On my mind since the flood

Sometimes, its important to get angry about things. Learning your uncle married your mother months after your father’s death? Yeah. Finding out said uncle actually murdered your father, the king? Sure. Taking five whole acts to work up to the courage to take revenge against your uncle? Yep. 

But you know what you should really feel angry about? This quote from critic Lee Dewards about Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “We can imagine Hamlet’s story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet.” If you don’t get it, I’ll tell you why you should feel angry. It is true—so incredibly true. This is not just true for Ophelia but so many other female characters in literature. Now, I don’t know enough about Shakespeare to know how consciously he created Ophelia’s character, or if he knew just how much feminist critique would apply to her. My guess, probably not too much. Can I entirely blame the man, given the time he was alive in? Yes I guess probably not. But, no matter Shakespeare’s intentions and motivations for creating Ophelia as he did, there is no denying how feminists have quite a lot to say about her. 

Ophelia is persistently abused, manipulated, and exploited by the men in her life. Her father ignores any of her genuine feelings of love for Hamlet and has her purposely scorn him, so that Polonius can figure out why Hamlet is acting mad. Her brother belittles her, telling her that even if she loves Hamlet, he most likely won’t marry her because she is more common that he is. Hamlet makes a public spectacle of his “madness,” often at the expense of Ophelia, as he does while the Mousetrap is being performed. Of course, the question arises if Ophelia was in on Hamlet’s act or not. If she wasn’t, Hamlet’s actions against her become that much more horrible. If she was, wasn’t there a different way to approach the situation? It doesn’t change the perception of their interactions to the other characters and audience, that Hamlet is abusing her. If Hamlet tells her to go to a nunnery to keep her safe and away from the castle, did he have to insult her so brutally?

Ophelia is literally stepped all over by the men in her life. Her brother and ex-lover actually fight over her IN HER GRAVE! The men are largely fighting over her to show who can grieve more, bigger, deeper. They might love her, but their feelings are overshadowed by their using her for their own purposes. 
 
She, like so many other women, is without agency and has no choice to but to do as she is commanded. The fault in this lies entirely with the men, not her. I want Ophelia to stand up for herself. I want her to be in on Hamlet’s schemes so she knows what he is saying are lies. But, I don’t think she is. I think Ophelia was a convenient character for Shakespeare to use—Polonius could spy on Hamlet through her, Hamlet could make his jokes and madness at her expense, and the audience could judge how real Hamlet’s madness was in comparison to her true madness. He made a good choice, didn’t he? Who better to take advantage of for the advancement of plot if not a woman that can’t talk back? 











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stop the clocks, the Songbird is gone into That Good Night

Image
For you, there’ll be no more crying For you, the sun will be shining  And I feel that when I’m with you It’s alright, I know it’s right To you, I’ll give the world To you, I’ll never be cold  ‘Cause I feel that when I’m with you It’s alright, I know it’s right And the songbirds are singing,  Like they know the score And I love you, I love you, I love you  Like never before               -Christine McVie, “Songbird” Today I found out that Christine McVie, a member of the band Fleetwood Mac, has died. I feel shocked by it. From what I can gather, this was unexpected and sudden. It is very weird for me because I love the band so much. I was lucky enough to see them live a few years ago, but now I can’t ever again, at least not in the same way.  Like what happens a lot when famous musicians die, I feel like I need to listen to all their music, especially the songs Christine McVie wrote. I already have, and I keep thinking about her one song off of the band’s album Rumours , “Songbird.” I h
Read more

Church Going

Image
Of all the poems we have read, Philip Larkin’s “Church Going” is among my favorites. The structure, conversational tone, and imagery all facilitate the questions the speaker poses about religion.  As we discussed in class, the poem has a formal construction with seven stanzas, nine lines each, all in iambic pentameter. This strict format is interesting because it reflects the traditional, stateliness of churches themselves; just as the stanzas are solemn, so too are churches a place of stiff dignity (at least that is how we feel about them, or are told to respect them as). The contrast of the speaker’s relaxed tone is therefore emphasized and made even more humorous. He kind of knows what objects in the church are significant but does not respect them: he just walks up to the lectern and quotes a Bible verse louder than necessary. This was startling to read—you don’t just walk up there so casually! Even the echos that “snigger briefly” (16) seem to agree that he is not meant up there.
Read more