Song Analysis Of The Song 'Ophelia' By Tori Amos

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.

Although, end rhyme isn’t evident, there are masculine and feminine rhymes within each line which fall naturally into the iambs across the lines when spoken aloud. When reading works by William Shakespeare or specifically this soliloquy of Ophelia’s, emphasizing the stressed and unstressed syllables and the vowels within the each of the words will help establish the dejected and upset emotion from Ophelia. A soliloquy was a common device that the famous playwright, William Shakespeare, used to tell his stories. He has written many famous works which with literary analysis can help open the eyes of an actor or reader to the techniques and true meaning behind the

Women have been dominated and manipulated by men for many years. In Hamlet, the character Ophelia was living under the demands of her father. She didn’t actually decide anything for herself. She obeyed every demand she received from her father Polonius because for her it was a form of loyalty. When Polonius was killed by Hamlet, she became vulnerable since she no longer had the person who decided everything for her.

After losing her father Ophelia ends up losing herself with him as well. Shakespeare utilizes the characterization of Ophelia to comment on patriarchal influences on women and the effects that occur because of these

When Laertes arrives back from Paris, he confront Claudius at the castle, only to have Ophelia interrupt him. Upon hearing her song, he remarks, “This nothing’s more than matter” (4.5.173). The reason that these meaningless words mean more than words with meaning is because they are in fact not meaningless. Ophelia is still very much conscious and perceptive as before, except unlike before, she is verbalizing her thoughts and observations. Although she still retains some gender appropriate behaviors in this enlightened state--like encrypting her intent in song form instead of blurting them out--her assertive tone, unabashedness, and willingness to take action all contradict her previous teachings.

This provokes him to say that god gives women one face, but they use make up to paint on another one. This quote suggest that Hamlet sees woman as naive and gullible creatures, as he sees Ophelia as nothing but an object that is owned by her father, as she is helping him with all of his dirty work. Hamlet believes that woman cannot be trusted as they have are deceiving. He also sees Ophelia as a grown women who is unable to make her own decisions. Hamlet is utterly disgusted by how feeble Ophelia is as she was following her father's scheme.

“ My lord, I have remembrance of yours, that I longed long to re-deliver; I pray you, now receive them” (Shakespeare 2. 2. 93-95). Ophelia’s decision to relinquish her love to Hamlet for her father’s sake spurred Hamlet’s decision for his feigned madness and also made it easier for him to reject Ophelia and emotionally abuse her, which in turn, spurred her own internal disappointment and hatred in herself. However,“We see Hamlet’s nobility and realise that his flippant comments to her stemmed from his antic disposition and feigned madness” (Tuohy, 2012).

For the duration of the play, Ophelia was portrayed as a naïve and submissive woman. Her passivity and powerlessness reinforce the voicelessness of women during the Elizabethan era. For example, “I shall obey, my lord” (I.iii.134) shows that Ophelia concedes to her father’s will, even though she believes Hamlet’s love is genuine. She is willing and expected to obey her father despite the fact that she still loves Hamlet, which emphasizes her character’s submissive nature. Furthermore, in Act I Laertes warns Ophelia that it would be shameful of her to love Hamlet, and she responds with “I shall the effect of this good lesson keep as a watchman to my heart” (I.iii.45).

Hamlet Hamlet teaches us many lessons among these are love and insanity. These traits are evident throughout the play and all of the characters exhibit them in different ways. The character who displays these traits the most is young Ophelia. She loves her father very much, but also suffers greatly when he is murdered. Ophelia loves her father very much and respects him, even went as far as to call him Lord.

That does not help the fact that Ophelia needs guidance and wisdom. Her father never her gave that to her during his lifetime. He was so infatuated with making sure his children do not mess up his agenda, that he totally threw their needs as humans to the side. Ophelia never learned how to cope with struggles that come up during one’s lifetime. Ophelia also lets her relationship with hamlet dictate her self worth.

The song that I chose was “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield. It was released in 2004, and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. It also hit number five on the Billboard Hot 100. Natasha Bedingfield has another popular song “Pocketful of Sunshine” and was really only popular in 2004-2006. You can find her songs on multiple 00’s playlists.

Hamlet does not value Ophelia 's feelings he belittles her. In Hamlets defense this is the way he was brought up to treat women, during that time this was a common way to treat a women. Even though in today 's society it is not at all ok to treat women with such disrespect. He also likes for everything to go as planned and this may result in why he can not have a stable relationship with a woman. This also causes him to have many stumbling blocks in his life that causes some emotional pain

As a young woman of the 1600’s Ophelia is most likely unaware of the patriarchy that shadows above her. “I do not know my lord, what should I think?”. Ophelia is so unsure about her affair with Hamlet that she

Women have suffered an extreme misdeed by men throughout the history. Women in Shakespearean times were bounded with their husbands and their fathers, the women weren’t expected to do much rather that just looking pretty and not talking. In the play Hamlet women are mistreated and are shown in Shakespeare novel. There are women that have experienced exploitation in the novel. Hamlet poor mistreatment and misjudgment of Ophelia, her behavior started to change throughout the novel and eventually she ended up killing herself.

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet there are many male characters, but the only two significant female characters are Ophelia and Gertrude. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, a high ranking official in the court in Denmark who serves as a love interest and an object of desire for Hamlet, although it is often unclear which at many point during the play. Gertrude is the wife of King Claudius, the widow of the former king, King Hamlet, and the mother of Hamlet. In Hamlet the women often appear as if they do not have a significant role in the play. However, Ophelia’s interactions with Hamlet exaggerate his apparent madness and by being a foil to Hamlet.