First, a foil, in literary terms, is "a character in a work whose behavior and values contrast with those of another character in order to highlight the distinctive temperament of that character (usually the protagonist)." Ophelia is one of Hamlet's foils in her complete innocence of his plan to feign madness. Hamlet appears all the more mad when Ophelia is being used as a sounding board for his plan to be believed. Hamlet goes to great lengths to "highlight his distinctive temperment", as in this famous exchange in Act 3, Scene 1:
HAMLET
If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for
thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as
snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a
nunnery, go: farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs
marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough
what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go,
and quickly too. Farewell.OPHELIA
O heavenly powers, restore him!
As a parallel, both come from pretty messed up families. Ophelia has her brother, Laeretes, but he leaves her to go to college. Hamlet had his father, the king, but he is murdered. Those left behind, Gertrude, Claudius, and Polonius, do not have their children's best interest at heart. Additionally, Hamlet and Ophelia do seem to have shared a comraderie earlier, but Hamlet chooses to abandon their connection in favor of revenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment