What Are The Similarities Between Hamlet And A Streetcar Named Desire

Compare the presentation of love and madness within male-female relationships in Wuthering Heights, Hamlet and A Streetcar Named Desire

The presentation of love is closely related to madness within these texts. The similarities between these texts are usually that the female characters experience some form of mental breakdown due to the actions of the men that they love. For example, Blanche’s madness starts with the death of her husband in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and Ophelia’s madness upon the death of her father in ‘Hamlet’. However, madness isn’t always portrayed by women, as Heathcliff shows symptoms of madness after Cathy’s death in ‘Wuthering Heights’.

In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ there are many references towards the relationship
She sings a song that displays “a curious mixture of innocence and sexuality, sense and nonsense”4, which suggests that Hamlet took her virginity as he “let in the maid, that out a maid/ Never departed more”. This could suggest that she feels used and abandoned by Hamlet. However, it also replicates the fears of lust that her father and brother proposed to her as in Act 1 Scene 3 they tell her to “fear” lust. It also could represent the double-standard regarding the loss of virginity that is still present in today’s society. This vulgar statement, which would have been deemed shocking to its Shakespearian audience as it is spoken by a young women of status, might imply how deeply Hamlet’s implication of Ophelia being a whore has affected her; especially as he was so open with the statement (“Did you think I meant country matters?”)during the performance of the dumb-show in Act 3 Scene 2. This would have been very humiliating for Ophelia as, not only was this questioning her virginity, but in terms of stagecraft, this comment would have been said in close proximity to her father as well as being surrounded by other members of the court, including Gertrude and Claudius. Betrayed love is once again presented as Ophelia sings that “You promis’d me to wed” which implies that Hamlet has seduced her with empty promises, linking in with the warning of the dangers of lust mentioned by her father
In volume 1 chapter 3, Mr Lockwood is sleeping in the room in which Cathy lived as a child. He is awoken by a scratching on the window and awakes the household by screaming loudly. Heathcliff enters the room to investigate first, rather than a servant, which suggests that he hoped to see an apparition of Cathy. His desperation to see Cathy is described later on in the chapter as he “wrenched open the lattice, bursting, as he pulled at it, into an uncontrollable passion of tears”. The violence of these actions-such as “wrenched”, “bursting” and passion”- all highlight that his need to see Cathy is uncontrollable, and is the force that keeps him going. It also suggests that Heathcliff has been repressing his emotions, and the hope of seeing Cathy has unlocked them. It also infers the amount of control Cathy still has over Heathcliff, even twenty years after her death. Furthermore, this display of emotion is a contrast to the coldness Heathcliff displays when Lockwood and Heathcliff are first introduced. Lockwood mentions at the beginning of the novel that he had “no desire to aggravate his impatience” which suggests to the reader that is it clear upon meeting Heathcliff that he is a very controlling person and is easily wound up. This makes Heathcliff’s later behaviour