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Old 12-18-2008, 05:08 PM   #5
gothicusmaximus
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 2,687
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oph
Ophelia was a plot device. That's all. She wasn't even a real character. That's not because the play is sexist, it's because a plot device was needed, and Ophelia fit.
That's fucking preposterous. William Shakespeare does not put superfluous characters in his plays.

Quote:
Originally Posted by korinna5555
I'm addressing the virgin/whore dichotomy, as well as a general feminist critique. I'm focusing more on Ophelia, because she's more fun
If anyone could help me with more, that's be great.



So far I have these topics to go over in my essay:

Gertrude: betraying whore, not a good mother, greedy, power hungry, lustful, scapegoat

Ophelia: seeming virgin, weak-minded, obeys her father without question, objectified by all, treated with less dignity than Laertes (be true to thine self), female insanity, “I think nothing, my Lord”, Ophelia as the feminine (weak) side of Hamlet who must die, Hamlet’s past explored but not Ophelia’s, “flower-speak” and lack of direct confrontation, pregnany (?),
Ophelia is not pregnant, she is a virgin. Shakespeare's plays take place in a Christian moral universe-- on the whole, characters are either married or virgins. Furthermore, she doesn't obey her father without question. She is torn between love and duty, if she weren't she wouldn't have gone insane.

There's nothing to suggest that Gertrude wasn't a good mother. Someone had to raise Hamlet while his father was off killing poles and such.

You should probably talk about how Laertes wants to fuck Ophelia, and Hamlet wants to fuck both Gertrude and Ophelia.
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