By: Andrea Carlin and Tristin drake Ophelia and Gertrude By: Andrea Carlin and Tristin drake

Thesis In Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, the female characters Ophelia and Gertrude both have intimate connections with Hamlet; Ophelia as his love-interest and Gertrude as his mother. The two women are foils to each other since Ophelia is an innocent and obedient maiden who dies under the hands of a powerful man, whereas to Hamlet, Gertrude is seen as promiscuous and unfaithful to her late husband by remarrying Claudius, who is also a powerful man who happened to kill her.

Foils A foil is a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character. What we observe in literature very often is that a foil is a secondary character who contrasts with the major character to enhance the importance of the major character. Examples of foils in literature: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (self explanatory) Wuthering Heights (contrasting settings) Paradise Lost (God and Satan)

Ophelia as obedient Act 1 Scene 3, Pages 53-62 “I shall the effect of this good lesson keep as watchman to my heart. But good my brother, Do not as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles like a puffed and reckless libertine Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his own rede.” Act 2 Scene 1, Pages 91-94 “ My lord, as I was sewing in my chamber, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced, No hat upon his head, his stockings fouled, Ungartered and down-gyved to his ankle, Pale as is shirt, his knees knocking each other, And with a look so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors, he comes before me.” Act 3 Scene 1, Pages 140-144 “My honoured lord, you know right well you did, And with them words of so sweet breath composed as made the things more rich. Their perfume lost, Take these again; for to the noble mind rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. There, my lord.” Villar, Maria do Cebreiro Rabade. "The Ophelia Motif in the Work of Iberian Galician Writers." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 13.5 (2011). Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Oct

Ophelia as Innocent Act 1 Scene 3, Pages 53-62 “He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders of his affection to me.”… “I do not know, my lord, what I should think.”… “My lord, He hath importuned me with love in honourable fashion.” Act 2 Scene 1, Pages 91-94 “No, my good lord, but as you did command, I did repel his letters and denied his access to me.” Act 3 Scene 2, Pages 161-164 “Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap? Ophelia: No, my lord. Hamlet: I mean, my head upon your lap. Ophelia: Ay, my lord. Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters? Ophelia: I think nothing, my lord.”

Gertrude as Promiscuous Act 1 Scene 2, Pages 38-41 “if it be, Why seems it so particular with thee?” Act 3 Scene 2, Pages 162-169 “The instances that second marriage move are base respects of thrift, but none of love. A second time I kill my husband dead, When second husband kisses me in bed.” Act 4 Scene 1, Pages 206-209 “To draw apart the body he hath killed, O’er whom his very madness, like some ore among a mineral of metal base, Shows itself pure: he weeps for what is done.” Alan Article

Gertrude as Unfaithful to her Dead Husband Act 1 Scene 2, Pages 38-39 “Good Hamlet, cast thy knighted colour off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not for ever with thy valid lids seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know’st ‘tis common: all that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity.” Act 3 Scene 4, Pages 189-205 “Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.”… “Be thou assured, if words be made of breath, And breath of life, I have no life to breath what thou hast said to me.”

Death by powerful Men One of the important motifs in Hamlet that connects both Ophelia and Gertrude is that they both died due to the cause of Powerful men's’ actions, Hamlet killing Polonius causing Ophelia to drown herself and Claudius trying to purposely poison Hamlet and accidently killing Gertrude. Parker, Patricia. "Black Hamlet: battening on the moor." Shakespeare Studies 31 (2003): General OneFile. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Ophelia’s Death Act 5 Scene 7, Pages 254-256 “ Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia, And therefore I forbid my tears. But yet It is our trick; nature her custom holds, Let shame say what it will.” Chapman, Alison A. "Ophelia's 'old lauds': madness and hagiography in Hamlet." Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 20 (2007): General OneFile. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Gertrude’s Death Act 5 Scene 2 Page 304 “No, no, the drink, the drink! O my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink! I am poisoned.” Chapman, Alison A. "Ophelia's 'old lauds': madness and hagiography in Hamlet." Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 20 (2007): General OneFile. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Works Cited Villar, Maria do Cebreiro Rabade. "The Ophelia Motif in the Work of Iberian Galician Writers." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 13.5 (2011). Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. Gould, Alan. "14/8/03: attaching to the animal spirit." Quadrant June 2008: 103. General OneFile. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. Parker, Patricia. "Black Hamlet: battening on the moor." Shakespeare Studies 31 (2003): General OneFile. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. Chapman, Alison A. "Ophelia's 'old lauds': madness and hagiography in Hamlet." Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 20 (2007): General OneFile. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.