Sachin Shrestha
Dr. Pitchford
ENGL 4037-64159
April 25, 2018
Love: A Poison for Women in Shakespeare This paper discusses love during the Shakespeare era, how it was different for the two genders, and how it proved to be fatal for the female characters in Hamlet and Othello.
In the current western world, “love has become synonymous with marriage” (Grossi, 30), but for a long time in human history, love was a “highly radical idea” (29). It was not something that happened every day in real life during the late middle ages or the early modern period, the time period Hamlet and Othello are set in respectively. It was even a rarity during the time of Shakespeare. Traditional society placed high value on the social boundaries, and love often …show more content…
When one thinks of love, one tends to associate love with liberty or freedom, however it has been fiercely debated by some feminists.
Both Ophelia and Desdemona were from a well-respected family. This meant that both were eligible to get good marriage proposals. But they both chose love
Desdemona married Othello without her fathers …show more content…
The same cannot be said for Hamlet and Othello, despite both claiming to sacrifice themselves for their love. Othello did actually kill himself after murdering Desdemona. But considering how he murdered her without giving her a chance to explain herself, and he committed suicide after discovering the truth about her virtues, one can doubt whether it was a death because of his regret or his love.
On the other hand, Hamlet is more hypocritical as when he sees Laertes jumping in Ophelia’s grave, he claims, “I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers / Could not, with all their quantity of love, / Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her? . . . Dost thou come here to whine? / To outface me with leaping in her grave? / Be buried quick with her, and so will I” (5.1, 259–64). It was only after her death that Hamlet is finally professing his love for Ophelia, while undermining Laertes’s love for his sister in the process. Despite his bold claim, Ophelia’s death seemed to have little impact on Hamlet as on the very next act, he seems to have moved on and is concerned, like he was throughout the play, primarily with his revenge of his father’s death. “Hamlet is so changed in his melancholia that losing Ophelia becomes of minor importance to him” (Wagner 95). Seeking redemption for his father was the only force that drove
Dr. Pitchford
ENGL 4037-64159
April 25, 2018
Love: A Poison for Women in Shakespeare This paper discusses love during the Shakespeare era, how it was different for the two genders, and how it proved to be fatal for the female characters in Hamlet and Othello.
In the current western world, “love has become synonymous with marriage” (Grossi, 30), but for a long time in human history, love was a “highly radical idea” (29). It was not something that happened every day in real life during the late middle ages or the early modern period, the time period Hamlet and Othello are set in respectively. It was even a rarity during the time of Shakespeare. Traditional society placed high value on the social boundaries, and love often …show more content…
When one thinks of love, one tends to associate love with liberty or freedom, however it has been fiercely debated by some feminists.
Both Ophelia and Desdemona were from a well-respected family. This meant that both were eligible to get good marriage proposals. But they both chose love
Desdemona married Othello without her fathers …show more content…
The same cannot be said for Hamlet and Othello, despite both claiming to sacrifice themselves for their love. Othello did actually kill himself after murdering Desdemona. But considering how he murdered her without giving her a chance to explain herself, and he committed suicide after discovering the truth about her virtues, one can doubt whether it was a death because of his regret or his love.
On the other hand, Hamlet is more hypocritical as when he sees Laertes jumping in Ophelia’s grave, he claims, “I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers / Could not, with all their quantity of love, / Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her? . . . Dost thou come here to whine? / To outface me with leaping in her grave? / Be buried quick with her, and so will I” (5.1, 259–64). It was only after her death that Hamlet is finally professing his love for Ophelia, while undermining Laertes’s love for his sister in the process. Despite his bold claim, Ophelia’s death seemed to have little impact on Hamlet as on the very next act, he seems to have moved on and is concerned, like he was throughout the play, primarily with his revenge of his father’s death. “Hamlet is so changed in his melancholia that losing Ophelia becomes of minor importance to him” (Wagner 95). Seeking redemption for his father was the only force that drove