Ophelia's Soliloquy Essay

Logic in Lunacy The path she chose to walk on was familiar to her as she had grown up going on walks there. Oh how she missed those days when life was so simple. When all she had to worry about was whether or not the flowers were in bloom. In current time, her father was dead and her lover had betrayed her, left her to suffer the heartache of grief alone.

In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, we constantly see Hamlet’s negative view of women and harsh treatment towards them. Hamlet’s relationship with his mother, Queen Gertrude, is rocky after she marries her dead husband’s killer and brother, causing tension between her and Hamlet. Hamlet’s view of women is changed at this point in time because of his mother’s actions. This affects the way he treats Ophelia, the woman that he is in love with and that also reciprocates his love towards her. While he wants to continue his relationship with her, he knows it is not best and is afraid of the outcome.

In Hamlet Act 1 scene 3, Polonius gives a speech to Ophelia about Hamlet’s intentions, tries to warn her about her relationship with Hamlet. Polonius is a selfish yet caring father, he uses different tones, dictions, metaphor, and puns to warn Ophelia that Hamlet is just playing around with her and she should not fall for it. Polonius talked to Ophelia in a sarcastic tone. When Ophelia told Polonius that she thinks Hamlet has shown his “affection” towards her, Polonius said she is like a “green girl unsifted in such perilous circumstance” (110-11). He mocked Ophelia for being so naïve and foolish like a child that she cannot see through Hamlet’s lies and false vows.

Hamlet: “...I did love you once.” Ophelia: “Indeed, my, lord, you made me believe so.” Hamlet: “You should not have believed me... I loved you not.”

Though any character in Shakespeare's Hamlet could easily be the epitome of lunacy, there is no character more obviously unsound that Ophelia, whose personality is the embodiment of codependency. Every time Ophelia speaks the symptoms are apparent as she can not seem to converse about anything but men. This is stereotypical of women at the time,in society as much as in literature. One can not fully blame Ophelia however as she is a product of her time period and used by the other characters. Ophelia’s character not only confirms Hamlet's suspicions about women but serves as pawn in the metaphorical chess game between Claudius and Hamlet.

When an individual thinks about the concept of love, positive thoughts come to mind such as affection, romance, and passion. Love is usually not associated with the negative possible outcomes. Love is often an important part of a story; it builds up excitement and gets the plot going. In William Shakespeare 's Hamlet and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the emotion of love is portrayed to drive a character insane.

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, Ophelia and Hamlet allow many things to cause them to behave irrationally. She allows Hamlet to consume her thoughts and everyday life. She does not want to listen to anyone’s advice, even if she knows what they are saying about Hamlet is true. Hamlet and Ophelia have a slight age difference and very different mindsets, therefore Hamlet is worried about many other things besides Ophelia. She eventually can no longer handled the feeling of being denied and willingly commits suicide.

“The pangs of despised love” (3.1.72). In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare Ophelia is being emotionally abused by Hamlet and the people she cares about. This abuse causes her to feel fragile, and ultimately leads her to commit suicide. Love can lead to many different passages in life. Ophelia is a gentle, obedient person, who has very limited options as a woman, other than to be docile.

Despite that a single woman ruled England at the time of William Shakespeare, the Elizabethan society was still much patriarchal. Hence, it leads to the society being “Unfeminine Pursuits”. Based upon the historical context where Shakespeare had written Othello, Hamlet, and Macbeth, as female characters are portrayed as subservient and unimportant as a whole while confronting the societal constraints. Since, Renaissance society did not traditionally value the freedom of women, although the ruling of this society was running by the “independent” women. As this society always portrayed the ideal woman who is beautiful and obedient while retaining her strength and independence.

The Catcher in the Rye PARCC Literary Analysis Task Memory is the recurring theme displayed in many ways throughout the novel. An example of a recurring theme would be words like repetition and diction. Repetition are when words are seen multiple times throughout the passage. Diction is the word choice throughout the passage.