Ophelia's flaws are what makes her such a complex character. Her role in society is a woman who can’t survive on her own without the support of others. She is clearly a troubled person and it shows through her actions towards others. She is constantly being used against her own will. Hamlet uses her innocence in his favor to seek revenge towards King Claudius. Ophelia was always taught to be obedient and to always follow what others told her to do. Because of her innocence, she is constantly being taken advantage of because she is a woman. In Hamlet, Ophelia's insanity increases due to the fact that she loses all of the people that she was once close to. Shakespeare uses the character of Ophelia to portray women in society at a specific time. …show more content…
Ophelia’s brother Laertes always wants the best for her. So he suggests that she should no longer pursue the relationship with Hamlet because she doesn’t belong in the royal family. Laertes obviously loves her but also wants that power of controlling her so he advises Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet. All men during this time would act like this towards a woman. Ophelia’s relationship with her father is very normal, they loved each other and Ophelia cared for him greatly. After Laertes told Ophelia that she should stay away from Hamlet, Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet loves her. Polonius Ophelia’s father, finds it strange that Hamlet would profess his love towards her so he quickly mirrors what Laertes said earlier and he tells her to no longer be affiliated with Hamlet. Ophelia promises to obey her father's commands. Her relationship with Hamlet is anything but normal, some might call it a type of “rejected love.” Ophelia still loves Hamlet but he no longer feels the same way towards her. Both Hamlet and Ophelia share this mutual love for one another until their worlds begin to fall apart. For Ophelia, her life begins to unravel when Hamlet admits that his love …show more content…
King Claudius mentions “Poor Ophelia divided from herself and her fair judgement” (IV.V.91-92) she doesn’t know how to control herself and is losing her sanity because her emotions are getting the best of her. She is left in a tough place when Hamlet; her former lover, who killed her father Polonius. Ophelia constantly brings up her father's death by saying “I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. They say he made a good end” (IV.V.207-209). She implies that maybe dying is a better solution to her problems and will end all of her suffering. Ophelia reacts to her father's death in a passive way, as she says “He is dead and gone, lady, He is dead and gone” (IV.V. 34-35). This is when Ophelia starts giving into the madness. Ophelia is allowing the madness to take over by isolating herself and acting strange. She believes that singing is the best way for her to freely express herself so she repeatedly sings about flowers and how pretty they are, “Larded all with sweet flowers; Which bewept the grave and did not go with true-love showers” (IV.V.43-45). When really she’s just foreshadowing her death because she is mentioning graves and how the flowers rest upon the grave. Right now, she doesn’t have a lot going for her because she just figured out that Hamlet killed her father, her brother is away in France and Hamlet has just rejected
Ophelia is a character in Hamlet that is chronically faithful to everyone else but herself. Ophelia is deeply in love with Hamlet, and she is certain that he loves her as well. This is clear from the assertions she makes in Hamlet’s defense: “My lord, he hath importuned me with love in honest fashion. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, with almost all the holy vows of heaven” (1795). Ophelia’s downfall emerges when she doubts her own feelings and beliefs about Hamlet, upon instruction and advice from her brother and father. Ophelia, a confident and intelligent woman, begins to rely on others to tell her what to think and how to act. “I do not know, my lord, what I should think” (1795). Upon Polonius request, and going against her own hearts desires, she starts to avoid Hamlet. “No, my good lord, but, as you did command, I did repel his letters and denied his access to me” (1806). By doing what her father advises and wishes Ophelia is no longer capable of making decisions for herself. The loss of Hamlet’s love and the death of her father leave her with confusion and doubts about her future. “Well, Go...
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
Ophelia was driven mad by the death of her father Polonius and how Hamlet betrayed her love with his own wave of madness which was just an act. In her madness, Ophelia talks about her father and his death and about the “Tricks in the world” (terrible things that happen to people). Ophelia’s madness was also the extent of her being used by her father so he could spy on Hamlet to see if he was truly crazy and then by Hamlet when he claimed he no longer loved her and that he didn’t send her any letters (remembrances). Ophelia’s speech and her fragments of songs are unsensible. Her song was about her father’s death “He is gone, He is gone” (4.5.220), and a maiden who is tricked into losing her virginity with a false promise of love and the possibility of marriage. “To be your valentine, then up he rose and donned his clothes and duped the chamber door” (4.5.56-58)
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.
This can be proven by the change in Ophelia’s actions and behavior. Ophelia starts to sing strange songs in front of Gertrude about her father’s death and Hamlet’s madness. Ophelia sings to Gertrude and sings, “He is dead and gone, lady, he is dead and gone, at his head a grass-green turf, at his heels a stone” (4.5.26-29).This tells us that Ophelia is a very soft and is a very weak character and can easily get heart broken. She cares about her family and the death of her father has shattered her into pieces, it may cause problems for her to
Hamlet, Ophelia’s lover, accidentally kills her father and “confesses” he never loved her, Hamlet toys with Ophelia's emotions intentionally and unintentionally to solidify his madness. Even though she was the who initiated the “breakup”, her sorrows of the relationship are much more public than Hamlets. Hamlet’s madness scares Ophelia away which he used as a defense mechanism to not be hurt anymore. His madness looks as though he had been "loosed out of hell to speak of horrors" (2.1.83-84) and she "truly [did] fear it"(2.1. 86). His insanity and rudeness suffocated any love she had for him. She admits that their "their perfume [has been] lost" (3.1. 99). This helped Hamlet solidify his insanity by cutting ties with the ones he loves, and having them tell others he is mad. This comes with the cost of discontinuing his relationships: especially with Ophelia. Both have hinted around in the text of an intimate affair. This makes the emotions and breakup even more difficult for both of them. Their relationship was a love, not an innocent crush or courtship. Poor Ophelia initially thought she caused Hamlet's madness due to the abrupt ending of their affair. But because of her naivety, she lacks to see his other internal struggles. Ophelia’s trust in Hamlet left her heartbroken. Hamlet’s agenda of or getting justice for his father occupied his mind more than Ophelia did. Which left her feeling
Hamlet and Laertes share a different but deep love and concern for Ophelia. Laertes advises her to retain from seeing and being involved with Hamlet because of his social status. He didn’t want her to get her heart broken by Hamlet, since he believed that his marriage would be arranged to someone of his social status, and that he would only use and hurt Ophelia. Hamlet on the other hand, was madly in love with Ophelia but it languishes after she rejects him. Ophelia’s death caused distress in both Hamlet and Laertes and it also made Laertes more hostile towards Hamlet.
In hamlet, Ophelia is in love with Hamlet and she wants to be with him. Her dad poloniuss does not want her to be with him, and he merely tells her that she is not good enough to be with hamlet because he will have to marry an heir to the crown. Poloniuss tells Ophelia to stop talking to hamlet and to let him go. She does obey her father and from this she stays away from Hamlet. Until Hamlet comes storming into her room one night and stares her straight into her eyes and
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, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, represents a self-confident and aware female character. She analyzes the world around her and recognizes the multitude of male figures attempting to control her life. Her actions display not only this awareness, but also maturity in her non-confrontational discussions. Though she is demeaned by Laertes, Polonius, and Hamlet, Ophelia exhibits intelligence and independence and ultimately resorts to suicide in order to free herself from the power of the men around 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
Ophelia’s relationship with her father, Polonius indicates a strong daughter-father relationship. Polonius’s actions reveal that is overprotective over his daughter. One prominent example is, Polonius forbids Ophelia to associate with Hamlet because Polonius believes and explains to Ophelia that her social status is no where close to the Prince, and Ophelia immediately obeys “ I shall obey my lord” ( Scene 1, Act iii). In fact , Polonius even uses his daughter to spy on Prince Hamlet and she agrees. Adding on, Ophelia’s relationship with her brother, Laertes is where Ophelia obeys and respects Laertes decisions because she believes he knows whats best for her. For instance, Hamlet is not the only one in the play who mentions Ophelia about her sexuality, Laertes does as well. Laertes gives Ophelia advice and a lengthy speech about the danger and risks on pre-marital sex for only women. This illustrates how Ophelia has two direct ruling men in her life, but at the same time, Ophelia demonstrates how she rebels in the
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia is the most static character in the play. Instead of changing through the course of the play, she remains suffering in the misfortunes perpetrated upon her. She falls into insanity and dies a tragic death. Ophelia has issues surviving without a male influence, and her downfall is when all the men in her life abandon her. Hamlet’s Ophelia, is a tragic, insane character that cannot exist on her own.
Despite Ophelia’s weak will, the male characters respond dramatically to her actions, proving that women indeed have a large impact in Hamlet. Her obedience is actually her downfall, because it allows the male characters to control and use her in their schemes. 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. One way that her manipulation is key to Hamlet’s plot is when Polonius orders her “in plain terms, from this time forth/ Have you so slander any moment leisure/As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet,” (1.3.131-133). She complies with his wishes, agreeing to return any tokens of Hamlet’s love to him, verify t...
Ophelia's insanity is driven by the fact that she has basically been cut out of Hamlet's life. " Like sweet bells jangled, out of time and harsh,/ That unmatched form and feature of blown youth/ Blasted with ecstasy" (III.i. 158-160).Her role as an "innocent lady" is to complete the picture of faithfulness and obedience. Without Hamlet, it is difficult for Ophelia to fulfill her role. Ophelia is completely pushed over the edge whe...