Universidad de Chile

Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades

Literature Department
Shakespeare and Elizabethan Drama
Teacher: Alejandra Ortiz

Female suicide in The Spanish Tragedy and

Hamlet

Lidia Gavrilov - Ulises Zepeda

Index
1. Outline
2. Comparative chart
3. Process
4. "I Fear She Cannot Love at All": Unnatural Female Sexuality in the
Revenge Tragedy by Liberty Stanavage
5. Difference in Cognitive Flexibility between Passive and Active Suicidal
Ideation in Patients with Depression by Yi-Jyunn Lai
6. Women in The Book Of Martyrs as Models of Behavior in Tudor England
by Carole Levin
7. Argument 1
8. Argument 2
9. Conclusions
10. Bibliography
Outline
Topic: Female Suicide

Thesis: Even though they represent different female ideals, through their suicides both Bel
Imperia and Ophelia demonstrate a rejection of them.

Argument 1: During her life, Ophelia complies with the female ideal she’s expected to
fulfill, whereas Bel-Imperia rejects it through her sexuality and by voicing her opinions.

Argument 2: By committing active and passive suicide, both Bel-Imperia and Ophelia
are stating a rejection of female ideals.
Comparative chart
The Spanish Tragedy’s Bel-Imperia Hamlet’s Ophelia

Societal Expectations Does not conform to them Is the ideal Elizabethan woman

Relations Disobeys forced Marriage, had Obeys Polonius, Laertes and Hamlet
romantic relations with two lower when they tell her what to do
class men (Andreas and Horatio)

Personality Voices and acts on her opinions, Is chaste and virtuous, follows orders
fights for her wishes

Suicide She kills Balthazar and then She lets herself die
herself
Our process
Reading Focus on Bel- TentativeConcepts:
Imperia, -Agency
The Spanish -Gender Roles
Tragedy and Ophelia and -Societal Expectations
Hamlet Gertrude -Patriarchy

Overwhelmed
Final Deciding on Bel-
by the
Thesis and Imperia/Ophelia
Comparison
complexity of
Arguments
Hamlet
Our process
-We decided to be the first ones to present, because we read The Spanish tragedy and liked it a lot. We decided to
compare it with Hamlet because we also liked it.
-After reading both plays, we started to relate the different women (Bel Imperia, Isabella, Gertrude and Ophelia) and
decided to focus on Bel Imperia on one hand, and Ophelia and Gertrude on the other, because of how different their roles
are.
-After identifying this, we decide the concepts with which we were going to work. These changed a lot through our
discussions, we spent many days trying to close in on what we wanted to develop. Among this are gender roles, societal
expectations, agency, patriarchy, among others. We also chose many quotes we thought would be useful.
-A week before our scheduled presentation, we felt overwhelmed by the complexity of Hamlet and decided not to present.
Nevertheless, we liked Bel Imperia’s character so much that in the end we prefered to present last than to change our texts
and present earlier

-During the strike, we spent some time on our own to reflect more closely on Hamlet and Ophelia’s character, and decide to
work solely on her instead of her and Gertrude. We reread some parts and pasted more quotes (we used both Google
Docs and Google slides to do this). During our class windows after the strike we got together and kept thinking about our
thesis and arguments, because we had our ideas very well organized but we struggled a lot on how to convey them
succinctly on our outline, and this was by far the most difficult part.
-Finally, after having more clarity on most things, we started to crop quotes and chose the ones we would use from our
secondary material. We made a list of what quotes and ideas went on which argument and worked on that until we
finished.
Women in The Book Of Martyrs as Models of Behavior in Tudor
England by Carole Levin

Key notions:
-John Foxe’s The Book of Martyrs and its impact in Elizabethan England
-This book had an enormous influence in England, it was present in every
cathedral
-The article analyses 5 women of the book
-They represent the moral ideal of women in the Elizabethan era
-These were modesty, piety, humilty and sweetness
"I Fear She Cannot Love at All": Unnatural Female Sexuality in the
Revenge Tragedy by Liberty Stanavage
Key notions:
-Unnatural Female Sexuality in the Revenge Tragedy
-Bel Imperia of The Spanish Tragedy and Tamora from Titus Andronicus: Active
sexuality that exists out of male control
-Bel Imperia, Gertrude and Ophelia: The Death of Female Revenge
-Bel Imperia, Penthea and Calantha: The Containable Female Revenger
-The Eradication of Female Agency in the Revenge Tragedy
Difference in Cognitive Flexibility between Passive and Active Suicidal
Ideation in Patients with Depression by Yi-Jyunn Lai
Key notions:
-Suicidal Ideation, Passive Suicidal Ideation, Active Suicidal Ideation
-Suicidal Ideation means thinking about suicide or wanting to take your own life.
-Passive SI implies a desire to die, but without a specific plan to carry out death.
-Active SI implies an existing desire to die accompanied by a plan for how to
carry out death.
-Depressed patients with suicidal thoughts see their coping options in terms of all
or nothing, which may be due to cognitive inflexibility.
Argument 1
Argument 1: During her life, Ophelia complies with the female ideal
she’s expected to fulfill, whereas Bel-Imperia rejects it through her
sexuality and by voicing her opinions.

Didactic literature of the 16th century advised women to be models of

chaste, passive obedience. Pearl Hogrefe and Ruth Kelso both suggest
that the ideals for women of the Renaissance were basically the passive
Christian virtues. Sermons and courtesy books emphasized such
qualities as modesty, humility, sweetness, and piety. (Levine, 197)
Argument 1: During her life, Ophelia complies with the female ideal
she’s expected to fulfill, whereas Bel-Imperia rejects it through her
sexuality and by voicing her opinions.
LAERTES Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain | If with too
credent ear you list his songs, | Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure
open | To his unmastered importunity. | Fear it Ophelia, fear it my dear
sister, | And keep you in the rear of your affection, | Out of the shot and
danger of desire. [...] | Be wary then, best safety lies in fear: | Youth to itself
rebels, though none else near.
OPHELIA I shall th'effect of this good lesson keep | As watchman to my
heart. [...] (pp. 107-108, I. 3. 29. 29-46) (our emphasis)
In these quotes, Laertes, her brother, tells Ophelia what to do.
Argument 1: During her life, Ophelia complies with the female
ideal she’s expected to fulfill, whereas Bel-Imperia rejects it
through her sexuality and by voicing her opinions.
POLONIUS I would not in plain terms from this time forth | Have you so
slander any moment leisure | As to give words or talk with the Lord
Hamlet. | Look to't I charge you. Come your ways.
OPHELIA I shall obey, my lord. (p. 112, I. 3. 117. 32-36) (our emphasis)

POLONIUS What, have you given him any hard words of late?
OPHELIA No my good lord; but as you did command, | I did repel his
letters, and denied | His access to me. 2,1,87 (p. , 2. 1. 87. 105-108) (our
emphasis)
In these quotes, Polonius, her father, tells Ophelia what to do.
Argument 1: During her life, Ophelia complies with the female ideal she’s
expected to fulfill, whereas Bel-Imperia rejects it through her sexuality and by
voicing her opinions.
OPHELIA My lord, I have remembrances of yours | That I have longed long to re-deliver. I
pray you now receive them.
HAMLET No, not I, I never gave you aught.
OPHELIA My honoured lord, you know right well you did, [..]
HAMLET [...] I did love you once.
OPHELIA Indeed my lord you made me believe so.
HAMLET You should not have believed me [...] I loved you not.
OPHELIA I was the more deceived.
HAMLET Get thee to a nunnery - why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself
indifferent honest (pp. 160-161, III. 1. 93-120 (our emphasis)
Ophelia tries to give Hamlet her love, but he scorns and cruelly rejects her, denying he ever
truly loved her. Ophelia reacts by merely acknowledging his insults and feeling deceived.
Argument 1: During her life, Ophelia complies with the female
ideal she’s expected to fulfill, whereas Bel-Imperia rejects it
through her sexuality and by voicing her opinions.
BEL-IMPERIA Ay, go, Horatio, leave me here alone, | For solitude best fits my cheerless
mood. | Yet what avails to wail Andrea's death, | From whence Horatio proves my second
love? | Had he not lov'd Andrea as he did, | He could not sit in Bel-imperia's thoughts. |
But how can love find harbour in my breast, | Till I revenge the death of my belov'd? | Yes,
second love shall further my revenge! | I'll love Horatio, my Andrea's friend, | The more to
spite the prince that wrought his end. | And where Don Balthazar, that slew my love, |
Himself now pleads for favour at my hands, | He shall, in rigour of my just disdain | Reap
long repentance for his murderous deed. (p. 44, I. 4. 58-72) (our emphasis)

Bel-imperia and Horatio part ways. She affirms her strong desire for avenging Andrea and spiting
Balthazar by loving Horatio.
Argument 1: During her life, Ophelia complies with the female ideal
she’s expected to fulfill, whereas Bel-Imperia rejects it through her
sexuality and by voicing her opinions.
LORENZO Tush, tush, my lord! let go these ambages, | And in plain terms acquaint her with your love.
BEL-IMPERIA What boots complaint, when there's no remedy?
BALTHAZAR. Yes, to your gracious self must I complain, | In whose fair answer lies my remedy, | On
whose perfection all my thoughts attend, [...]
BEL-IMPERIA Alas, my lord! These are but words of course, | And but devis'd to drive me from this
place.
She, going in, lets fall her glove, which HORATIO, coming out, takes up.
HORATIO Madame, your glove.
BEL-IMPERIA Thanks, good Horatio; take it for thy pains. (pp. 44-45, I. 4.90-101) (our emphasis)

Bel-imperia mocks Balthazar and proceeds to let her glove fall so Horatio could take it in front of the
prince. (this is the second part of the last quote)
Argument 1: During her life, Ophelia complies with the female ideal
she’s expected to fulfill, whereas Bel-Imperia rejects it through her
sexuality and by voicing her opinions.
BALTHAZAR Come, Bel-imperia, Balthazar's content, | My sorrow's ease, and sovereign
of my bliss,— | Sith heav'n hath ordained thee to be mine, | Disperse those clouds and
melancholy looks, | And clear them up with those thy sun-bright eyes, | Wherein my hope
and heav'n's fair beauty lies!
BEL-IMPERIA My looks, my lord, are fitting for my love, | Which, new begun, can show
no brighter yet.
BALTHAZAR New kindled flames should burn as morning sun.
BEL-IMPERIA But not too fast, least heat and all be done. (p. 68, III. 14. 95-104) (our
emphasis)
Bel-imperia finds out Spain and Portugal have arranged a marriage between her and Balthazar,
making her an object of exchange. She apparently accepts this while expressing her sadness and
disdain, but we already know what will eventually happen...
Argument 2
Argument 2: By committing active and passive suicide, both Bel-
Imperia and Ophelia are stating a rejection of female ideals.
HAMLET Lady , shall I lie in your lap?
OPHELIA No my lord.
HAMLET I mean, my head upon your lap?
OPHELIA Ay my lord.
HAMLET Do you think I meant country matters?
OPHELIA I think nothing my lord.
HAMLET That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs.
OPHELIA What is, my lord?
HAMLET Nothing
(p. 169, III. 2. 113)
Argument 2: By committing active and passive suicide, both Bel-
Imperia and Ophelia are stating a rejection of female ideals.

HAMLET {Draws) How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead. | Kills
Polonius | POLONIUS {Behind) Oh, I am slain!
(p. 187, III. 4. 33)

OPHELIA Say you? Nay, pray you mark. | He is dead and gone lady,
Song He is dead and gone; | At his head a grass-green turf, At his heels
a stone. [..] We must be patient, but I cannot choose but weep to think
they would lay him i'th' cold ground. (p. 206-208, IV. 5. 21-64)
Argument 2: By committing active and passive suicide, both Bel-
Imperia and Ophelia are stating a rejection of female ideals.
GERTRUDE [...]When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,
And, mermaid-like awhile they bore her up,
Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,
As one incapable of her own distress
Or like a creature native and endued
Unto that element. But long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.”(p. 224 IV. 7. 173)
Argument 2: By committing active and passive suicide, both Bel-
Imperia and Ophelia are stating a rejection of female ideals.
HIERONIMO(Reads)’For want of ink, recieve this bloody writ.
Me hath my hapless brother hid from thee:
Revenge thyself on Balthazar and him,
For these were they that murderèd thy son.
(p. 54 III. 3. 20)

“Nevertheless, Bel-Imperia operates explicitly outside her proscribed societal role.

[...]Bel-Imperia’s desire is potentially dangerous or subversive to the social order around
her.” (Stanavage 129)
Argument 2: By committing active and passive suicide, both Bel-
Imperia and Ophelia are stating a rejection of female ideals.
Balthazar ‘Tis I that love
Bel-Imperia Whom?
Balthazar Bel-Imperia
Bel-Imperia But I that fear
Balthazar Whom?
Bel-Imperia Bel-Imperia
Lorenzo Fear yourself?
Bel-Imperia Ay, brother
Lorenzo How?
Bel-Imperia As those That what they love are loath and fear to lose.
Balthazar Then, fair, let Balthazar your keeper be
Bel-Imperia No, Balthazar doth fear as well as we
(p. 62 III. 5. 90-99)
Argument 2: By committing active and passive suicide, both Bel-
Imperia and Ophelia are stating a rejection of female ideals.

Bel-Imperia Tyrant, desist soliciting vain suits;

Relentless are mine ears to thy laments,
As thy butcher is pititless and base,
Which seized on my Erasto, harmless knight,
Yet thy power thou thikest to command,
And to thy power Perseda doth obey;
But were she able, thus she would revenge
Thy treacheries on thee, ignoble prince: Stab him
And on herself she would be thus revenged. Stab herself
(p. 73 IV. 4. 20)
Conclusions
Topic: Female Suicide
Thesis: Even though they represent different female
ideals, through their suicides both Bel Imperia and
Ophelia demonstrate a rejection of them.
Argument 1: During her life, Ophelia complies with the
female ideal she’s expected to fulfill, whereas Bel-
Imperia rejects it through her sexuality and by voicing her
opinions.
Argument 2: By committing active and passive suicide,
both Bel-Imperia and Ophelia are stating a rejection of
female ideals.
-In Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, Bel-Imperia
actively commits suicide and revenge to reject her
family's orders of marrying Balthazar to unite
Portugal and Spain.
-In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia
passively commits suicide to reject Polonius,
Laertes and Hamlet’s control.
-Despite the fact that both of these women led their
lives in completely different ways, in the end they
both rejected the ideals imposed on them by
choosing suicide. For them the only way out of these
imposed ideals, regardless of their own opinions,
ends up being death.
Bibliography (MLA)
Kyd, Thomas. The Spanish Tragedy. 2nd ed. New Fetter Lane, London: Routledge, 1585. Print.

Lai, Yi-Hyunn. "Difference In Cognitive Flexibility Between Passive And Active Suicidal Ideation In Patients With
Depression." Neuropsychiatry London 8.4 (2018): 1182-1183. Print.

Levine, Carol. "Women in The Book of Martyrs as models of behaviour in Tudor England". International Journal
Of Women's Studies, vol 4, no. 2, 1971, pp. 196-207., Accessed 25 July 2019.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985: 86-253.
Print.

Stanavage, L. (2007). "I Fear She Cannot Love at All": Unnatural Female Sexuality in the Revenge Tragedy.
GENRE: An International Journal of Literature and the Arts Women, Sexuality, and Early Modern Studies, 28(125),
pp.125-145.