Ophelia: When Suicide Makes Sense As long as people have existed there have been stereotypes and generalizations about the weakness and malleability of women, especially young ones. This extends from casual banter amongst friends to music, art, and literature. Reader-response criticisms are a way for academic people to share their opinions of a piece of work through the lense in which they saw it. It is a popular way to share ideas and comment on the styles and deeper meanings of plays, poetry, and other literature. Many reader-response critics of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet have commented on the portrayal of Ophelia as weak and frivolous, however her contentions run in a much deeper vein than these shallow assertions have claimed. People
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Many teenagers and young adults ache for their parents’ respect and validation. Ophelia is confused about what she herself wants, so she channels all her energy into what other people say they want for her. In the case of Hamlet, he claims to love her, so she spends time with him and reciprocates his supposed love. But when her father tells her to end those relations, she barely puts up a fight and immediately says that she will do as he wishes. People in the castle had been starting to murmur about Hamlet being crazy, and Polonius wanted to see if his supposed love for Ophelia was the root of this insanity. He instructs Ophelia to return the letters Hamlet wrote her and tell him that they were not going to spend time together anymore. Ophelia comes across and tries to enact her script, written by her father and Claudius, trying to hide her love for Hamlet. Hamlet is also trying to act rather than display his emotions. He is torn between love and hatred. At one point he almost kisses her as he whispers in her ear, "I did love you once" (3.2.115). Every gesture of the pair in this scene--Ophelia's conscious submissiveness and Hamlet's calculated violence--underlines the renunciation of tenderness. They both seem to be aware of the powers that give them a higher mission and they both sacrifice their private worlds to the politics of the
Many teenagers and young adults ache for their parents’ respect and validation. Ophelia is confused about what she herself wants, so she channels all her energy into what other people say they want for her. In the case of Hamlet, he claims to love her, so she spends time with him and reciprocates his supposed love. But when her father tells her to end those relations, she barely puts up a fight and immediately says that she will do as he wishes. People in the castle had been starting to murmur about Hamlet being crazy, and Polonius wanted to see if his supposed love for Ophelia was the root of this insanity. He instructs Ophelia to return the letters Hamlet wrote her and tell him that they were not going to spend time together anymore. Ophelia comes across and tries to enact her script, written by her father and Claudius, trying to hide her love for Hamlet. Hamlet is also trying to act rather than display his emotions. He is torn between love and hatred. At one point he almost kisses her as he whispers in her ear, "I did love you once" (3.2.115). Every gesture of the pair in this scene--Ophelia's conscious submissiveness and Hamlet's calculated violence--underlines the renunciation of tenderness. They both seem to be aware of the powers that give them a higher mission and they both sacrifice their private worlds to the politics of the