Although Ophelia's flaws are not quite as obvious as those of Claudius, Gertrude, Hamlet, and other, larger characters in Hamlet, but that doesn't change the significance of her inevitable weakness. As a young woman, Ophelia has little power over her own choices and succumbs very easily to the advice of her brother, Laertes, but more importantly, to the advice - or command, rather - of her father, Polonius. In the play, Polonius explains to Ophelia while discussing Hamlet, "and with a larger tedder may he walk than may be given you," (1.3.125-126) He is quite literally telling Ophelia that she does not have as much freedom in folly or otherwise as Hamlet does - this is reminiscent of Polonius' "locking up" Ophelia and binding her to his word as her father . This notion of Ophelia's dependence upon her father is seen in many areas, but most notably regarding her interactions with Hamlet;after Polonius commands Ophelia to keep a romantic distance between herself and Hamlet, she reports to him, "No, my good lord. But as you did command I did repel his fetters and denied His access to me." (2.1.108-110) Ophelia respects her fathers word, but her flaw in this weakness is that she has grown so accustomed to his dictating her life that she does not understand how to manage her own life without him. In essence, everything she does is a call to his attention both before and after his death - the nature of this "attention," however, changes. The "Ophelia Instagram Post" above reflects these notions; both the image and her response to Laertes' reassuring comment are very "needy" - they call for attention and for support. Of course, Polonius had to make an appearance on the Gram, where he establishes his control over her and commands her to leave behind her worries and self-doubt.
No comments:
Post a Comment