The Cautionary Feminist Tragedy of Ophelia's Madness Puja Harikumar 12th Grade

Many scholars have adopted a feminist approach when examining Ophelia’s madness in “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare. A popular interpretation is that Shakespeare uses Ophelia’s insanity to empower her in . After spending the majority of the play trying to act how the men in her life want her to, Ophelia’s madness offers a way to express her own voice, with no more regard for how her behavior is perceived in her male dominated society. However, it is more likely that Ophelia goes insane from a combination of no longer being able to rely on her father to tell her what to think or how to act, and unrequited love for Hamlet.

Throughout the play, Polonius uses a combination of belittlement and gaslighting to manipulate Ophelia into doing what he wants. Both he treats her like a naive child who is not smart enough to make her own decisions. He also does not trust her judgement when she tries to advocate for it. This is evident in Act 1, Scene 3, line 110 when he responds to his daughter’s claim that Hamlet loves her with “...you speak like a green girl” This indicates that while he expects Ophelia to be a smart, and critical woman, he does not believe that she is capable of drawing her own judgements about the people around her....