Ophelia in two lights

In the modernized portrayal of Act 1 Scene 3, Ophelia acts and speaks much differently than I imagined in the book. Ophelia acted much more sarcastic and rebellious in this scene than the book made her seem. When she was speaking to Laertes, she spoke more sharply and used the words of the poem much more forcefully. She defended Hamlet strictly when she spoke to her brother. Shakespeare tends to leave the exact interpretation of how to say these words up to the actor, so any one line can have many meanings and interpretations. For example, after Laertes tells Ophelia that what she has with Hamlet is just a fling, Ophelia asks, "No more but so?" (1.3.12). In the modern version of the play, the actress playing Ophelia responds to her brother with a critical tone. I do agree with this portrayal of the modern play, because I think it gives some credit to the modern woman. Ophelia is trying to speak her mind and have a civil argument that has more than one side with her rather rude brother.

Compared to the second scene, where Ophelia has tears on her eyes and is very timid, the modern scene portrays Ophelia as a strong young woman. Because the lines that Ophelia says in Hamlet are so ambiguous, the actress in the second scene was able to take the character in a completely different direction. I could tell that she was also wanting to rebel against her father and brother. I felt so bad for Ophelia in the second scene because I could not imagine myself living in a world where I could not speak my mind. As shown by the first scene, even if she did speak her mind, she was immediately shot down. Living in a world where women can speak their mind equally, our lives are much more intelligent.