In the
documentary “Shakespeare’s Women and Claire Bloom” Bloom tells the audience
that she feels actresses often don’t have the maturity to understand most of
Shakespeare’s women until after they are too old to play them, thus creating a sort
of cycle in the career of a Shakespearian actress since the roles are played by
young actresses who don’t fully grasp the characters when they are portraying
them.
A
reader could certainly appreciate this point of view in regards to Ophelia, who
goes mad, either through grief or even a full break from reality, after the
death of her father. It is understandable that an older actress would likely be
in a better position to appreciate Ophelia’s reaction to her experiences. But
then again, part of the tragedy is likely that Ophelia endures so many negative
experiences at such a young age, thus leading to greater catharsis for the
audience (though rather Ophelia fits neatly into the category of the tragic
heroine is a debate for another time, I would argue that Gertrude fits the mold
better).
It is
likely that part of the reason Ophelia’s madness is so hotly contested and
interpreted in many different ways is because of her age. An older female
character who experiences a similar mental break would likely provoke a
different reaction from the audience, perhaps even a more sympathetic one if
she lost, say, a son. In this way I would argue the character would benefit
from more empathy. She is young, her brother has left for school, her lover
(Hamlet) is crazy, she has been stuck in the middle of the machinations of both
Hamlet and her father, and then her father is murdered. It is little wonder the
2000 movie Hamlet portrays Ophelia having a daydream where she jumps into a
pool to escape the conversation between Polonius and Claudius. She basically
loses every predictable, familiar, trustworthy person in her life in a short
amount of time, and after all that I would think her mental break is more than
understandable.
