Hamlet: Branaghs Ophelia and Showalters Representing Ophelia Essay

Hamlet Branaghs Ophelia and Showalters Representing Ophelia Ophelia falls to the floor, her screams contrasting eerily with the song pieces she uses as her speech. In an instant she is writhing and thrusting her pelvis in such(prenominal) a gross sexual manner that it becomes clear that, in his film translation of William Shakespeares Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh wants to imply a strong relationship between female person dementia and female sexual urge. Such a relationship is exactly what Elaine Showalter discusses in her act -- Representing Ophelia Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism -- I will be showing get-go of all the representational sequesters between female insanity and female sexuality (Showalter 223). Tracing various representations of Ophelia throughout account statement, Showalter attempts to tell Ophelias story by examining the expressive style in which the culture of a society, their views of women, and psychiatric theory relates to the r epresentation of Ophelia at that time. With the amount of attention Branagh affords the role of Ophelia in his film, and because Branaghs Ophelia represents many of Showalters ideas about Ophelias drowning death, the bond between sexuality and insanity, and the conventions of muliebrity, Branaghs Ophelia can supplement Showalters essay -- her trace of the history of representation of Ophelia -- serving as a Post-modern example of the representation of Ophelia. In his representation of Ophelia, the relationship that Branagh attempts to establish between female insanity and female sexuality is a strong and obvious one. Through costume, cinematography, blocking, and various opposite aspects, Branagh makes clear his interpretation that Ophelias insanity is t... ...helia. Not only does Branagh use the conventions of femininity that Showalter describes but he also relies heavily upon ideas similar to Showalters, that everything about Ophelia is symbolic, to acquire his Ophelia as representative of femininity and to express the inverse correlation that such femininity has with Ophelias sexuality and her insanity. Works Cited Hamlet. Dir. Kenneth Branagh. Perf. Julie Christie, Billy Crystal, Kate Winslett. Castle Rock Entertainment, 1996. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Susanne L. Wofford. fact Studies in present-day(a) Criticism. Boston St. Martins, 1994. Showalter, Elaine. Representing Ophelia Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism. William Shakespeare Hamlet. Ed. Susanne L. Wofford. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Boston St. Martins, 1994. 220-238.