Hamlet: Branaghs Ophelia and Showalters Representing Ophelia Essay

Hamlet: Branagh's Ophelia and Showalter's Representing Ophelia      Ã‚  Ã‚   Ophelia falls to the floor, her screams contrasting eerily with the song pieces she uses as her speech.   In an instant she is writhing and thrusting her pelvis in such a gross sexual manner that it becomes clear that, in his film interpretation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh wants to imply a strong relationship between female insanity and female sexuality.   Such a relationship is exactly what Elaine Showalter discusses in her essay -- "Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism" -- "I will be showing first of all the representational bonds between female insanity and female sexuality" (Showalter 223).   "Tracing" various representations of Ophelia throughout history, Showalter attempts to tell Ophelia's story by examining the way in which the culture of a society, their views of women, and psychiatric theory relates to the representation of Ophelia at that time.   With the amount of attention Branagh a ffords the role of Ophelia in his film, and because Branagh's Ophelia represents many of Showalter's ideas about Ophelia's drowning death, the bond between sexuality and insanity, and the conventions of femininity, Branagh's Ophelia can supplement Showalter's essay -- her "trace" of the history of representation of Ophelia -- serving as a Post-modern example of the representation of Ophelia.       In his representation of Ophelia, the relationship that Branagh attempts to establish between female insanity and female sexuality is a strong and obvious one.   Through costume, cinematography, blocking, and various other aspects, Branagh makes clear his interpretation that Ophelia's insanity is t... ...helia.   Not only does Branagh use the conventions of femininity that Showalter describes but he also relies heavily upon ideas similar to Showalter's, that everything about Ophelia is symbolic, to convey his Ophelia as representative of femininity and to express the inverse correlation that such femininity has with Ophelia's sexuality and her insanity.    Works Cited Hamlet.   Dir. Kenneth Branagh.   Perf. Julie Christie, Billy Crystal, Kate Winslett.   Castle   Rock Entertainment, 1996. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Susanne L. Wofford. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Boston: St. Martin's, 1994. Showalter, Elaine. "Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of   Feminist Criticism." William  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shakespeare: Hamlet. Ed. Susanne L. Wofford. Case   Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Boston: St. Martin's, 1994. 220-238.