Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A document in madness

Ophelia- pure, beautiful, punching bag, pawn, innocent, crazy, Polonius' daughter, Laertes' sister, Hamlet's lover, victim, lonely, caring, passive...

Hamlet's Ophelia is one of Shakespeare's most famous "heroines" yet we know very little about her. She is only in 5 scenes in the play and during her only soliloquy she describes Hamlet's apparent assent into madness. Ultimately, Ophelia goes "crazy" begging Gertrude and Claudius to listen to her songs and proceeds to drown herself. Ophelia is silenced, but it doesn't really matter, because no one was ever listening to her in the first place.

Now, I'm not saying I identify with Ophelia in a big time kind of way. I've never had a boyfriend go apeshit and kill my father (fingers crossed that will never happen), but I can identify with feeling misunderstood and at a loss for how I can make myself heard and understood.

I'm not sure exactly where I want this blog to go, but I'm all right with that for right now. I want it to be a forum to celebrate and deconstruct what it means to be women. Women of different socio-economic classes, races, religions (or no religion), sexual orientations, ages, professions, political affliations, etc. 

I want my blog to open and expand my mind (and others' too hopefully) but I also want it to be fun! So feel free to post/comment on anything that you think might be somewhat relevant (really, I have a very large scope of what's relevant at this point).

Let's let the Ophelia in each of us (whoever that may be) to stand up, speak out, and have a little fun on her own terms. She deserves it for a change.

3 comments:

  1. I love it! A great project. I look forward to seeing where you go with this.

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  2. Great idea, Jackie! And obviously I think Shakespeare's women are a great place to start :) Hope this turns out to be a way for you to bridge those isolated times when you really just need to talk to other women (preferably who know you).

    As Queen Elizabeth (not that one) says about words: "Let them have scope. Though what they do impart help not all, yet they do ease the heart"

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  3. How do you know that I'm not plotting to go apeshit and kill Jack?

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