When she goes mad, she sings a bawdy song about a maiden who is tricked into losing her virginity with a false promise of marriage (4.5.63-71)-part of the reason why many literary critics see Ophelia's madness as a result of patriarchal pressure and abuse. Whether they've had sex or not, that's a lot of pressure to put on a young woman. Would it make a difference if they'd actually had sex? Ophelia and Madness And there's something pretty suggestive about the fact that she's literally being deflowered-giving flowers away. Some of the flowers Ophelia gives away during her mad scene (like rue and wormwood) were used for centuries in abortion potions. ![]() What's so tragic about Ophelia (in our humble opinion) is that she hasn't done anything wrong, and she gets destroyed by the patriarchal court culture anyway.īut the possibility's there. Which brings us to one important question: did Hamlet and Ophelia actually have sex? We don't know for sure. Laertes takes a typically Elizabethan stance toward female sexuality -a "deflowered" woman was damaged goods that no man would want to marry. This graphic allusion to the anatomy of female genitalia turns his sister into an erotic object while still insisting on Ophelia's chastity. Is Laertes just looking out for his little sister's best interests? Maybe, but his speech is also full of vivid innuendo, as when he compares intercourse to a "canker" worm invading and injuring a delicate flower before its buds, or "buttons" have had time to open (1.3.43 44). Just what you want to hear from your brother, right? In fact, he tells Ophelia three times that she should "fear" intimacy with Hamlet. In Act I, Laertes dispenses advice to Ophelia on the pitfalls of pre-marital sex (for women, not men) in a lengthy speech that's geared toward instilling a sense of "fear" into his sister. Even her brother has something to say about it. Hamlet's not the only one who defines Ophelia by her sexuality. In fact, her reputation depends on pretending that she never cared about his at all. Out of time and harsh (3.1.169-171 172).īut what's her recourse? She can't vent about it on Facebook she can't even go find herself a nice rebound hookup. Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, Ophelia seems pretty crushed by all this:Īnd I, of ladies most deject and wretched, He says that if Ophelia were to marry, she'd turn her husband into a "monster," or a cuckold (cuckolds were thought to have horns like monsters) because she would inevitably cheat on him (3.1.151) and then he follows up these sweet nothings with a little "I loved you not" (3.1.129). But she can't call him out on his language, because, as a good girl, she can't admit that she knows what it means. ![]() Hamlet seems to know that Ophelia is helping her dad spy on him, and he accuses her (and all women) of being a "breeder of sinners" and orders Ophelia to a "nunnery" (3.1.131 132), i.e. The problem with being completely obedient and passive is that you can't fight back when you really need to. We'd say she could have used the services of, except that her dad is basically president and CEO of a matchmaking service for one: her marriage is totally in his control.Īnd eventually, Ophelia snaps-just like a lot of people who spend their lives obeying other people without any sense of personal agency. (Of course, if she were to marry, she'd then have to live by her husband's rules.) Essentially, Ophelia has no control over her body, her relationships, or her choices. ![]() As long as she's unmarried, she lives by her father's rules. Later, when Polonius uses her as bait to spy on Hamlet for King Claudius, she does exactly what she's told (3.1). ![]() When her father orders her to quit seeing Hamlet, she agrees -"I shall obey my Lord" (1.3.145). Your parents only wish they had a daughter like Ophelia. (Click the character infographic to download.) Good Girl Gone Bad
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