![]() ![]() But here, again, let us refer to our standard criterion-the Elizabethan audience. What seems plausible is that the woman in the saga was the mere starting-point, and that all the rest is the poet's own creation. It is obvious that we are miles away from the story of Ophelia and Hamlet with all its romance and subtlety. The Hystorie of Hamblet smooths out some of the worst absurdities from this narrative and says that the lady had "from her infancy loved and favoured him," but here also she is a mere decoy to vice, outwitted and rejected. She is so deeply ashamed that she herself denies any connection between them, and the trap thus proves of no avail. Amleth detects the meaning of this somewhat fantastic device he drags the woman off into a remote covert where he violates her, but without revealing anything or betraying himself in any way at all. Saxo recounts how Amleth's enemies attempt to employ a certain woman as a decoy they plan that she shall entice the prince, who is pretending madness, to make love to her, and so obtain possession of his secrets Amleth, however, is forewarned by a friend who fastens a piece of straw to a horse-fly, and sends it past the place where Amleth lurks. (3) Neither does the saga give much suggestion. James married, as most princes marry, in the same conventional and well-accepted way, and the only romantic circumstance connected with his marriage was the voyage to bring his bride home to Scotland, which has already been discussed. (2) Apparently, also, this portion of the play has nothing whatever to do with James I. Just as the addition of the story of Marguerite to that of Faust increases the value of the drama by adding pathos and tenderness to something that would otherwise be too purely intellectual, so does the addition of Ophelia's story increase by its pathos the value of Hamlet. (1) The dramatic motive for the addition of Ophelia's story is plain enough it adds greatly to the interest of Hamlet as a play, and to the interest of the prince himself as a character. ![]() (3) That it cannot fairly be said to be suggested by the saga source. (2) That it can hardly have any relation to the history of James I. ![]() (1) That there is an obvious dramatic motive for adding this love story to the play. I WILL turn now to another portion of the play: that connected with Ophelia. The theory is that Ophelia was pregnant (seduced and abandoned) and that was why Hamlet didn't want to have anything to do with her. Elizabeth Vernon was rumored to have been pregnant with another man's child when she married the Earl of Southampton on 30 August 1598. Winstanley suggests that Ophelia is based on Elizabeth Vernon. This is another view of Ophelia, one of the most interesting characters in Hamlet. This is a chapter from the book "Hamlet and the Scottish Succession". This was written by Lilian Winstanley in 1921. Here is another repost from an important source, because I am afraid it will disappear from the web forever. ![]()
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