Sunday, January 21, 2018

How can I support the argument that Hamlet's scathing portrayal of Ophelia is an accurate judgment of her behavior?

The "get thee to a nunnery" speech could only be an accurate interpretation of Ophelia's behavior in a very unusual interpretation of the play. Hamlet claims that Ophelia, like all women, is sexually licentious and effectively a prostitute. He argues that she cannot be honest because she is too attractive, and if honesty and beauty have "discourse," beauty will turn honesty into a "bawd"—that is, a pimp. In order to contend that Ophelia is truly promiscuous, one would have to make some unusual performance choices, such as showing clearly that she has had sex not only with Hamlet but with other men as well. Perhaps Ophelia could "amble" or wear makeup without fundamentally altering her character, but to make her sexually promiscuous, as Hamlet claims, one would have to change a lot of things about the play.

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