Hamlet’s Gentle Ophelia Essay -- The Tragedy of Hamlet Essays

Hamlets Gentle Ophelia William Shakespeare created a wanton little creature in the character of Ophelia in the tragedy Hamlet. Her contradictory misfortunes, as well as other circumstances, make her life an kindle whiz to explore in this essay. Ward and Trent in The Cambridge History of side and Ameri deal Literature maintain that Ophelia is interesting in herself, aside from her kin with the hero Of Ophelia, and Polonius, and the queen and all the rest, not to mention Hamlet himself (in whose intellect it would be absurd to attempt to discover new points here), after this we accept not say anything. But it is observable that they are not, as in the case of Coriolanus, interesting merely or mainly for their connection with the hero, simply in themselves. (vol.5, pt.1, ch.8, sec.16, no.55) Helena Faucit (Lady Martin) in On Some of Shakespeares Female Characters reveals the misconstrue character of Ophelia My views of Shakespeares women have been wont to take their shape in the life history portraiture of the stage, and not in words. I have, in imagination, lived their lives from the very get-go to the end and Ophelia, as I have pictured her to myself, is so foreign what I hear and read about her, and have seen represented on the stage, that I can scarcely hope to make any one think of her as I do. It hurts me to hear her spoken of, as she very much is, as a weak creature, wanting in truthfulness, in purpose, in force of character, and only interesting when she loses the little wits she had. And yet who can wonder that a character so delicately out rowd, and shaded in with touches so fine, should be often gravely misunderstood? (186) Ophelia enters the play with her ... ...s 6.1 (May, 2000) 2.1-24 <URL http//purl.oclc.org/emls/06-1/lehmhaml.htm>. Pennington, Michael. Ophelia craziness Her Only Safe Haven. Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of Hamlet A exploiters Guide. New York Limelight Editions, 1996. Pitt, Angela. Women in Shakespeares Tragedies. Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1996. reprint of Shakespeares Women. N.p. n.p., 1981. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos. Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York G.P. Putnams Sons, 190721 New York Bartleby.com, 2000 http//www.bartleby.com/215/0816.html