The poetic expression of reason and madness in Hamlet and Ophelia

Abstract

This article aims to study The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, observing how the themes of reason and madness are relevant in the structuring of the play, in the development of the tragedy, and in the formation and uniqueness of the characters Hamlet and Ophelia. Our study focuses not only on the prince, but also on the female figure and its representation in the works of art after Shakespeare. Our analytical interest is based on the imaginary surrounding the death of this girl who goes mad with love and probably commits suicide for not being loved by the distressed prince. The link between reason, madness, and death remains the central issue of this article, whose theoretical and methodological reference is based on the study of Northrop Frye and Gaston Bachelard. Besides highlighting the excess of reason and individualism in Hamlet as features of the modern hero, our goal is to expand the delicate and fragile image of the young nymph to its representations and artistic interpretations of later centuries. To this end, we bring Bachelard's thoughts on the image of water in Ophelia's death, as well as the resemanticization of the girl's image in painting, film, and poetry. In our article, we demonstrate the dualistic pair between reason and madness in the play, the valorization of the melancholic and disturbed image of the character Ophelia, as well as her protagonism throughout the centuries.