Women and Hamlet: Talking of Ophelia

For the next edition of our 2025 series of Research Conversations celebrating The Women Who Made Shakespeare, we'll be focusing on Shakespeare's female character, Ophelia.

Ophelia's enigmatic and captivating presence continues to fascinate audiences, readers, artists, and theatre practitioners.

We'll be joined by Dr M.J Kidnie who is as close to Ophelia as it is almost possible to be: the current editor of the new Arden Shakespeare edition of Hamlet.

How do we understand Ophelia in relation to the men who surround her?

How do we understand Shakespeare's depiction of her demise?

How has Ophelia been portrayed in theatre performances, films, and other works of art?

Led by Dr M.J Kidnie, Professor of English and Theatre Studies, University of Western Ontario.

This is a free online event. Book your free space.

About our Research Conversations
Every month we host a live online talk which provides you with the opportunity to listen to people who are engaged in Shakespeare-related research. The talk begins with a thirty-minute presentation, followed by an open discussion.

All of our Research Conversations are completely free to attend, though we do encourage donations in order to support our work and keep Shakespeare's story alive. So if you are in the position to support us with a donation, no matter large or small, we would be incredibly grateful.

Listen back: If you were unable to attend our previous virtual Research Conversations, want a recap, or completely new to it and want to see what it's all about, you can catch up on our audio recordings .

This event is part of our multi-year programme, celebrating The Women Who Made Shakespeare