The Saving Grace of Madness Essays -- Character Analysis, Ophelia, Lae

Hamlets Ophelia tragically falls victim to the frequent and unquestioned female person stereotypes of her day. Trapping her within the type of the chaste and obedient charr, Polonius strips Ophelia of her individual identity and silences her voice. He reduces her to a mere pawn, whoring her out to run his own selfish agendas. It is only in madness that Ophelia is offered an unexpect reprieve from this puppetry, one that even the finality of destruction is unable to offer. When the reader starting signal encounters Ophelia within Hamlet, she is speaking with Laertes, her brother, and Polonius, her amaze. From these interactions, Ophelia appears to be the true embodiment of what a woman was expected to be. She listens respectfully to her brother and father, speaking only twenty-one lines as opposed to their combined one hundred and twenty. She dutifully responds to their advice I shall the picture of this good lesson keep (1.3 l.49) and I shall obey, my lord (1.4 l. 145). Yet aside from this expected and somewhat boring picture, the reader learns little of Ophelia. In result to the reckons call to Stand and unfold yourself (1.1 l.2), Ophelia appears to relieve oneself nothing to say.However, slice Polonius is satisfied with this one-dimensional and limited picture of his daughter, the reader should not be. harmonize to the early 17th century context of Shakespeares Hamlet, chastity was the tonus most frequently praised in women as it directly influenced and determined male honor. Thus, Polonius command to Ophelia that she not slander any moment leisure as to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet (1.4 142-143) cannot be read simply as the words of a loving father concerned with the fragility of his daughters heart. Rather, it must be r... ...ng more(prenominal) than the goaded words of boy eager to prove his manhood. King Claudius response is no better, using Laertes grief over Ophelias death to motivate his revenge Strengthen your patience in our last darks speechWell put the matter to the present push. This grave shall have a living monumentTil then in patience our consummation be (5.1 ll. 313-314317 319). Thus, once again Ophelia emerges as the scapegoat her death unlawful of motivating the deaths of Hamlet, Laertes, Gertrude, and Claudius. While Hamlet indeed comes to a tragic close, it is an polish dominated by men. Fortinbras arrives on the scene in all his manliness, dominating that Hamlet be born like a soldier to the stage, restored to his prior, fairish identity. Ophelia however, goes unmentioned, faded from the memory of Denmark, her monument never constructed as King Claudius promised.