abused women in Shakespeare

A detailed Summary of abused women in Shakespeare

Like Lavinia, Ophelia falls victim to the abuse of the men she trusts. Ophelia is the most innocent victim of Hamlet's revenge in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ophelia's trust and dependency upon the men in her life lead to her madness and ultimately to her death. "While suggesting complete mental derangement, Shakespeare advances the play by giving us a very clear indication of the reason for Ophelia's madness: her irreconcilable attachments to Polonius and Hamlet as persons and to chastity and sensual love as desirable goals" (Tracy 83). Unlike many of the complex characters in Hamlet, Ophelia is presented simply as a one dimensional, innocent girl. Her father, Polonius and brother, Laertes, have raised Ophelia, who like Lavinia is motherless, in a patriarchal society that teaches obedience to fathers and husbands. Is the obedient nature in which she has been raised to blame for her madness? It is hard to read Hamlet and not feel sorry for Ophelia, she has been victimized by the!

men she loves and even in her madness keeps the simplicity and purity that characterizes her.

Ophelia is very close to her family, her father, Polonius, and brother, Laertes, have taken great pains to shelter her. She is not involved with matters of state

Iago: With her on her what you will.

her looking completely disheveled. Polonius is upset when he hears this, and he concludes that her refusal to see Hamlet anymore has driven the young prince mad. Polonius takes Ophelia to go see the King and Queen and tell them what has happened. The King is not completely convinced that love is the full cause of Hamlet's insanity. He and Polonius decide to put Ophelia into the hall where Hamlet is known to spend hours pacing each day. They plan to hide behind a tapestry and watch what happens. The character of Polonius emerges in this scene not as a fatherly figure giving advice, but as a "self absorbed busybody who regards his daughter as a tool..." (Camden 249). After forbidding Ophelia to see him, Polonius then eagerly delivers his dutiful daughter up to Hamlet, in his publicly acknowledged "turbulent and dangerous lunacy" (3.1.4), in order to prove his loyalty to Claudius, and perhaps to elevate his social status via a royal union. After Ophelia has been verbally assa!

Iago: Faith, that he did... I know not what he did.

It is not until the couple arrives at Cyprus that their marriage begins to go awry. Once there, Iago begins his plot that eventually will destroy innocent Desdemona. Desdemona in her willingness to help Cassio, played right into Iago's hands. He could not have asked for a more obedient or helpful character. Unfortunately this generosity was used against her and Othello became very jealous of Cassio and Desdemona. Othello's jealously pushed him over the edge until he was obsessed with the notion of her infidelity. Some may argue that Othello was just as much an innocent victim as Desdemona was but I feel that he is more to blame than Iago. Othello believed Iago almost immediately even though Iago's reasons for suspecting Desdemona and Cassio were skeptical. Iago but merely places the idea in Othello's head and Othello in turn expands it. In act 4, scene 1 Othello asks Iago to repeat the confession he has heard from Cassio:

It is in this scene, popularly called the "nunnery scene," that we see Ophelia victimized by another man that she has loved and trusted, Hamlet. It is not clear wether Hamlet is treating Ophelia so poorly because he knows there are spies or, if he is taking out his anger towards his mother. Whatever the reason, Hamlet's cruel words lead Ophelia to believe that it is her fault that Hamlet has gone mad. Conflicting messages, mostly negative, whirl around in Ophelia's mind, each demanding primacy. From Hamlet, within the space of several minutes, comes a dizzying array of mixed communications. "I did love

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Approximate Word count = 1763
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English