Similarities Between Ophelia And Lady Macbeth
The Madwomen in Shakespeare
It is clear in Shakespeare’s works that there is a wide range of characters, each with their own motives and unique characteristics. No two characters in a Shakespearean play are the same. While both Lady Macbeth and Ophelia each have different functions and vastly different characters, there are characteristics they share that thread a common theme between Macbeth and Hamlet. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s character functions as the catalyst of the main action of the play. It is her character’s outspokenness, and constant goading of Macbeth that prompts the tragedy’s hero to kill Duncan in order to become king: “Yet do I fear thy nature / It is too full o ' the milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it.” (Act I, Scene 5, l. 11-15). In Lady Macbeth’s mind, her husband is weak in nature and his kindness is not a quality to be appreciated. Her use of the word milk in relation to “human kindness” indicates that it is childish to exhibit such beliefs. Macbeth’s world is that of monarch and war, has no room for kindness, and requires – in Lady Macbeth’s opinion – men of “ambition”. …show more content…
Both characters are driven mad in their involvement with this masculine world of power and war. In Ophelia’s case, her unrequited love for Hamlet and the shook of Hamlet killing her father, drives her insane. While, in Lady Macbeth’s case, the guilt represented by the king “blood” on her hands takes her to the point of madness (Atwood 3). Even their madness is exhibited differently; while Lady Macbeth is spoken of as having an “infected mind;” sleepwalking and hallucinating about the dagger and blood, Ophelia is portrayed as confused, lewd, and mixing unintelligible speech with song, (Atwood
It is clear in Shakespeare’s works that there is a wide range of characters, each with their own motives and unique characteristics. No two characters in a Shakespearean play are the same. While both Lady Macbeth and Ophelia each have different functions and vastly different characters, there are characteristics they share that thread a common theme between Macbeth and Hamlet. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s character functions as the catalyst of the main action of the play. It is her character’s outspokenness, and constant goading of Macbeth that prompts the tragedy’s hero to kill Duncan in order to become king: “Yet do I fear thy nature / It is too full o ' the milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it.” (Act I, Scene 5, l. 11-15). In Lady Macbeth’s mind, her husband is weak in nature and his kindness is not a quality to be appreciated. Her use of the word milk in relation to “human kindness” indicates that it is childish to exhibit such beliefs. Macbeth’s world is that of monarch and war, has no room for kindness, and requires – in Lady Macbeth’s opinion – men of “ambition”. …show more content…
Both characters are driven mad in their involvement with this masculine world of power and war. In Ophelia’s case, her unrequited love for Hamlet and the shook of Hamlet killing her father, drives her insane. While, in Lady Macbeth’s case, the guilt represented by the king “blood” on her hands takes her to the point of madness (Atwood 3). Even their madness is exhibited differently; while Lady Macbeth is spoken of as having an “infected mind;” sleepwalking and hallucinating about the dagger and blood, Ophelia is portrayed as confused, lewd, and mixing unintelligible speech with song, (Atwood