Ophelia: In Living Color
             Women throughout history have constantly been analyzed more than men. Their every move can be used to stereotype a sub-culture of people. This is especially true for women in literature. It is here that a woman becomes more than a solitary being. No longer distinguishable from other women she becomes a symbol of the motivations and desires behind the female mind. It is interesting then to take a gander at William Shakespeare's timeless plays. While it is clear that Shakespeare alluded to the influential qualities of the female persuasion, the attributes that he instilled in his irrational heroines are less than flattering. In Hamlet, Shakespeare creates a seemingly insignificant female whose only worth and literary merit stem from her questionable relationship with Hamlet. Ophelia is purposely portrayed ambiguously to allow the reader to focus their attention on the Price of Denmark's motivations. Despite Ophelia's apparent lack of stage time, her dubious relationship!
             with Hamlet, and her symbolic portrayal of female insanity, Ophelia remains a prominent woman in literature.
             One thing is certain Shakespeare did not intend for the play to be centered around a love affair. Thus Ophelia and Hamlet could not share the same undying devotion that comes to be expected from the victims of Shakespeare's ideals of love. Hamlet is selfish in his love towards Ophelia. He "uses Ophelia, speaks to himself through Ophelia, as if she were a mere object, a prop for his thoughts; a target for his sarcasms, irony, and resentment." (Holland 69) However the reader must keep in mind, that we are witnessing this relationship at the brink of a canyon. That is to say in any tragedy the reader starts off at the beginning of the end. The events that begin the play are the very ones that will cause the destruction that is sure to unfold. Thus what we see in love between Hamlet and Opheli...