“My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced, no hat upon his head, his stockings fouled, ungartered, and down-gyved to his ankle, pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, and with a look so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors--he comes before me.”
So Ophelia describes her beloved when he visits her in the night. It is a very terrifying account, to be sure, but there is something missing--anything beyond superficial appearances. This says a lot about Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship, mostly that it does not exist beyond face value. They love each other on appearances only, nothing more.
Ophelia goes into great detail on Hamlet’s appearance. She describes every detail of his clothing, how disheveled it all is, and how frightened she is by its appearance. She also describes his body; it is “pale as his shirt”, with “knees knocking each other” and “a look so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors”. This shows someone who is very familiar with Hamlet’s normal outward appearance, and someone who is uncomfortable with any deviation from it.
There is also no concern here. There is no fear of seeing the love of her life in a state of insanity, only fear for herself. There is no concern as to what could have driven him to this state, only concern for disobeying her father’s instructions. There is nothing that is present in a relationship built on mutual love, trust, and respect, proving that this is a very weak relationship. They were put together out of convenience and stayed together out of lust. When Hamlet shows signs of extreme mental illness, then, Ophelia only responds on the most selfish and superficial of levels.
This is a great perspective on Ophelia and Hamlet's relationship. I like the way you read into this passage and find evidence of the nature of their relationship. I wished you had used parts of the text to connect your conclusions with the text, but I really liked your perspective. I don't know if I would describe Ophelia's reaction as selfish, but you're right that she isn't necessarily focused on Hamlet's wellbeing.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post about Ophelia and Hamlet's relationship. I love that you bring up points on the past nature of their relations such as her knowing what Hamlet looked like before. I think, however, there's more room for analysis. I also really like how you talk about Ophelia not being concerned that Hamlet is looking ill. It's a point I did not think of. Good job!
ReplyDeleteYou did a fantastic job with in-depth analysis of Ophelia. Your perspective in this post is one that I wouldn't have thought of on my first reading of the text, but I can understand how one could draw these conclusions. I agree with Sam and Annalise in that this post could use some closer word analysis, but your analysis of the passage as a whole is very clear. Nice job!
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