¡Descarga Feminist Approach to Hamlet and Una Ofelia sin Hamlet: A Comparative Analysis - Prof. Tron y más Apuntes en PDF de Literatura inglesa solo en Docsity! Feminist approach, a connection between Hamlet and Una Ofelia sin Hamlet 1. Introduction This paper will focus on examine the similarities between Hamlet, a play written by William Shakespeare and Una Ofelia sin Hamlet written by Eduardo Quiles. The fact that the play, which I am researching, was entitled with one of the most famous characters of Hamlet, made me investigate what kind of relation could exist between them. The evidence from this study suggested that both Ophelias shared a similar feminist perspective. In this investigation, the aim is to assess the level of similarity between both feminists’ approaches and discuss the objective of Eduardo Quiles in his work. This essay has been organised in the following way. First I am going to do a brief summary of Una Ofelia sin Hamlet. Secondly I am going examine a feminist approach on Hamlet and I will compare it with Una Ofelia sin Hamlet. Finally I will try to figure out the purpose of the play. 2. Summary Ofelia is a woman married to a dentist, who she defines as “The possible Hamlet of XX Century”. She makes sure that his husband is unfaithful to her with her best friend. During the play she tries to find her ideal man, her Hamlet. However, at the end of the play Ofelia decides to phone her friend and discovers that she isn’t with her husband. 3. Hamlet feminist approach, Reading Ophelia’s madness According to Gabrielle Dane, the author of the feminist approach that I have based on, Ophelia’s madness is caused by her non-existent autonomy. Ophelia has been brought up by males and educated to fulfil her father and brother demands. She has no autonomy, she doesn’t believe in her autonomy or intelligence. She is completely absorbed by them. For Polonius her daughter makes his life more comfortable, he takes advantage of her loyalty and willingness. He also treats her as a child in order to manipulate her. As Gabrielle Dane shows in her essay, we can see an example of his father’s manipulation when he prohibits Ophelia to see Hamlet. Polonius only acts according to his own interest, because later he decides to use Ophelia in order to examine Hamlet’s madness together with Claudius. His main purpose is to marry her with the Prince. Polonius shown a clear lack of interest in her daughter feelings or needs, he is yearning for obtaining power with disregard of its cost. From that I get the conclusion that Ophelia has no identity, she is always waiting for someone who tells her what to do, due to the insistence of her father during her upbringing. 4. What similarities can be found between both plays? At first sight both stories don’t share any remarkable aspect, but after reading Gabrielle’s essay on Ophelia’s attitude I noticed some resemblance to Una Ofelia sin Hamlet. In Eduardo Quiles work, when the main character is seeking her ideal man she mentions the importance of finding her Hamlet. It seems that Ofelia hasn’t found his Hamlet so she has to choose her husband, a real man without Hamlet’s charm. It is here where I found the similarity with Shakespeare’s Ophelia, the election of a successful dentist might be a sacrifice that Ofelia must do. The word sacrifice entails an involuntary act or at least not the most desirable option. Ofelia madness or obsession in this case is due to her sacrifice, because of agreeing in the wishes of others she has to pay now the consequences. As the character says in the play, she has had to refuse her dream of finding her Hamlet by accepting a convenient and rich marriage as her mother suggests. “OFELIA: (…) De acuerdo, mamá, Hamlet es ficción, todo lo irreal que quieras… pero era mi mundo… Ofelia no quería dejar de ser Ofelia, pero perdí mi tren y me hicisteis abordar otro donde un ilustre odontólogo era el gran maquinista… Y me dividí en dos, sí, fue una boda a dos bandas, una novia en el altar y la otra buscando a Hamlet por las bambalinas de su mente… (Pausa.) Me quedé fuera de juego.” Here we can see how similar her mother’s attitude is to Polonius. 5. Objective of Eduardo Quiles
