Hamlet (Vol. 44) | Martha C. Ronk (essay date 1994)
Martha C. Ronk (essay date 1994)
SOURCE: "Representations of Ophelia," in Criticism, Vol. XXXVI, No. 1, Winter, 1994, pp. 21-43.
[In the following essay, Ronk examines the way in which Ophelia is represented first as a projection of other characters, and then the way she is represented by Gertrude, when the queen describes Ophelia's drowning.]
Ophelia has perhaps been drawn or painted more frequently than any of Shakespeare's heroines; yet her history of representation not only postdates the play's production, but also is embedded in the play itself. Ophelia seems to move towards the abstract or emblematic throughout as she is represented as dutiful daughter, beloved beauty, mad woman, drowned innocent. Early in the play she is represented as the projection of others—her father and brother and Hamlet who set aside her statements about herself and revise her into obedience. Polonius further instructs her in representing herself as what...
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