Ophelia vs Helen

Hamlet is a play by William Shakespeare in which insanity plays a major role. Ophelia becomes demented because of her father’s death and her mistreatment by Hamlet. Ophelia’s insanity is conveyed through her childlike nature, lack of femininity, and her intensified value of flowers. Helen, a deranged kidnapper in the movie Hide and Seek, portrays many of the same characteristics as that of mad Ophelia.

In their demented states, both Ophelia and Helen convey a lack of femininity. Femininity is generally characterized as the possession of qualities such as weakness, gentleness and delicacy. Although femininely weak and gentle, Ophelia lacks the womanly virtue of delicacy. Because of her “bawdy songs and verbal license,” she is portrayed as a “sexually explicit madwoman” (Showalter 224). She illustrates her loss of delicacy in these “bawdy songs” (Showalter 224) in which she sings of bein

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