A Puppet of Men An Analysis of Ophelia in Hamlet

韓瑞芳

【Abstract】Ophelia has been a puppet at the hands of her father， brother and lover. They impose on her contradictory demands to their self-serving purposes， which provide Ophelia dilemma and deny her choice. Deprived of intellect， language and thus identity， Ophelia is driven to madness， to which she resorts unconsciously to express her inner self.

【Key words】puppet； madness； suicide by drowning

Ophelia is probably the most frequently illustrated and cited of Shakespeares heroines. She is a character almost too exquisitely touching to be dwelt upon. Her love， her madness， and her death， are described with the truest touches of tenderness and pathos. Although Ophelia appears in only five of the twenty scenes in Hamlet， so that Lanham wonders if she is a stage contrivance or a character （Lanham 89）， Ophelia has attracted much attention from literature， popular culture and painting. Her immortality lies in her tragic short life， i.e. she has been a puppet at the hands of lover， father and brother. Only by death can she be herself to decide her own fate.

Within Hamlets imaginative universe， for a woman to be “honest” means that she be both chaste and loyal. Lacking autonomous desire， Hamlets honest woman would serve as an inert mirror， distorted just enough to reflect back his royal image slightly enlarged. Ironically， of course， Ophelia behaves not autonomously at all but obediently. Not a person to Hamlet， Ophelia represents merely a spectre of his psychic fears.

To Laertes， Ophelia figures as a chaste goddess whom he can place on a pedestal high above the French “drabs” whom his father assumes he is wont to frequent. While （he believes） he has her safely secreted from the clutches of （other） men， Laertes attempts to teach his sister to dread male advances. “Fear it， Ophelia， fear it， my dear sister” （1.3.33）， Laertes repeats again and again—“it” being Hamlets desire， lying in wait to plunder the “chaste treasure” （1.3.31）. With his “ministring angel” （5.1.234） ensconced in Elsinore （maidenhead safely intact）， denying herself upon his request even the natural physical craving for sleep so that she may write to him （1.3.3-4）. Until the last， Laertes sees Ophelia only as his Galatea， his “rose of May” （4.5.157）， an aesthetic object to whose specific personal torment he can remain blind.

Whereas Ophelia is angel to Laertes， she is asset to Polonius， a commodity to be disposed of. Relegating her to a perpetual childhood， Polonius educates his “green girl” （1.3.101） to be an obedient automaton willing to acquiesce to his every command. Warning her that should she act for herself she will “tender [him] a fool”. Utterly unconcerned with Ophelias needs， Polonius manipulates both her mind and her body to gratify his love of power.

Madness becomes Ophelias last resort， her unconscious revolt. To do so， she must explode outside of the categories designed to circumscribe her， must journey beyond the boundaries of sanity， to a place where she can first locate and then express her rage. Offering her an escape， madness provides her with the ability finally to speak her anger and desire. Madness releases Ophelia from the enforced repressions of obedience， chastity， patience， liberates her from the prescribed roles of daughter， sister， lover， subject. Since Ophelias “self” has been defined by the men who have demarcated her world， her flight into madness promises to enable her to discover her own identity.

Ophelias tragic madness， which her witnesses can classify， tame and so defuse， ultimately displaces action， neutralizing its subversive potential. Ophelia not only wants “real listeners， ” she requires them. Without anyone willing to listen to or able to hear her incoherent truth， her “Reason in madness， ” any active possibility which seemed to arise from her release into that madness evaporates—except， of course， that of suicide in the brook. Drowning.

Now， having circumvented the trap of reading Ophelias madness as effective feminist protest， I do not mean to be ambushed by the similar problematic of fetishizing Ophelias death. Rather， I intend to suggest an offstage scene in which Ophelia， having struggled through her own existential monologue， emerges to make her first autonomous choice. Reflecting on the rotten state that robs her of viable alternatives， Ophelia decides that in order authentically “to be” she must choose “not to be.” While the notion that suicide becomes the only possible route to autonomy for this woman is undeniably tragic， Ophelias choice might be seen as the only courageous—indeed rational—death in Shakespeares bloody drama.

References：

[1]Danson，Lawrence.“Tragic Alphabet”.Hamlet.Ed.Harold Bloom.New York：Chelsea House Publishers，1985.

[2]Lanham，A.Richard.“Superposed Plays”.Hamlet.Ed.Harold Bloom.New York：Chelsea House Publishers，1985.

[3]Gill，Roma，ed.Oxford School Shakespeare：Hamlet.北京：外語教學與研究出版社，1997.

[4]Nevo，Ruth.“Acts III and IV：Problems of Text and Staging”.Hamlet.Ed.Harold Bloom.New York：Chelsea House Publishers，1985.