Ophelia’s Madness: Critical Sources 

==“Ophelia’s Depression”==

$Of the competing readings of Ophelia cited by Byles in her first paragraph, which do you find the most compelling?$

• The one I find the most compelling is the one where Ophelia's character was the @@“Maimed rite”@@ where instead of marriage we have a funeral.
• This makes the most sense because, in lots of plays, there is always the part where someone falls in love and gets married, @@but Ophelia's mad character near the end is the same instance of a marriage, but this instance happens to be a funeral instead@@.
• It is interesting to note the term funeral instead of marriage, more specifically related to Ophelia.
• The term “Maimed rite” was not familiar to me and previously I did not know what connotation it had, it is interesting to know that in the society of that time there were s@@pecific markings on the tombs to indicate suicide and that there was a specific ritual for this.@@

$How is Ophelia’s “sense of self...defined and controlled by the men in her life”? What kind of evidence does Byles use to support this claim?$

• Ophelia is controlled by the men around her throughout the plot, @@she does not seem to have a sense of life beyond functioning around her father, brother, or Hamlet.@@
• In the few scenes, she appears she is always withdrawn and @@without independence@@, responding to the men and their needs.
• She never seems to speak for herself and her desires, nor does she seem to have a strong and @@definite opinion about the conflicts going on around her.@@
• Besides speaking little and only responding to what others ask of her, she never seems to find a passion for herself, @@always waiting for male approval@@ and what they may order her to do.
• At this moment when she seems to find a voice for herself, it is inevitable to ask herself the reason for her delirium and to act, although she breaks the barriers to which she has been bound, the reason for this is the loss of a man to whom she was dependent.
• The death of Polonius and the breakup of Hamlet is the reason for her delirium, making it evident that ==her sense of herself will always depend on the men around her.==
• This is represented through Byles about Ophelia and Hamlet’s interactions in act 3, where he reiterates how she is @@anxious over masculine approbation@@ and her fear of rejection.
• The author uses the repetition of the phrase "I don't know how to think my lord" as the only answers she can give to her father or Hamlet for fear of making an affront and making them feel disappointed in her, she is i@@ncapable of creating a world for herself@@ because her insecurities depend on men.

$Explain why you agree or disagree that Ophelia’s final speech “gives her an impressive independence for the first and last time in the play.”$

• I agree that she is finally given independence for the first and last time in the play because in the speech, this is the first time she talks about herself and the feelings she has been going through, and although @@she is finally able to talk about her feelings in that regard@@, there is no more room for her in the play, meaning that she killed herself after the speeches.
• This statement is very true in the sense that this act was the only opportunity that Phelia had to express something of her emotional world that was not conditioned by the male presence.
• She finally does not hold back and expresses the worries and pains she has suffered, this is the first sign of independence that we see in the character.
• However, this is the last time this is seen because the next scene and act reveal that Ophelia has committed suicide, it is clear that this is the last time this s@@ense of independence is demonstrated since there is no physical presence of her in the plot.@@

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==“Ophelia’s Mad Speeches”==

$Do you think Ophelia finds herself or loses herself in her speeches? Explain.$

• Ophelia finds herself because she finally gets to talk about her feelings and @@not be controlled by the men in her life@@ like her father, Polonius, her brother Laertes, and even Hamlet.
• Before her mad speeches, mostly in Act 1 Scene 3 and Act 3 Scene 2, she has little to no words because @@she is being downgraded by her brother Laertes and who she thought was her lover, Hamlet.@@
• Now that she is going crazy and acting insane, @@she's expressing her true self@@ and feelings to everyone else, especially the Queen and King, they think she’s losing it because she has never acted like this before.
• Although these signs appear to indicate that she is losing herself, because she is losing her sanity, what is happening is that she is finally @@finding the courage to speak about her emotional process without being held back by anyone else.@@
• She no longer cares about male support, especially since I have recently lost two of the most dominant figures over her. She finds herself in part, but this does not last long because h@@er pain overcomes her and she is lost in another sense.@@

$Discuss Leverenz's observation that “Ophelia mirrors in her madness the tensions that Hamlet perceives.”$

• This statement refers to a feature of that era's society regarding gender roles and how they reacted to emotions.
• Throughout the plot, Hamlet pretends to be insane in response to the worries and pains that are overwhelming him; Hamlet indeed loses his father and his beloved, @@but he never develops a madness that leads him to be truly delusional.@@
• Ophelia, on the other hand, is suffering from the same thing; she has just lost her father and her beloved, and she, @@unlike Hamlet, reflects all of the pain and sorrow she is feeling as a result of these events.@@
• Both characters go through the same painful process, and it is almost ironic that they are both affected by the same emotional characteristics, but @@they act differently.@@
• Ophelia is carried away by her emotional sensitivity, and @@she almost reflects all of the pain that the character has internalized.@@
• Through this observation, Leverenz confirms that the emotionality and pain internalized by other characters are reflected in Ophelia's madness because @@she is the only one who allows herself to externalize the mourning that others hide in such an explicit way.@@

$Compare Fischer’s view of Ophelia’s madness with Byles’s treatment of it. Explain why you think they complement or contradict one another.$

• In their perspective of Ophelia and the madness she unleashed from the sexist and abrasive environment she was in, @@I believe both positions complemented each other.@@
• On one hand, Fischer's essay discusses the effects of Ophelia's madness on her being and how this caused her to lose herself.
• The author maintains a @@negative attitude toward Ophelia's modes of expression@@, stating that the madness she suffers has no significant effect on breaking down the barriers that bind her, but rather causes a @@deterioration in her being that desiccates in her suicide@@.
• In a broader context, in Byles' essay on a study into the cause of this state of madness; she discovers that @@Ophelia's conflict stems from the sexist society in which she was raised@@ by dominant male figures, which had a significant impact on her being.
• It is critical to understand that the @@character's actions and state are the results of the environment@@ in which she grew up and that this, of course, would have equally negative consequences, such as suicide and her loss.
• Byles' point of view investigates the causes of Ophelia's insanity, whereas Fischer's point of view supplements this line by examining the consequences of the character's actions.

==So, What?==

$How does Shakespeare critique Elizabethan gender roles through the character of Ophelia? Use evidence from both critical essays to support your answer.$

• Shakespeare uses the character of Ophelia to critique the gender roles that existed in Elizabethan times and to affirm the double standards that were conceived about the @@responsibility and emotional sensitivity of each gender.@@
• The character of Ophelia is introduced only a few times during the plot where she does not have many dialogues or important interventions until Act 4, where she finally has an impressive role.
• This aspect was not created by accident, Shakespeare makes use of her lack of character in her to represent how the @@female gender was subordinated to men at this time, women had no significant roles other than being a housewife@@, wives, mothers, or serving around a man.
• T@@hey were not allowed to create a world for themselves@@ where the male gender was not a part, and women depended on men to exist and are noticed in society; this is exemplified perfectly in Hamlet and Byles' criticism, Shakespeare created a character who is dependent on her brother, father and beloved to find a reason for being, always looking for their approval and @@never striving to break down the barriers that would allow her knowledge and independence.@@
• In the essay "Ophelia's Desperation" the author makes a reflection on this relationship of dependence, taking as an example the scene of act 3; in this scene, Ophelia is bent to an angry Hamlet where she only feels able to answer "I don't know what to think my lord".
• The character is the symbol of the woman of the time, @@dragged down by gender barriers and unable to think for herself for fear of rejection by her father or beloved@@, finally the archetype of Ophelia is found in Byles' statement that “… Ophelia’s destiny is the result of her position within her family circle, which is embedded in Elizabethan sexist society.
• The structure of Elizabethan family life, the objective conditions of women, and the role men played as fathers, brothers, and lovers, caused many women to @@live attached, dependent lives, with weak self-images”.@@
• On the other hand, the gender difference can be evidenced in the way Shakespeare represents the madness and expression of emotionality for Hamlet and Ophelia, making the distinction @@that women have always carried the stigma of being the most emotional and "crazy" in dealing with grief.@@
• Hamlet is portrayed throughout the plot as intelligent and calculating, and while he goes through a period of grief at the loss of his father and beloved, @@he never suffers actual madness@@ or is seen as a madman to be strapped into a straitjacket.
• The descriptions of him make him look very brave for containing his emotions like a gentleman and not letting them affect his judgment, and if this should happen, @@he externalizes it using anger and violence,@@ aspects attributed to the male gender and that in a certain way have been idealized.
• This does not happen with Ophelia, who despite suffering the same as Hamlet is never seen as someone strong and admirable; @@the author represents her as a madwoman wearing a straitjacket, who seems to have no sanity to articulate logical words@@ and that the pain took her to lose herself in the arms of suicide.
• Both descriptions are opposite, one where we see a woman being treated like a madwoman going through a painful grieving process and a man who, despite going through the same thing, does not react in the same way and is, therefore, all the more admirable.
• This is depicted in the quote of the essay “Ophelia's Mad Speeches” that affirms that “Through her impossible attempt to obey contradictory voices, Ophelia mirrors in her madness the tensions that Hamlet perceives…
• Her history is another instance of how @@someone can be driven mad by having her inner feelings misrepresented@@, not responded to, or acknowledged only through chastisement and repression”.
• This, together with Shakespeare's representations, are concepts that are extrapolated to @@the sexist society of the time@@, the woman is again the weaker and more dramatic one who needs to be restrained by a straitjacket as she is unable to regain her sanity and is somehow weak, while the man will be seen as the superior and admirable one who is not too weak to express his pains but resorts to aggression, which seems to be equally praised.

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