Shakespeare's Leading Ladies – Ophelia & Juliet
The Role of Tragic Female Characters in Hamlet and MacBeth
William Shakespeare’s tragedies are populated with a myriad of male characters such as Romeo, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth to name a few. This is not to say that the female characters do not play important roles in Shakespearean tragedy, only that they are greatly outnumbered by the males and that from ten Shakespearean tragedies only two contain the names of a female character while all ten contain the name of the male lead.
The Titles of Shakespeare's Tragic Plays
A prime example of this difference are the titles of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The absence of Ophelia’s name from the title of the play she appears in is sharply contrasted by Juliet’s inclusion in the title of Romeo and Juliet. While an initial cursory reading of both tragedies would leave most readers believing that Juliet and Ophelia are quite different characters, perhaps even opposites, upon closer inspection and interpretation it can be concluded that the two doomed ladies are, in actuality, quite similar.
Juliet's Role in Romeo and Juliet
Juliet appears in a play of action, a play full of decisive active, including oftentimes violent characters. Ophelia appears in a play of inaction, a play full of thoughtful introspective characters. Romeo and Juliet is full of action. Romeo’s first action of the play is crashing the Capulet ball and things proceed from there with characters such as Mercutio and Tybalt who appear to be acting before they think or speak, although because the tragedy is a drama the characters must not only act before they speak, but while they speak, and after they speak as well.
Ophelia's Role in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Hamlet is full of introspective, indecisive characters like Prince Hamlet himself. Claudius, who despite the implied action of his murder of Hamlet senior prior to the beginning of the play, is found first at prayer and then exchanging words with Hamlet and the various other characters. Queen Gertrude’s solitary action of the tragic play is confined to when she willfully drinks the poison nearing the end of the play. Her other appearances in the play are merely speech, not action. Ophelia’s action is her drowning, her suicide.
The Role of Female Characters in Tragedies
Much like Ophelia, Juliet commits suicide at the end of her tragedy. Romeo and Juliet can fairly be called “her tragedy” because she alone makes up half the title. It would then be unfair to call Hamlet Ophelia’s tragedy because while Ophelia is important to the story she is not the intended focus of it. Hamlet is clearly the focus and tragic hero yet some critics have argued that Ophelia’s acts just foreshadow Hamlet’s own later action.
Even though one play can be called Juliet’s tragedy and the other cannot rightfully be called Ophelia’s tragedy both ladies are key players in their own way. Ophelia and Juliet are necessary to their respective stories.
How would Hamlet function if there were no Ophelia? What would Romeo do and what would became of the infamous feuding families if it were not for Juliet?
These questions are unanswerable because the characters of Ophelia and Juliet have been carefully placed into the world of the plays by Shakespeare, the playwright. Within the dramatic tragedies both Ophelia and Juliet are necessary players and their deaths at the end of the plays are crucial to how the tragedies function.
Sources
Buhler, Stephen M. “Reviving Juliet, Repackaging Romeo: Transformation of Character In Pop & Post-Pop Music.” Shakespeare After Mass Media. Ed. Richard Burt. New York: Palgrave, 2002. 295-330.
Gajowski, Evelyn. The Art of Loving: Female Subjectivity and Male Discursive Traditions in Shakespeare’s Tragedies. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1992.
Levin, Richard. “Feminist Thematics and Shakespearean Tragedy.” PMLA 103 (1988):125-38.
Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.” The Riverside Shakespeare. Eds. G. Blakemore Evans and J.J.M. Tobin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. 1189-1234.
Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.” The Riverside Shakespeare. Eds. G. Blakemore Evans and J.J.M. Tobin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. 1104-39.
Showalter, Elaine. “Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism.” Criticism: Major Statements. Eds. Charles Kaplan and William Davis Anderson. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 2000. 615-29.
Wofford, Susance L., editor. William Shakespeare Hamlet: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Boston: Bedford Books of St Martin’s Press, 1994.
Shakespeare's Female Characters in His Tragedies
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