When trying to come up with a character to compare Utena to, Ophelia may not come to mind. Arguably, Ophelia is a weak character who lost her sense of self when the men around her became unstable. She lived her life around those men-Hamlet, her father, and her brother. The loss of them sent her into a madness, which ended with her death.

That is Shakespeare's Ophelia. In Natalie Merchant's song "Ophelia" she looks at other Ophelias and how they were strong. In a sense, they are what Ophelia could have become. For the sake of relevancy, Ophelia is what Utena could have become.

Ophelia was being used and manipulated by the men around her. Hamlet played with her feelings and perhaps even got her pregnant. Her father and the king used her to find out if Hamlet was really insane and he used her to scare the king. Utena is constantly being used by the men (and even Anthy) around her. She doesn't see a lot of it going on until it is too late.

Ophelia and Hamlet had a forbidden relationship to some degree. Whether it was consummated is debatable, but we know there was some courting. He was a Prince and she was below him. Most likely, he would not have been able to marry her. Akio had a fiancé and Utena knew being involved with him was wrong. She still got involved just like Ophelia did.

Both faced hardships because of the people around them and because of their flaws. Ophelia lost her father, Hamlet was sent away, and her brother was in Paris. She became weak and went insane. Utena too became weak temporarily and almost became a princess instead of a prince. She had the strength to find her way back to her chosen path and was able to become something more than a prince.

If Utena could have become Ophelia, Ophelia could have been Utena. She was in an age where woman like Utena where rare and usually those were treated like witches. Ophelia made the decision she did because that was the only decision she could make. Perhaps if she had had other options...

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