#but perhaps more of a personal interpretation/headcanon rather than subtext. still valid though. idk I'm just yapping | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

queeringclassiclit · 4 months ago

Text

Ophelia

from Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1623)

submitted by @cg920fire who said:

I saw some trans Ophelia headcanons on Tumblr and was curious about whether or not there's some trans subtext in the play that flew over my head. What also contributed to my curiosity was when I hosted an AMA about my AU version of her, and someone asked why I made her cis. I was confused by it, unsure about how to answer it. Everyone I had brought it up to all agreed that it was a weird question since Ophelia doesn't seem to be explicitly trans-coded in the text as far as I know and doesn't engage in gender fuckery like Shakespeare's crossdressing characters. However, I'm still open to the possibility that I did indeed miss some trans subtext about her.

#this is an interesting one #in my opinion I'd say that ophelia does have some interesting gender stuff going on in the sense that she's imprisoned by womanhood #but I see that as more of a patriarchal thing than a trans thing. I suppose it's not that much of a leap to arrive at a trans reading #but perhaps more of a personal interpretation/headcanon rather than subtext. still valid though. idk I'm just yapping #I look forward to hearing people's thoughts #ophelia #hamlet #william shakespeare #trans #queer #polls #classic literature #new post

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