Hamlet- Act 1, Scene 3 & 4

In today's class, I think that Shakespeare presents different archetypes of women's image. In Hamlet, Ophelia tends to be more unsuspecting the fact that the words of intention expressed by Polonius and Lartes. She becomes weaker and hopeless while her father warns her against having affection with Hamlet. She tells Polonius "I do not know... what I should think." Also, she even tries to explain the truth from Hamlet's affection. Perhaps the audiences somehow perceive the flaw of Polonius despotically and of Lartes deliberately by their behavior and way of talk toward Ophelia. Nonetheless, these reasons somehow disclose her innocent and pure thoughts in terms of being loved romantically, and she is unaware of the condition of entire nation. And in The Merchant of Venice, Portia unfolds a female role embodying the beauty, wisdom, and reason. She aids Bassanio and Antonio in the urgent moment for supporting money and calculatedly solving the bond problem by secretly playing the role of lawyer. In my viewpoint, Portia therefore plays an important role among those male characters. Upon learning this, compared with Portia, it appears that Ophelia is more like a passive woman with less contemplation and sophistication.