Saturday, January 14, 2012

Ophelia and Lady Macbeth

As I was looking at different Shakespeare monologues for women, I noticed a parallel between Ophelia and Lady Macbeth.  Both go mad, and have a monologue where the madness becomes apparent, as they speak nonsense mixed with references to recent events which drove them to insanity.  The main difference between the two is the reasons for their madness.  While the innocent Ophelia is troubled with her love, Hamlet's, madness and the fact that Hamlet killed her father, Lady Macbeth is being eaten up by the murders she and her husband have committed in order to gain the crown of Scotland.  The villainy of Lady Macbeth is a great contrast to the innocence of Ophelia, and although both characters end up dead, it is Ophelia who gains her audience's pity.
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2 comments:

  1. SarahJanuary 14, 2012 at 11:35 PM

    I like the parallels you made... is this part of your learning plan?

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  2. RebeccaJanuary 17, 2012 at 8:49 PM

    I would like to go through and compare similar characters in Shakespeare. I have always been fascinated in the motivations behind why people do what they do, so it would be a great way to gain more knowledge about Shakespeare and his characters.

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