The Tragedy of Gertrude and Ophelia, Women of Denmark As Imagined by an Englishman
"Hamlet" is often thought of as a drama primarily about one man'srelationship with a dead father and a living and murderous stepfather.According to the Bedford Introduction to Literature, one of the criticalcomponents of any story, drama or novel, is that of "Plot," forming one ofthe dominant subject headings of this basic guide. The plot of "Hamlet"could be summarized with only two cursory mentions to its main femalecharacters. It might go something along the lines of 'Gertrude marriesClaudius. Laertes vows revenge upon Hamlet because of the madness of hissister.' However, two of the most memorable characters in Hamlet remainthat of Gertrude and Ophelia, Hamlet's mother, and Hamlet's 'sweetheart,''girlfriend,' or 'fiancee,' depending on what character you talk to at whatjuncture of the play. They are memorable despite their peripheral natureto the bare-bones narrative of "Hamlet" and their relatively flat characterstructure. Ophelia's mad scene, where she distributes flowers to numerousmembers of the court with instructions about what they mean is one of themost iconic images of the play, equally as important in its own right, asHamlet sitting in the graveyard, holding Yorik's skull.
Theenclosure laws, as they affected land distributement are seen as a metaphorfor the ways that individual women's sexuality was enclosed through theirexclusion from rights of inheritance and primogeniture. Polonius' status as a spy will prove his undoing. Heaven and earth! Must I remember' Why, she would hang on him, 145 As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on: and yet, within a month- Let me not think on't--Frailty, thy name is woman! -(1. This is reflective of the overview presented bywomen in the text entitled Enclosure Acts: Sexuality, Property and Culturein Early Modern England, which contains essays upholding the thesis thatwomen primarily expressed their political power through the property theywere able to own and accrue through the male line of inheritance. Later, members of the court use Opheliaas a kind of decoy, first to disclose Hamlet's madness, then by Claudiusafter she is dead to spur her brother on into a duel that will result inthe death of Laertes, Hamlet, and the entire royal family of Denmark. This isindicative not only of the world of Denmark, or of the world of Hamlet as adrama, but of English society as a whole. They do so, however, through the body, asthis is how they are recognized as individuals in the context of the court. Gertrude marries Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, for reasons thatseem unclear, other than to spite Hamlet, and, according to her son, out ofpure lust. Ophelia bedecks herself in flowers and uses the flowers to communicate,through the riddles of her broken mind, to say what she could not say whilesane. Claudius speaks for Gertrude in court, whileHamlet speaks for her motivations to the audience and to herself during the'Closet scene' between mother and son. As lovely as this phrase sounds, ultimately its meaning impliesthat Ophelia's physical being is more important an expressive device thanany sane words she could assemble.
Common topics in this essay:
Hamlet Ophelia,
Ophelia Hamlet's,
Ophelia Hamlet,
Claudius Hamlet,
Laertes Hamlet,
Gertrude Hamlet's,
Ophelia Gertrude,
Modern England,
Shakespearecom Gertrude,
Polonius Ophelia,
gertrude ophelia,
hamlet's mind,
gertrude ophelia hamlet's,
female characters,
marries claudius,
ophelia hamlet's,
court ophelia,
hamlet's madness,
earlier play,
51 shakespearecom,
course narrative,
|
Acceptance Essays
