Lives of the Saints Essay

In Shakespeargons Hamlet and Nino Riccis Lives of the Saints some(prenominal) demonstrate different visions of women. Comparing weak and indecisive women in Hamlet as to strong and self-sufficient women in Lives of the Saints.Ophelia in Hamlet is citeized many times as a weak women especially in the quote, frailty thy name is woman. She is completely dependent on her buzz off and proves her dependence when she acts cruel to Hamlet. Which goes against her square feelings toward Hamlet. Afterwords Ophelia agrees to not see Hamlet anymore, I shall obey my lord. Which shows Poloniouss control over his daughter. Ophelias actions show that she bequeath do anything to please her father, even making a soulfulnessal sacrifice which she doesnt agree with. Ophelias desire to please her father leads her to be used as a puppet in golf club for the King and Polonious to spy on Hamlet, Ophelias leave behindingness to spy on a person she truly loves, shows her true nature toward her father .Even when Hamlet harasses Ophelia and tells her to go to a nunnery, Ophelia had the inability to defend herself. When her father passes on, Ophelia is left by herself, with no one to give her guidance. Instead of trying to move on with her life, she calls for her brother hoping he will have a plan for her, My brother shall know of it and so I thank you for your good counsel. Poloniouss was irreplaceable and finally Ophelia realizes this I would give you some violets, but they withitherd all when my father died.The import of the violets are that they symbolize faithfulness and they all died because she felt useless without her father.Ophelias death is in expiration of her dependence and weakness of character.Overall, Ophelia goes mad because she has no position in society. Men have continuously staged her some, used her, pulling her mind in every direction. She put her faith in one person and never made her own decisions. Similar to Ophelia is Gertrude. She is also characterize d by the quote, frailty thy name is woman. Gertrude depends on her husband. Gertrude craving for the attention that she loses when her husband dies, quickly marries Claudius, her husbands brother. Shakespeare displays that women have no back bone and our weak. As if they could not operate with out others, men especially.Nino Ricci demonstrates a whole different side of women, he shows that women are strong and independent. The character that illustrates these qualities is Cristina, she open fired her child Vittorio alone. Unlike the women in Hamlet, Cristina didnt need a man to help her raise her child or to get through life. When her son gets beat up at school, she doesnt fairish ignore it. She takes physical action about the situation Ill make her pay for this, Vittorio, youll see, by the wrinkle of Christ Ill make her pay. The wiping at some tears in her own eyes, she took me suddenly by the hand and marched me out the door into the street. (107).Cristina is defiantly not a pushover and stands up for what she believes in. She lives in a village where the women stay at home and the men work out in the field and everyone believed in strange superstitions. Cristina was against her villages expectations and went against what everyone thought. Cristina is outspoken and self-assured. She has a feminist point of view and is vey confident in it, she says Hes probably slept with every whore in America by now, but for me its a disgrace. (154). Cristina is explaining about her husband Mario but it is also a statement in general about men. Guys grass go around going from girl to girl to girl and its not a problem. But if a women were to do the same thing, even if it was just with one guy its an absolute disgrace. This book was based in 1960 and the same sentence could apply to 2012. Also has significance to the text because she had an affair and the whole town put up out, which then they treated her with disgust.Cristina also states Women have had their faces up their asses for too long, they let their men run around like goats and then theyre happy if they dont come home and beat them (154) It is mortify that women are seen as whores when they have affairs, especially when its said by other women. Theyre oppressing their own grammatical gender when saying it. She finally decides to move away and says her final words to the village You are the ones who are dead,not me, because not one of you knows what it means to be free and to make a choice, and I pray to God that he wipes this town and all its stupidities off the face of the earth (184)Most women wouldnt have spoke there mind, especially a woman like Ophelia or Gertrude. Cristina constantly fought with her father and always disagreed Long arguments were carried on daily between kitchen and bedroom, tension hovering around.(154). She finally got fed up with living with her father and hearing his sagacity she said Then to hell with all of you Ill go to Rome, Naples, anywhere. She ha d the courage and strength to leave her father and start a life somewhere else, mean while Ophelia couldnt last a touch days with out her father and killed her self. Nino Ricci illustrates women to be outspoken, independent and powerful.In the end of each story both women characters die. The difference is the way they lived their life. Cristina at least lived her life, standing up for what she believe in and having her own opinion. As for Ophelia lived a lie, as she was a spineless imbecile always doing what others told her to do and had a pathetic death. Shakespeare and Nino Ricci whitethorn have very different vision on women but at the same time they are both very accurate views.