abused women in Shakespeare
Like Lavinia, Ophelia falls victim to the abuse of the men she trusts. Ophelia is the most innocent victim of Hamlet's revenge in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ophelia's trust and dependency upon the men in her life lead to her madness and ultimately to her death. "While suggesting complete mental derangement, Shakespeare advances the play by giving us a very clear indication of the reason for Ophelia's madness: her irreconcilable attachments to Polonius and Hamlet as persons and to chastity and sensual love as desirable goals" (Tracy 83). Unlike many of the complex characters in Hamlet, Ophelia is presented simply as a one dimensional, innocent girl. Her father, Polonius and brother, Laertes, have raised Ophelia, who like Lavinia is motherless, in a patriarchal society that teaches obedience to fathers and husbands. Is the obedient nature in which she has been raised to blame for her madness? It is hard to read Hamlet and not feel sorry for Ophelia, she has been victimized by the! men she loves and even in her madness keeps the simplicity and purity that characterizes her.Ophelia is very close to her family, her father, Polonius, and brother, Laertes, have taken great pains to shelter her. She is not involved with matters of state
Desdemona dies tragically at no fault of her own, her marriage had barely begun yet had ended before her death when Othello jealously let his imagination run wild. At one point she interrupts her song to distribute flowers to those around her. Even when Othello kills her, he cannot bear to destroy her beautiful skin, and so he suffocates her instead. Even though her love for Hamlet is strong, she obeys her father when he tells her not to see Hamlet again or accept any letters that Hamlet writes. Desdemona in her willingness to help Cassio, played right into Iago's hands. The overall character of Desdemona is of high stature, it is her very innocence that makes her a victim of circumstance. After Ophelia has been verbally assa!ulted by Hamlet in the course of Polonius' test, the King and Polonius debate Hamlet's mental state for seventeen lines before her father remembers to notice her. Is Desdemona a honorable character? Shakespeare is careful to give her a few minor flaws- her treatment of Brabantio, her stubborn persistence about Cassio, her lie about the handkerchief- to make her realistic. It is not words that shakes me thus. She then falls in love, probably for the first time, with a man several years older than herself, from a faraway land, and of a different race. Her heart is pure, and when she does do something dishonest, such as tell Hamlet that her father has gone home when he is really behind the curtain; it is out of genuine fear. Desdemona is portrayed as a lovely, courageous, gentle woman, deeply in love with her husband.
Common topics in this essay:
King Polonius,
Ophelia Desdemona,
Confess Handkerchief,
Polonius Laertes,
King Queen,
Polonius Hamlet,
Ophelia Polonius,
Ophelia Lavinia,
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Hamlet Ophelia's,
othello iago,
polonius laertes,
lavinia ophelia,
lavinia ophelia desdemona,
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ophelia desdemona,
father desdemona,
polonius hamlet,
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ophelia victimized,
hamlet gone mad,
father polonius laertes,
polonius takes,
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