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Women In Hamlet's Representing Ophelia

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Shakespeare's Hamlet represents many mysteries of human manner of conducting oneself and much suggestion for the reader to define them. Is Hamlet doubtlessly mentally ill, and, if so, when did he mislay his mind We can point to the murder of his father and the disobedience of his mother. The same concern might be ascribe to Ophelia: her father is killed, a loved one betrays her, and her madness is sudden. Instead, we tend to see her as a victim of Hamlet's changing regard rather than a woman who thinks and chooses for herself, as Hamlet seems to choose his madness. Elaine Showalter, in her essay "Representing Ophelia" writes that Ophelia is traditionally a blank upon whom readers throughout the ages have imposed their own beliefs about women.

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