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The domination of women through patriarchal expectations is common throughout Shakespeare's works. An examination of Ophelia, Hero, and Desdemona portrays their victimization through male centered forms of power. These patriarchal power structures classify women as walking wombs who must remain virtuous until marriage. The pressure from these expectations leaves women weak and vulnerable. As long as they appear subservient to men, they are considered good. However, the more women try to represent modesty, chastity, and loyalty, the more they are victimized.
Male domination causes the women to remain childlike rather than attain maturity. Because of the passive ideals placed on women, they become unable to act and think for themselves and cannot fully understand intimacy. As Dusinberre believes, The struggle for women is to be human in a world which declares them only female. 1 Through Shakespeare's depiction, woman are confined and deprived into submissive obedience. Most people believe Hamlets Ophelia to be the most static and one-dimensional character. 2 She has been labeled as innocent, defenseless and helpless due to her dominating father and brother. Dreher states, She has been alternately pitied and condemned, 3 others have classified her, a helpless victim, 4 who must seek to hear her own voice, 5 and who obeys the commands of her brother and father. 6 Although these critiques are based on the text, a feminists glance shows that Ophelia is more than what superficial analysis allows her to be.
Traditional readings portrayed her as a simple, pretty girl of flowers whose mad scenes were artfully sung and danced. 7 These representations ignore the pain beneath Ophelias innocent shell. The tragic events of her life should be given more attention and consideration. Instead of attempting to understand her motive, readers create a repressive role for her, which parallels her experience with her father. For instance, Ophelia expresses her love for Hamlet only to have it suppressed by her father.
She states: My lord, he hath importuned me with love / In honorable fashion / And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, / With almost all the holy vows of heaven. (I. iii. 109 - 13) In return, Polonius commands: Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers, / I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth / Have you so slander any moment of leisure with the Lord Hamlet. / Look tot, I charge you. (I. iii. 126 - 34) Due to her fathers harsh words, Ophelia is torn between what she feels and what she is told to feel. She cannot decipher between the importance of her own desires and those of her fathers. Although she obeys her father, Ophelias ability to think and feel for herself is displayed through this exchange.
Ironically, obedience expresses her subordination to the expectations placed on women. She is trapped between youth and maturity, torn between dependence and independence. Her feelings of intimacy toward Hamlet are hindered because of her fathers power over her, who implies she must protect her chastity. By allowing her father to dominate her emotions, Ophelia [becomes] a spectator to her own life. 8 Because Ophelias acceptance of the ideal submissive woman, Ophelia places her fathers wishes before her own.
Polonius beliefs are not isolated but confirmed by his son, Laertes. Both advise Ophelia to protect her chastity in order to remain respectable. In doing so, Ophelias father and brother reaffirm the demand that young women be presented as chaste vessels by their fathers to future husbands, sacrificing personal identity to their function as child bearers. 9 Believing women are walking wombs, Polonius and Laertes advise Ophelia to save the only piece of dignity she has, her virginity. Once that is spoiled she will be nothing. Laertes states: Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain / If with too credent ear you list his songs, / Or loose your heart, or your chaste treasure open / To his unmastered importunity. (I.
iii. 28 - 31) This warning haunts Ophelia throughout her relationship with Hamlet. She is unable to fully think for herself due to the dominant nature of her brother and father. Soon after Laertes attempt to sway her, Ophelias father figuratively tries to push her onto the women should be submissive side. He warns, Tender yourself more dearly, / Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, / Running it thus) youll tender me a fool (I. iii. 106 - 8).
Through this statement, Polonius asserts Ophelias role as his daughter, his property. The problem then lies in Ophelias confusion due to her feelings for Hamlet. She believes his love is true, however her brother and father demand that it is false. While insisting upon the falseness of Hamlets words and the importance of chastity, Laertes corners himself into the position of a hypocrite. Because he does not practice the advice he preaches, Ophelia proclaims: Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, / Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; / Whiles, like a puffy and reckless libertine, / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, / And reck's not his own rede. (I. iii. 46 - 50) Ophelias denouncement of the double standards within her patriarchal world displays her perceptive and intellectual nature.
Although she is able to see through the veiled purity of her brother, Ophelia is unable to ignore his message, nor her fathers, completely. Polonius and Laertes depiction of courtship poisons Ophelias mind and leads her to believe that Hamlets words of love are a ploy to satisfy his own lustful desires. Her acceptance of both mens fear instilling tactics places her in a helpless position. Eventually, Ophelia truly believes her chastity to be her most important virtue.
The values and morals her brother and father force upon Ophelia are her first guided steps toward madness. Ophelias opinion of Hamlet disintegrates soon after Polonius and Laertes plant seeds of distrust in her once trusting garden. She thinks of Hamlet as a man who intends to seduce her, does not keep his promises, and who only plans to use her. Because of this misguided analysis, Ophelia plans to return the variety of Hamlets gifts at their chance encounter.
However, how can she plan for something that is meant to be coincidental From Hamlets perspective, Ophelias gift return is a rejection of his love and a denial of her own. Through this analysis, Hamlet and Ophelias dialogue is easily interpreted. Hamlet degrades her in saying, I did love you once. / You should not have believed me, for virtue / cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of / it. I loved you not (III. i. 115 - 19). Hamlet reassures Ophelias beliefs as to the nature of his love, both true and false.
The harshness of his address breaks her heart as any similar news would when coming from its true source. The encounter between Ophelia and Hamlet reveals the flaws in the patriarchal system where womens compliance to the directives of men overlooks the humanity of the women themselves. 10 Again, by following Polonius orders, Ophelia is placed in a controversial position of sacrificing her own beliefs to rely on her father and brothers analysis of her relationship with Hamlet. After Ophelias first experience with Hamlets lack of love, she spirals quickly toward madness. The combined effects of Polonius death and Laertes absence contribute to her dissent.
Due to Ophelias dependency on her father, brother, and Hamlet, she has no where to turn when they are removed and collapses into madness. As Horne beautifully describes, she was like a tender vine, growing first to the trellis of filial piety and then to that of romantic love. When these two are removed and she is left unsupported, she cannot stand alone, and falls. 11 On a similar note of innocence, Hero, from Much Ado About Nothing, is both praised and criticized. She possesses a passive vulnerability which is expressed through silence. Mainly she is referred to by her beauty, her tenderness, and the hard trial of her love. 12 Her silence can be classified as either intriguing or boring, yet her character is mainly found to be mild and quiet. So quiet, that she is easily overlooked.
However, Heros qualities should not be forgotten. They embody those of the perfect woman, chaste and obedient. As Dash states, Hero tends to accept the decisions of men. 13 Throughout the play, it seems as though her main responsibility is to represent modesty and restraint. While her father and uncle discuss her future, Hero says nothing. They converse: Antonio. Well, niece [to Hero], I trust you will be / ruled by your father.
Beatrice. Yes, faith; its my cousins duty to make / courtesy and say, Father, as it please you: - but / yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome / fellow, or else make another courtesy and say, / Bather, as it please me. Leonato: Well, niece, I hope to see you one day / fitted with a husband. Beatrice: Not till God make men of some other / metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman / to be overmastered with a piece of valiant / dust! To make an account of her life to a clod of / wayward marl No, uncle, Ill none; Adams / sons are brethren; and truly, I hold it a sin / to match in my kindred.
Leonato: Daughter, remember what I told you: / if the prince do solicit in that kind, you / know your answer. (II. i. 55 - 73) The juxtaposition of Beatrice and Heros presence in this scene accentuates the womens individual characters. Beatrice, who rejects the patriarchal ideals of women, and Hero, who embodies them. Instead of speaking up with her own dreams for the future, Hero listens quietly as things are decided for her. This portrays the quality of her upbringing, in that women should express only modesty and chastity in the presence of men. However, her obedience and purity can do little because the quality of her identity relies on the opinion of men.
When Hero is surrounded by women in Act III, she is nothing like the person she presented previously, in Act II. Without the male presence, Hero wittingly converses with other women about a plot to trick Beatrice. In doing so, Hero is animated and vibrant. She refers to sparkling eyes, fortunate beds, passion and other romantic symbols. This scene enables her true, playful nature to be seen. Apparently, she is not naturally shy or phlegmatic Before men she is silent and deferential, while with her cousin and other women she may relax and be more herself. 14 To a similar but lesser extent, Hero exchanges witty phrases with those helping her dress for the wedding.
These two shared experiences with women show Heros ability to bond with women and leave formality behind. Aside from affirming the quality of Heros reputation among women, it devalues her representation as a woman in society. Due to her silent nature among men, it appears Hero is attempting to attract a husband. If Heros quality can only be validated by men, then is...
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Research essay sample on Protect Her Chastity Relationship With Hamlet Women
