail and individuals at the mercy of men, unable to reap the same freedoms and aspirations as their male counterparts. The English Renaissance is no different as women were not allowed to play themselves on stage, and more often than not were seen as weak characters in their portrayal. In Shakespeare's “Hamlet”, all the female protagonists all have flaws that eventually leads to them meeting their deaths. The characters of Ophelia and Gertrude are two different women trapped in the same predicament, partly being due to the inefficacy of being taken seriously, and are therefore perceived as feeble women; looking at the persona of Ophelia, she tends to follow the direction

This quote is made before Ophelia was sent out to break up with Hamlet in order for Polonius and Claudius to spy on him. Gertrude is telling Ophelia that she hopes the root of Hamlet’s madness is the love for her, she means to say this because it would be easier than him being mentally insane. Her concern shows that she may actually be that Gertrude may not be as bad of a mother than she is perceived to be in the first few acts. There is a theme of moral corruption/contamination because Gertrude has no problem with Claudius and Polonius spying and tricking Hamlet, even though she doesn't have a say in the plan. It shows that she disregarded her own son This quote is made when Polonius talks about how many people use the power of faith and religion

He gives an incite of the perception of males when it comes to having relations with women. He stated that Hamlet didn’t genuinely love Ophelia and it was simply a lie to make her feel special. In a way he lowered Ophelia’s confidence by suggesting that he would not choose her over a prettier woman. He then argues with Ophelia and tells her that all Hamlet wanted to do was get in her pants because she was easy and gullible to him. Another situation that shows significance to this paper is how the household is being run.

Desdemona feels somewhat guilty after this. “Some critics respond to the issue of Desdemona's guilt by suggesting that Shakespeare deliberately makes Desdemona's character ambiguous in order to give Othello's jealousy a motive” (Smith). In every cheating relationship, there is jealousy and guilt. “From an interpersonal perspective, the prototypical cause of guilt would be the infliction of harm, loss, or distress on a relationship partner (Baumeister 3). The guilt that Desdemona feels radiates off her body, causing distress to Othello as he wonders if she really does love Cassio instead of himself.

One of the components that may have been the underlying reason for the inconvenience Ophelia wound up in toward the end of the play might be her magnificence. This is portrayed in III, I, 6-7 when Hamlet says, "/that on the off chance that you be straightforward and reasonable,/ought to concede no talk to your excellence. " Her magnificence is the reason Hamlet first became hopelessly enamored with her, the reason her dad, Polonius, could control her emotions toward Hamlet. Her dad needed this control over her affection either for progression inside the court through picking up the support of the ruler, or, if one somehow happened to think all the more hopefully, maybe Polonius' objective was just to shield her from Hamlet who, he accepted,

(3.1.43-49) Polonius orders Ophelia to distract Hamlet even though he knows the emotional distress it will cause her. He is the reason Ophelia breaks ties with Hamlet, yet he is willing to throw her at him for his own gain. Polonius cannot rationalize that spying on Hamlet is less important than his daughter’s mental stability. His utter selfishness makes him incapable of making rational decisions that are beneficial to both himself, and his children. Polonius gives good advice that he does not take himself, showing his bad decision making.

After the death of her father and departure of Hamlet, Ophelia arrives at the castle and pays an unsolicited visit to the royal majesties. She sings, “Young men will do’t, if they come to’t./ By Cock, they are to blame” (4.5.60-61). This passage is often interpreted as Ophelia airing the grievances that Hamlet has committed toward her--namely, he used her solely for sexual pleasure and discarded her when he lost interest. In summary, Ophelia exposes the double standard prevalent in her society: to a man, a woman’s value lies only in her virginity. She blames “Cock”, which represents the patriarchy at large, for society’s willingness to excuse male lust and irresponsibility.

Camree Rogers Has your heart ever been torn between the loss of a loved one, and anger against the who had caused it? Hamlet has felt both of those strong emotions, because, between him mourning his father's death, and how he was murdered by his new uncle/father, Claudius. After he had figured out who killed his father, Hamlet decides he can’t trust anyone, until his death has had justice. Furthermore, Hamlet learns that his mother, Gertrude, had been having an affair with Claudius then begins his plan to take revenge for his father. Shakespeare uses mood, tone, and irony to develop the themes of anger and betrayal.

Title In the tragedy, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Hamlet sets out to take vengeance upon his uncle Claudius. In the process of vengeance, the woman he loves commits suicide, his family is killed, the kingdom falls to ruin, he pays the price of his own life. Ultimately, Hamlet’s vengeance left to ruin in its wake.

Hamlet Themes Shakespeare once said “The course of true love never did run smooth.” Throughout the play there was two main themes: love makes people do crazy things and death is not always a solution to a problem. All of the characters had their issues throughout the play. It all started in act 1 scene 3 when Hamlet and Ophelia were in love.

In Act III, scene i of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, readers will come upon Ophelia’s soliloquy. After Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have failed to find a reason as to why Hamlet is acting in a peculiar and mad way, Claudius is persuaded by Polonius that the reason for Hamlet’s madness is the broken romance between Hamlet and Ophelia. To prove this, Claudius and Polonius plan to spy on Ophelia’s meeting with Hamlet. During their conversation, Hamlet denies ever having loved her and curses her. Ophelia is left fretting over his sanity.