Senior Project Advisor
Lori Martindale
Document Type
Project
Publication Date
Spring 2025
Keywords
Shakespeare, Ophelia, Gender, Madwoman, Madwoman trope, Objectification, Othering
Abstract
This paper explores the cultural development of the literary madwoman trope, arguing it is iconicized by Shakespeare’s Ophelia and traceable through the maladaptive evolution of her identity through history, in which she is objectified and othered through patriarchal institutions of psychiatry, art, literature, and music. Through this objectification and othering, this paper summates that the madwoman trope has come to be defined by this erasure of identity that Ophelia endures, and contemporary womanhood is thus defined by one’s ability to inhabit the perfect intersection between madness and beauty.
Department
Honors
Recommended Citation
McDonald, Kacie Joe, "Innervations of Ophelia; How Shakespeare’s Ophelia creates the Madwoman Trope, and Why she Endures in Contemporary Femininity" (2025). WWU Honors College Senior Projects. 978.
https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwu_honors/978
Type
Text
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.
Language
English
Format
application/pdf