In Act I, Laertes dispenses advice to Ophelia on the pitfalls of pre-marital sex for women, not men in a lengthy speech that's geared toward instilling a sense of "fear" into his sister. Just what you want to hear from your brother, right? In fact, he tells Ophelia three times that she should "fear" intimacy with Hamlet.
Is Laertes just looking out for his little sister's best interests? Maybe, but his speech is also full of vivid innuendo, as when he compares intercourse to a "canker" worm invading and injuring a delicate flower before its buds, or "buttons" have had time to open 1. This graphic allusion to the anatomy of female genitalia turns his sister into an erotic object while still insisting on Ophelia's chastity. Laertes takes a typically Elizabethan stance toward female sexuality —a "deflowered" woman was damaged goods that no man would want to marry.
Which brings us to one important question: did Hamlet and Ophelia actually have sex? We don't know for sure. Shmoop is inclined to think not. What's so tragic about Ophelia in our humble opinion is that she hasn't done anything wrong, and she gets destroyed by the patriarchal court culture anyway. But the possibility's there. Some of the flowers Ophelia gives away during her mad scene like rue and wormwood were used for centuries in abortion potions.
And there's something pretty suggestive about the fact that she's literally being deflowered—giving flowers away. Would it make a difference if they'd actually had sex? Are you sure you want to remove bookConfirmation and any corresponding bookmarks? My Preferences My Reading List. Hamlet William Shakespeare.
Home Literature Notes Hamlet Ophelia. Character Analysis Ophelia. Adam Bede has been added to your Reading List! She shows no defiance from her fathers order, Ophelia just acts as she is expected to. Ophelia is especially significant in the scene where Hamlet insults her and all women. In this scene Hamlet seems to know that Polonius is watching, and using Ophelia to spy on him. So Hamlet uses Ophelia, much like Polonius. Hamlet talks to Ophelia in such a way in this scene that he seems to insinuate things.
During this scene is also the first time it is suggested that Hamlet knows about the death of the king. Ophelia appeared flawless up to this point. But now Ophelia is essentially like a battleground for Hamlet and Polonius. They both utilize her to say what they want to one another, and prove what they want. Both use her to their advantage. Hamlet also uses Ophelia to get the word out that he mad, after seeing Ophelia and acting crazy.
Ophelia serves a tool for both Polonius and Hamlet Ophelia and Hamlet are also different because of social standing, Hamlet is royalty while Ophelia is essentially a normal citizen of Denmark. In Hamlet, Ophelia seems like a character who is unimportant and is just kind of there for plot context. Ophelia is much more, Ophelia is tool employed by Shakespeare and the characters in order to convey thoughts, ideas, and feelings to the audience, and one another.
Ophelia is like the center of the story, she cant be left out, the plot forms around her. Ophelia definitely serves more purpose than the obedient and perfect girl gone wrong.
Get Access. Good Essays. Role of Women in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Shakespeare portrays. While reading the play Hamlet, Hamlet appears to be a disillusioned man. Throughout the play, Shakespeare has only casted two females: Gertrude and Ophelia. On the other side, Ophelia is characterized to be ignorant, innocent and fearful.
This inequitable arrangement has regrettably caused men en masse to treat women, especially their wives, as their own personal property rather than people. The key aspect of this essay discusses how the discriminatory.
The Role of Ophelia in William Shakespeare's Hamlet Although Ophelia is not a main character in the revenge tragedy 'Hamlet' her dramatic purpose is vital to the play.
It emphasizes the poisoned body politic and its affects on the innocent. The role of women in the sixteenth century is to be obedient and dutiful, the only way to accomplish this was to be passive.
Women in the sixteenth century were meant to be obedient to their fathers, for they were their property until such a time came when she was married, it would then be her husband to whom her duties lied.
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