The Story of a Cake — Hamlet and Ophelia
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays, with its intricate and deeply layered characters and action-packed plot. The play has many layers to unfold and well-written characters to explore — I’m pretty sure that’s why you’re reading this. I think analysing Hamlet can be compared to eating one of those multi-layered gourmet cakes — it’s a complex structure with each layer having its own unique taste. Each layer, or character/influence in the case of Hamlet, has their own motives and morals and the clash of these incentives and beliefs lead to a sorrowful story. But you eat a cake as a whole, not layer by layer. Just picture yourself with a fork in hand, sinking it through the soft spongey texture from the top and piercing every layer of it. You place the cake in your mouth and feel the unique flavours from every layer combining together on your tongue. Similarly, the play Hamlet is told where the viewer eats the cake altogether, so it may be hard to dissect each character’s true feelings and emotions. Another fun cake analogy is that the characters are fed all of the layers of cake at once, or in other words, they are torn between several poles, and this leads to a truly grim ending.
Now I’d like to focus mainly on Hamlet and Ophelia, and their relationships with the people around them. Hamlet can be considered the most complex and nuanced character in the play, and in my opinion he goes through the most change in terms of development. His ill-fated pathway from grieving to feigned insanity (“antic disposition”) to possibly real insanity inevitably ends in his death. In comparison to Hamlet, Ophelia is a character that is usually glossed over by the audience. She is Hamlet’s lover who is thought of by many to simply add to the protagonist’s character development through her unfortunate suicide. She also has quite few scenes compared to other characters. However, Ophelia has a unique significance in the play that really can’t be ignored. Her contradictory influences by the men around her lead to her subtle cries for help as she slowly breaks down throughout the play, ultimately ending in her demise.
As I said before, Hamlet is a character that has many layers. When these layers stack up on top of one another and mix together, they create a man who is driven by several different emotions. The first step towards Hamlet’s misfortune is his father’s death and the aftermath. Hamlet falls into a state of depression where to him, it seems that “all the uses of this world . . . [are] weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable.” (A1.S2) In other words, he sees no real meaning to live after being abandoned by his father and betrayed by his mother (in his eyes).
This sense of loneliness is a layer that quickly falls underneath the layers of darker tones (or slices, when you think of a gourmet cake) of rage and hatred towards the relationship that occurs after his father’s death between Claudius and Gertrude. Hamlet speaks to himself in utter disgust in his soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 2, exclaiming that his mother moved “with such dexterity to incestuous sheets”. This means that he considers the relationship as incest. He finds the fact that his mother marrying his father’s brother unforgivable, especially so shortly after his father’s death. Hamlet then discovers that Claudius murdered his father and another layer of revenge stacks on top of his previous emotions. Now he is driven by a flurry of emotion which he carries on throughout the rest of the play, causing him to act erratically and rather foolishly.
Hamlet is, quite frankly, a mess, to the point that we as the audience can no longer tell whether he’s faking his insanity or if he’s truly mad. For instance, he stabs Polonius blindly through the curtain without knowing who he is. Hamlet is a contemplative and thoughtful person, and we know this because he has the time and patience to act mad in front of Claudius in order to hide his true intentions. Therefore, under normal circumstances, he would have thought before he acted and perhaps wouldn’t have killed Polonius so suddenly if he was in a regular state of mind, before his father’s death.
In Act 2 Scene 2, Hamlet says he’s “but mad north-north west. When the wind is southerly, [he knows] a hawk from a handsaw.” He says this to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, implying that he may be truly insane. However, it’s really unlikely that he was mad, at least at this point in time. This is because of 2 points. One, a mad person would be unlikely to be aware of their madness and say that they’re mad. Two, the second part of the quote suggests that he can still tell the difference between unlike things. It’s inferred that through this, Hamlet warns Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that he can tell friend from foe, and to not try to deceive him. In the words of Polonius, “though [Hamlet has been struck with] madness, . . . there is method in‘t.” (A2.S2) Generally speaking, it’s unclear if Hamlet is truly ever mad or not because there is evidence for both sides, however regardless of whether the madness is feigned or genuine I think we can all agree that it’s a major cause of his downfall. Hamlet’s madness causes him to make irrational decisions and behave erratically, taking more risks that put him in deathly situations such as the last fight (between him and Laertes).
After studying the protagonist Hamlet, he’s reminded me of a character I remember from my childhood. Have you ever seen the movie The Mask (1994)? Jim Carrey undertakes the role of Stanley Ipkiss, a shy, unlucky and childish bank teller whose life changes when he finds a mask that gives him superpowers. Throughout the film, the mask turns him into someone who is mad, laughing hysterically at horrible situations such as murders. The mask changes him as a person and he doesn’t take anything seriously anymore. Every time he puts the mask on he finds it more difficult to take it off, and slowly his two personalities merge into madness. This reminds me so much of Hamlet as he changes in the same way throughout the play. He starts off obviously faking insanity but, like Stanley Ipkiss, Hamlet becomes one with his ‘mask’. Its unclear if he becomes truly mad after acting mad for so long, and after bearing the weight of the series of unfortunate events that occur throughout the play.
Ophelia is a different issue altogether. Hamlet’s lover is a character that is often overlooked. However, she’s important because she represents femininity in the play (although ironically she was written to be played by a male actor in Shakespeare’s time). Ophelia has three significant men in her life — Hamlet, Laertes and Polonius. She is confused, and torn between two major influences — to give her heart to Hamlet and ignore her father’s warning or to abandon Hamlet and obey her father (and brother). But she wants to do both, and this eventually leads in her taking her own life.
So why exactly did she commit suicide? Ophelia truly “was the more deceived” (A3.S1) by Hamlet after he unleashes his anger and lies that he never loved her. This, as well as Polonius’ death, adds to Ophelia’s mental instability. Hamlet tells Ophelia to “[go] to a nunnery” (A3.S1). This could have two meanings — one, Hamlet is telling Ophelia to literally go to a religious convent and repair her broken mental condition, or simply to preserve her virginity. Two, Hamlet is telling her to go to a brothel (where the word ‘nunnery’ is Elizabethan slang), which is a place where men visit prostitutes. Either way Hamlet says these words with a misogynistic tone, looking down on Ophelia in disdain. Hamlet’s attitude towards Ophelia is definitely also a factor that plays into her mental breakdown. After the two major influences in her life (Polonius and Hamlet) are gone (where Polonius dies and Hamlet abandons her), Ophelia truly believes that she has nothing to live for and this results in her ending her own life.
The unfortunate lives of Hamlet and Ophelia convey key messages that we as the audience can relate to and apply in our everyday lives. One important message is that revenge can be deadly. Hamlet’s downfall was created by his own revenge and his obsessive behaviour, and thus one should never take on this type of behaviour. A message from Ophelia’s character that is especially relevant in today’s society is that the lives of many women are dominated and controlled by men. This is an issue that although reduced, has still not been completely fixed at present and we may never truly get rid of it. However, we can try our best to support not just women, but all genders in the same way. I’d like to end this piece by saying one last thing — once you finish Hamlet and devour the gourmet cake, even though it’s a tragic story, if you have an elegant palate, you are left with a pleasant taste in your mouth after experiencing such an amazing play.
References
Adewumi, P., 2020. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: A Masterpiece. [online] The Circular. Available at: https://thecircular.org/william-shakespeares-hamlet-a-masterpiece/ [Accessed 16 July 2021].
Cliffsnotes.com. 2021. Character Analysis Ophelia. [online] Available at: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/hamlet/character-analysis/ophelia [Accessed 16 July 2021].
Conner, M., 2020. Gertrude and Ophelia: What Their Lines in Hamlet Reveal. [online] The Great Courses Daily. Available at: https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/gertrude-and-ophelia-what-their-lines-in-hamlet-reveal/ [Accessed 16 July 2021].
McGovern, K., 2019. Behind ‘The Mask’. [online] The Ringer. Available at: https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/7/22/20698088/the-mask-jim-carrey-comic-book-origins [Accessed 17 July 2021].
Pinsker, S. and Pinsker, A., 1998. Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. 1st ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
Study.com. 2021. Depression in Hamlet. [online] Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/depression-in-hamlet.html [Accessed 16 July 2021].
