Hamlet is set in Denmark, the tragedy was written towards ther latter half of the Elizabethan period, which is much earlier than the previous texts. This has an impact on how Hamlet is both inferred in that the perception and interpretation of madness differs, especially to the other novels. Similarly, to the other texts, female characters are often (and in the case of Ophelia, always portrayed) as being of a lesser stature than men and in the case of Hamlet it is Ophelia (along with Gertrude) who is limited by society and therefore manipulated by men.
Hamlet itself is set in 13th Century Denmark, however the story that it depicts reflects the ideals of the Early Modern Period in which it was written. The setting is one of uncertainty in that it portrays the loss of a monarch, and the appearance of a ghost; these features would have rendered the audience cautious and uneasy because of how important the monarch was to society at that time. The supernatural was viewed as a message from either God or the Devil and therefore the religious society and thus audience, would have been fearful of such imagery. The representation of madness in Hamlet contrasts from that portrayed within the novels by Winterson and Plath in that the observation of madness in these modern texts is much different from that of the Elizabethan perception.
The theme of dependence is present in all three texts and partly provides reasons for the mental collapse of the female characters. Ophelia’s character has little or no autonomy; instead, her father, brother and indeed Hamlet, manipulate her emotions and control her behaviour. Even characters that have less interaction with Ophelia, such as Claudius and Gertrude, attempt to manipulate or to use her for their own ends. Similarly, Esther experiences a lack of autonomy on some levels in that she follows Doreen: ‘…I thought I’d string along with Doreen.’ it appears that Esther idolises Doreen for her decisive actions and her confidence, ‘…being with Doreen made me forget my worries.’
Ophelia embodies the flaw of obedience, but deeper than that, the flaw of dependence; she is completely reliant upon the key male figures in her life; particularly Polonius and Laertes. Ophelia’s obedience is revealed when she agrees to avoid Hamlet because Polonius thinks that his advances to her are lustful, and that his declarations of love are false:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet:
Look to’t, I charge you; come your ways. (I.iii)
Ophelia who says ‘I shall obey my Lord’ follows Polonius’s instructions with complete obedience and her compliant response accentuates a desire to please her father. Laertes also uses manipulation in order to push Ophelia into doing what he wants:
If with too credent ear you list his songs;
Or lose your heart; or your chaste open treasure open
To his unmaster’d importunity.
Fear it Ophelia, fear it my dear sister. (I.iii)
Even though Laertes tells Ophelia how to act, she does attempt to voice her concern in that she tells him to heed his own words:
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
show me the steep and thorny way to
heaven
Whiles, like a puff’d and reckless
Libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance
Treads,
And reaks not his own rede. (I.iii)
Yet, Ophelia does depend upon these male figures and it ultimately leads to her suicide. Her dependence on receiving advice or perhaps more appropriately, orders are vital to her daily life; consequently the departure of Laertes, when he goes abroad and the loss of her father, owing to his death mean a total withdrawal of instruction on how Ophelia should feel or act. Therefore, Ophelia is lost and unable to think autonomously which inevitably causes her mental breakdown.
Alongside these losses, Ophelia is also forced to deal with the removal of Hamlet’s affections and thus the relationship that they could have shared. The events between them become inextricably entwined as Ophelia struggles to deal with her abandonment (and indeed the death of her father), as shown within the songs that she sings to Claudius and Gertrude:
Pray you, let's have no words of this; but when they
ask you what it means, say you this:
Sings To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more. (IV.v)
Yet in madness, Ophelia reveals that she is capable of thought and action ‘I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.’ The violets symbolise faithfulness, and perhaps they are dead because Ophelia feels that the men in her life have betrayed and abandoned her. Ophelia’s death is a result of her dependence on others, and the inevitability of her expected role in Early Modern Society.
Esther has a compulsion to reject the mentors and mother figures in her life: “all the old ladies I ever knew wanted to teach me something, but I suddenly think that they have nothing to teach” and this can be perceived as a desire for independence – something that Ophelia is unable to achieve. Esther feels as though she does not have to rely on anyone, however, upon moving away from home she realises that dependence upon others, as opposed to her own abilities is essential in obtaining what she wants – similarly, to how she is dependent upon her ability to read and write: ‘I can’t read… I peered at the writing but I couldn’t read it.’ This dependency is what makes her who she is and without it, she loses all sense of life. Education as a whole for Esther is beyond importance and the effects of just how dependent she is upon it are presented through her reactions at the loss of her scholarship: ‘All through June the writing course had stretched before me like a bright, safe bridge over the dull gulf of summer.’
In Oranges are not the Only Fruit Jeanette appears to be dependent upon both her mother and the church because of her upbringing. Although, it becomes more apparent that Jeanette is more dependent on God: “I love you almost as much as I love the Lord” which indicates that she is more a servant of God as opposed to a servant of the church. Jeanette’s dependence on God is indicative of how she feels with her love for Melanie – of whom she also displays a dependency upon for love. Jeanette’s dependence upon the church could be a catalyst for her psychological collapse in that it rejects her for being different – a lesbian. The church describes Jeanette’s love of Melanie as “unnatural passions” and therefore pushes her away, and without this dependency, she falls off the edge of sanity. However, this is open to interpretation in that the fall could be seen as a positive move of freedom as opposed to the fall into depression, and thus psychological collapse as presented in both Shakespeare and Plath’s writing.
Relationships between men and women in the texts are portrayed as violent with women taking a submissive role and this therefore contributes to a psychological collapse. Ophelia’s submissive relationship with her closest male relations leaves her vulnerable to Hamlet’s abuse, although this would have been acceptable considering his social position. The romantic relationship between both Hamlet and Ophelia is evident and Polonius’ words only cause Hamlet to be more abusive towards her. Hamlet accuses Ophelia of being deceptive and describes her (and indeed all other women) of being a "breeder of sinners." Accordingly, Hamlet orders Ophelia to a "nunnery”. The social implications of this for Ophelia are that in a nunnery she cannot continue the honour of her family in the way that Polonius and Laertes wish. However, the phrasing used by Hamlet does have a double meaning in that during the Early Modern Period the expression would have indicated a brothel, thus this fits more accordingly to Hamlets abuse to her throughout the entire play.
Even though Hamlet uses harsh words toward Ophelia, violence does not show in such a form as seen in The Bell Jar, however, Hamlet’s words do deploy a harsh and psychologically violent message to Ophelia and add to her grief. Unlike Ophelia, Esther is subjected to actual violence when Marco attempts to rape her. Marco is described as setting ‘his teeth to the strap at my shoulder and [he] tore my sheath to the waist.’ Marco’s brutal encounter with Esther is much more violent than Hamlet’s bond with Ophelia and is the antithesis of Jeanette’s relationship with anyone in the novel. Esther is not always victim to violence for example; she is witness to a form of violence between Doreen and Lenny: ‘Then Lenny gave a terrible roar. I sat up. Doreen was hanging on to Lenny’s left earlobe with her teeth.’ The sexual relationship between the two is much different from the atmosphere and intent displayed between Esther and Marco – albeit slightly violent, in that the two drunkards are having fun, although the sentiment of violence is still present. Esther does not comment on the behaviour but the fact she leaves, indicates that she is either jealous of what Doreen can do, or, she is uncomfortable. Lenny and Doreen have each other, and Esther has nobody; Esther leaves because she feels as though she is in their way by staying. Plath, at this point, distinguishes Esther has been alone with nobody to turn to, ‘it wasn’t the silence of silence, it was my own silence…’ Esther’s psychological collapse owes to her isolation and inability to relate to others.
Similarly, Jeanette is in a sense sexually violated by the ‘unholy’ character of Miss Jewsbury, yet, in contrast to Esther’s violent rejection of Marco: ‘Then I fisted my fingers together and smashed them at his nose…’ whereby Esther halts his advances by being violent herself; Jeanette allows the encounter to continue. The encounter is ambiguous for the reader because when referring to the act, Jeanette states that she “hated it and hated it, but would not stop.” The phrase “would not stop” is problematic, possibly suggesting that Jeanette wishes the encounter to cease. This would cause the reader to question whether Jeanette is treating the encounter as a guilty pleasure and that although she hated it (because it was a sin against her faith), it would not stop because she enjoyed it so much. Alternatively, she in fact, hated it and it would not stop which might indicate rape or forced sex, something not achieved by Marco.
Each character is perceived differently by those around them and each character perceives themselves very differently too. Ophelia is unique in that she rarely thinks about herself, and unsurprisingly she never gets to know how others perceive her. Shakespeare interestingly creates a character that cannot be defined through her self-perception, and is only defined (by herself) by how others perceive her. Even though she never thinks for herself (owing to her brother and father), she fails to become independent and discover her own identity. Ophelia’s life is solely based upon doing what others want her to do, and this greatly affects her self-perception in that it never occurs. Ophelia’s attitude and self-perception rarely changes in the presence of others; she continually speaks only when spoken to and very rarely voices against others. The only time she does make an attempt to do so is during conversation with Laertes, telling him to heed his own words;
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
show me the steep and thorny way to
heaven
Whiles, like a puff’d and reckless
Libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance
Treads,
And reaks not his own rede (I.iii)
Esther is also affected by self-perception; Esther is unable to acknowledge what she looks like and, perhaps more importantly how she should look: ‘The face in the mirror looked like a sick Indian.’ Esther’s description of herself is showing the reader that she finds the image unrecognisable and therefore her view upon reality is distorted. The alien image that she envisages is a theme continually seen throughout the novel in that she does not recognise herself; this implies that Esther is mentally disturbed because she fails to see what she really is – thus indicating she is on the edge of sanity – nearing psychological collapse.
Unlike Ophelia and Esther, Jeanette’s role in life was dictated to her from an early age – ‘a missionary child’ and therefore her self-perception is limited due to the indoctrination of the church. The strong ideas advocated by her mother initially form Jeanette's own ideology, and thus become the way she perceives herself: ‘I had been brought in to join her in a tag match against the Rest of the World.’ Here, Winterson is suggesting that Jeanette is only there for her mother’s purpose, and (initially) has no autonomy of her own. In some ways, Jeanette and Ophelia are similar owing to the cease of relationships between key individuals, for example Hamlet and Jeanette’s Mother. Both Shakespeare and Winterson show a difference in character after a change in their life. The change for Ophelia inextricably leads to her death, however, for Jeanette; the change allows her to think for herself. The novel is based around Jeanette finding her identity and thus developing her self-perception.
Each text illustrates female characters on the edge of psychological collapse; Plath, however, takes this further and presents Esther’s actual psychological collapse. . The ending of Oranges are not the only Fruit does not display similarities to that of Hamlet and The Bell Jar in that a resolution (of some sort) is met. Indeed, the death of Ophelia indefinitely indicates her psychological collapse, and Esther is somewhat in the midst of it. The authors of all three texts do, wholly, offer a firm understanding of each of the female characters.
