In my opinion, Ophelia, the ill-fated heroine of William Shakespeare's
Hamlet, is perhaps one of the most interesting character's he's ever created.
However, she's often incredibly and unfortunately undermined.
I don't like it.
I think that one should realize that this woman had all the qualities to be more lovable and less fancifully idiotic than Juliet (of
Romeo and Juliet, for the Shakespeare-illiterate).
I find myself hungry for more of her story. Apparently, Shakespeare gave me enough information to fall slightly in love with her, but not enough to keep me satisfied. Surely, he didn't give me a detailed idea of who she was as a person (and her relationship with Mad Hamlet, Prince of Denmark), or even a pretty little picture of where the hell she came from.
I understand that this wasn't the point of the story, in being that Hamlet was about...Hamlet... but--in theory, I think Ophelia had more umph than that lunatic!
But I, O yes, I shall attempt to fill in the places...suck on that, Willy.
First off, I don't think she was the fucking basketcase everyone made her out to be... I think she knew perfectly well what she was doing the entire time. I mean, here she is, this pretty young thang in the Court of Denmark, and she just totally conquered the affection of the Prince and Heir Apparent to the throne...
This Hamlet cat thinks he's the coolest dude around, because he's got this kingdom, and all of these issues. His emo disposition is somewhat appealing. Ophelia sympathizes, and reciprocates the feelings he offers her. She knows this is dangerous, being as he's somewhat unbalanced, but she's optimistic.
Then, after this massive fight to end all fights with psychotic Hamlet (in which he mutters the infamous "get thee to a nunnery!"), her father winds up six feet under...
Of
course she's going to fake a mental breakdown.
What free-thinking woman with any nerve wouldn't?
Can you imagine?
She was in love with an absolute sociopath!
Though I must confess, Hamlet is my ideal anti-hero.
I have a sort of twisted endearment for characters of his sort; you know-- the whiny, insane, glamorizers of suicide.
Mr. Prince of Denmark was no different.
He was like a leech feeding off of her truth and her innocence.
Yet, at the same time, she harnessed his passion and used it against him in the worse way--good girl.
So yes, anyway, she loses her mind.
The queen tries to comfort her, which isn't very helpful considering the queen is a twit who married Hamlet's uncle after the untimely (somewhat homocidal) death of her husband, the King.
Ophelia decides it would be a good idea to get everyone's attention by wading into the waters of a stream, while perfectly aware of the fact that she can't swim and her outfit (when soaked) is super heavy.
Thus, at the tender age of seventeenish...our heroine perishes.
Goddamnit, you, tears!
You know, I'm becoming really disgusted with the way that I am being taught to view nudity by conventional society...
