The Innocent One
If you can be honest with yourself then you should have no problem being honest with others. Ophelia is an obedient young woman torn between what she wants and what is good for her. She has lived a life of being kind, loyal, and always truthful even when outside voices attempt to influence her. Although being young and obedient, she was easily manipulated by the men in her life such as Hamlet and her father. During Hamlets act of madness, Ophelia still loved him, but chose to stay true to what she knew and Obeyed her father’s request to stay away from the prince. This young woman was so loyal to herself that it even drove her to her own death. Ophelia is the character that is most true to herself. Throughout the book, Ophelia never deviated from herself. All women of this time period had few choices in life. They were the maids of the home and the bearers of children. Forced to look up to men, this was their lifestyle. Ophelia was just like these other women. She spoke when she was spoken to, took orders and obeyed them fully, and always stayed loyal to herself and her family. When
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Although she didn’t have a christian burial because she committed suicide, she was still recognized as a sweet and innocent young girl at her funeral. Its sad to know that someone so honest and pure felt that she had no other way out than death. The young woman would never have a chance to prove that she wasn’t crazy even if she lived. She saw everyone’s guilt, which became obvious when she handed out the flowers in the castle. This makes you question whether she would have became someone's next victim since she knew so much. If she were to have lived, she would have never lived a life of true happiness. That is what makes her death a true tragedy. Hamlet was a story full of liars and murderers however, there will always be a character that was good and true. That was
Loyal. Betrayed. Insane. Ophelia, a character from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, goes through emotional pain and suffering, that drives her into madness. Torn between her father’s word and her love for Hamlet, she chooses to listen to her father, which spells her own demise. Hamlet betrays Ophelia, telling her that he never loved her and that she meant nothing to him. Ophelia feels abandoned, but when her father dies she is pushed over the edge. She is no longer able to move on so she takes her own life.
Ophelia is portrayed as a sensitive, fragile woman. Easily overpowered and controlled by her brother and father, Ophelia is destined to be weak. Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, warns and pushes Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet and is further supported by their father Polonius. “Polonius enters and adds his warning to those of Laertes. He orders Ophelia not to spend time with Hamlet or even talk to him. Ophelia promises to obey” (“Hamlet” 95). Ophelia’s obedience to her father’s directions prove the side she
In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare developed the story of prince Hamlet, and the murder of his father by the king's brother, Claudius. Hamlet reacted to this event with an internal battle that harmed everyone around him. Ophelia was the character most greatly impacted by Hamlet's feigned and real madness - she first lost her father, her sanity, and then her life. Ophelia, obedient, weak-willed, and no feminist role model, deserves the most pity of any character in the play.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is set in the late middle ages, in Denmark. A time in history when women were not respected and thought of as the inferior sex. There are two women characters in Hamlet; Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, and Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest. Magda Romanska the writer of “Ontology and Eroticism: Two Bodies Of Ophelia”, argues that Ophelia represents the typical idea of women in the nineteenth century. I agree with this, but argue that it is not the only aspect of Ophelia’s character. Ophelia becomes the bearer of Hamlet’s hatred toward the world, and is also the character of lowest status because she is an average women. Ophelia surrenders herself to the cruelty of those around her, and sacrifices her sanctity to please and conform
Ophelia is obedient and loyal in the way that she loves Hamlet, but has no choice but to obey her father’s whims “I shall obey my lord” (1.4.10). She doesn’t argue and goes along with what she is told “…But as you did command, I did repel
In the Shakespearean era, certain pressures can cause one to become enclosed in expectation, making conformation the only viable alternative. “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” (1.3.32-35). Laertes reminds Ophelia that as a woman she must be careful around men, certainly Hamlet, and sustain her chastity in order to appear favourable to the public. As a woman of her time, Ophelia is expected to be obedient, submissive, and spiritless. In order to be approved by society, she is required to remain untarnished until her father finds an appropriate suitor to give her away to. She is literally viewed as an article in her father's possession. Ophelia later challenges her brother's notion by saying, “Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, / Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven” (1.3.50-51). In her view, she holds the same set of expectations for her brother rather than accepting that she must blindly follow his (or anyone else's) guidelines simply because she is a woman. Even though Ophelia verbally expresses her disdain towards these formalities, it is inevitable that the pressure placed on her by society will prove too much to bear. Subconsciously, Ophelia has the desire (instilled in her throughout her upbringing) to find a husband and start a family while she is still at an ideal age. Despite all of the warnings she receives, Ophelia falls prey to Hamlet's words, giving up the entirety of herself to him: "I a maid at your window, / To be your Valentine. / Then up he rose, and donned his clothes, / And dupped the chamber-door, / Let in the maid, that out a maid / Never departed more" (4.5.50-55). Ophelia suggests that she innocently allows herself to be intimate with Hamlet. Prior to this, Ophelia believes that Hamlet is that one
Ophelia is loyal to the men in her family, as per the ideal for women at the time, however, Ophelia confuses her loyalty with mental dependence on her father and brother to guide her through her life and her feelings. An instance of this is seen when she says to Polonius, “I
The story of Hamlet is a morbid tale of tragedy, commitment, and manipulation; this is especially evident within the character of Ophelia. Throughout the play, Ophelia is torn between obeying and following the different commitments that she has to men in her life. She is constantly torn between the choice of obeying the decisions and wishes of her family or that of Hamlet. She is a constant subject of manipulation and brain washing from both her father and brother. Ophelia is not only subject to the torture of others using her for their intentions but she is also susceptible to abuse from Hamlet. Both her father and her brother believe that Hamlet is using her to achieve his own personal goals.
Ophelia is also a complex character, she is a Northern white American lady, of high education, who dislikes slavery yet is uncomfortable in the presence of a “black blooded” character. This is due to Ophelia believing it is inevitable for those who are “black blooded” to be within slave work, due to being biologically determined. This is something many white readers during the nineteenth century would have also believed. She supports that in the ‘South as well as North, there are women who have an extraordinary talent for command, and tact in educating’ (Stowe 1995, p.191). This quote is from chapter XVIII which sees Ophelia’s attempt to try and reform the house and install some Northern attributes as she goes along.
demonstrate her obedience to her father. In the beginning of the play, Ophelia tells her
Ophelia’s madness is because of what she encounters throughout the play by everyone around her. Her character is often looked past, people really don’t give her a second thought, and her emotions and wellbeing are almost entirely forgotten about. When her father and brother are telling her to stay away from Hamlet, she tries to speak up and tell them that she knows that Hamlet truly loves her. She tells them her feelings, but they say no, she is not to speak to Hamlet again and must obey. They didn’t take a second to try and look things over from her perspective. After Polonius and Claudius plan for Ophelia and Hamlet to meet and talk while they hid to listened, Ophelia is verbally abused by Hamlet and her father is too caught up with Hamlet’s
Two of Ophelia’s difficulties arise from her father and brother. They believe that Hamlet is using her to take her virginity and throw it away because Ophelia will never be his wife. Her heart believes that Hamlet loves her although he promises he never has (“Hamlet” 1). Hamlet: “Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but not the time gives it proof. I did love you once.” Ophelia: “Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.” Hamlet: “You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock ...
One quote that backs up the point that Ophelia represents a tragic character is from the Bloom’s Literature document which goes into detail on Ophelia as a character, stating that, “Ophelia 's nature is abundantly affectionate; her wounded but faithful love—both for her father and for Hamlet—makes her one of the most touching of Shakespeare 's characters” (Boyce 1). Boyce also go on to state that, “the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is not a love story” (Boyce 1), which is why we see things fall apart between the two characters. It is very clear to us that Hamlet still had feeling towards Ophelia but felt betrayed by her which is the reason that he shut her, and all women out of his life, which you can find evidence of when he states, “man delights not me: no, nor woman neither” (2.2.301). The reason that Ophelia is one of the major factors to
Ophelia’s betrayal ends up putting Hamlet over the edge, motivating him in his quest for revenge. Ophelia is one of the two women in the play. As the daughter of Polonius, she only speaks in the company of several men, or directly to her brother or father. Since we never see her interactions with women, she suppresses her own thoughts in order to please her superiors. Yet, however weak and dependent her character is on the surface, Ophelia is a cornerstone to the play’s progression.
In Hamlet, Ophelia is unaware of the evil is spreading around her. She is an obedient woman, and is naive in that she takes what people say at face value, which makes her an innocent lady. "You should not have believed me, for virtue/ cannot so inculate our old stock but we shall relish of/ it. I loved you not." (III.ii. 117-119). Hamlet says these lines as a mask of his madness, but Ophelia does not understand his true motives and takes Hamlet's words very seriously to heart. The words that Hamlet says to Ophelia both confuse and hurt her greatly. Hamlet's lines are what eventually lead Ophelia to insanity, and Ophelia's insanity is what causes her death by drowning.