What if people were exact replicas of their parents and lacked their own thoughts and identities? That world would be static and horribly boring. In the classic play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare, one gets a glimpse of this kind of life with Ophelia and Polonius’s relationship. Polonius instructs his daughter on what to do about Hamlet’s loving feelings towards her, however, the way Polonius goes about advising Opheliaz is very detrimental to her. The way Polonius parents Ophelia effects her psychologically. Polonius strips Ophelia’s ability to think and figure out who she is as a person by his parenting style.
Polonius takes away Ophelia’s ability to think about who she wants to be as a person by making
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all of her decisions for her. Because of this, she never thinks independently, eliminating all possibilities of creating her own identity. He treats her as a helpless child. Polonius’s parenting style is summed up by almost a single sentence. Shakespeare writes “Marry, I will teach you. Think yourself a baby” (1.3.106). Polonius tells her to think of herself as a child. It is almost demeaning to her intelligence that a girl her age is seen to be incapable of making decisions about her own life. Without thinking on her own, it makes it very hard for her to figure out who she really is. Whether we would like to admit it, it takes a lot of thought and decisions to decide who we are and who we want to be. Polonius treating her as someone who knows nothing of the world eliminates her identity. Polonius removes Ophelia’s identify further by parenting her selfishly. Usually parents try to do what is best for their children, however, Polonius shapes Ophelia to his own interest. Dane, author of Reading Ophelia’s Madness, reflects on this fact and states ““She is asset to Polonius, a commodity to be disposed of, ideally at the greatest profit to himself. Relegating her to a perpetual childhood, Polonius educates s his "green girl" (1.3.101)”” (Dane 407). Polonius disregards who she could be by doing this, and it shows possession over her. The lack of control she has over her own decisions reduces the amount of life experiences that truly shape her as a person. She cannot do or say things that may reflect negatively towards her father. Sometimes bad decisions can mold who a person is by making them struggle. It also eliminates problem-solving skills. If Ophelia were to ever be in a situation where an instant decision is necessary, she would never be able to do it without Polonius making the decision for her. He is her only model of what to do. Ophelia loses her identity to women by her constant exposure to only male role models.
She mirrors men because she lacks a strong female role. Dane blames Ophelia’s failure to create an identity because of the lack of female role models. She states “Ophelia has clearly been bereft of maternal fostering, exiled on a barren island of male circumscription. Seeming to absorb the general absence of belief in her own intelligence, virtue and autonomy, Ophelia is left with an identity osmotically open to external suggestion” (Dane 406). Male and female minds differentiate greatly, and with Polonius treating her needs like his own, Ophelia loses her connection with femininity. Having only Polonius, she is shaped by male demands and relationships with them instead of what she needs to identify with female culture. Furthermore, there are no heroic female roles in her life. The male oriented environment leaves Ophelia confused, insecure with herself, and struggling to find an interesting …show more content…
personality. Ophelia’s character is bland and unnecessary because she lacks originality.
Ophelia mirrors Polonius as a result of him always giving her answers. In the scholarly article An Act of Methodology: A document in madness—writing Ophelia by Steinnes goes into detail about the logic Ophelia uses to justify her lack of creativity. Steinnes states “If the methods used are deemed trustworthy with respect to reliability and validity, we would like to think that our gems of knowledge also ought to be trusted” (Steinnes 819). Ophelia justified taking Polonius’s ideas because she trusted him as a father. Polonius made Ophelia a clone of himself by feeding her his ideas instead of letting her formulate her own. Ophelia lives as a copy of her father taking away any importance of her character and any possibility to be anything but bland and unnecessary. She never learned to challenge and distinguish herself. She blends in and bores. This kind of lifestyle restricts her happiness. It also leads to insecurity because without someone there to imitate, she loses every bit of identity she has because she never built one for
herself. We fall into Ophelia’s predicament in our everyday lives whether we realize it or not. We mindlessly take notes, memorize them, and spit the information back onto tests. We grow up, get married, and have kids because that is what is expected of us. We let people use us, and then toss us aside when we are no longer needed by them. Ophelia would have been more successful with her life if she would have learned to trust her own opinion over other people’s opinions. She would have benefited from living with some rebellion from her father and learning what is good for her before worrying about others. If she would have done these things, she could have turned into a positive female role and had a more fulfilling life. However, Polonius taught her otherwise. We cannot control what parents we have, but we can strive to have an independent life with n original personality.
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
With her father’s word being law and with that what he says she must follow, if she refuses Polonius, she risks social exclusion and grave insult to the man who controls her future. Her real attitude is clear when she has a conversation about chastity, first with Laertes, her brother, then with Polonius, her father. After Laertes rather explicitly warns Ophelia to fear losing her virginity, she replies by telling him not to lecture her, “Whiles, a puff'd and reckless libertine, / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, / And recks not his own rede” (1.3.48-50). When polonius gives her the same lecture and tells her not to accept Hamlet’s propositions, she simply replies, “I shall obey, my lord”
...She had lost her father and her lover while her brother was away for school, and she was no longer useful as a puppet in a greater scheme. Ophelia was displaced, an Elizabethan woman without the men on whom she had been taught to depend. Therein lies the problem - she lacked independence so much that she could not continue living without Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet. Ophelia's aloneness led to her insanity and death. The form of her death was the only fitting end for her - she drowned in a nearby river, falling beneath the gentle waters. She finally found peace in her mad world. That is how Ophelia is so useful as a classic feminist study - she evokes imagery of the fragile beauty women are expected to become, but shows what happens to women when they submit as such.
Leaving her only with the response saying “I shall obey, my lord”(1.3.145 ). Why Ophelia is unable to say more than a few simple words is made clear by societal expectations of the time. During this time daughters were the property of their fathers and were obligated to do their bidding. Campbell says “if she refuses Polonius, she risks social ostracism and grave insult to the man who capriciously controls her future” (58). Ophelia fears the backlash of disobeying her father, believing there is no other choice than doing what he has asked her to do. Even though a woman's virtue is a sacred and a very personal choice, her father leaves Ophelia with one option: to do what he says. “The issue of Ophelia’s chastity concerns Polonius as a parent and a politician—a virginal Ophelia has a better chance of attaining Hamlet’s hand in marriage” (Floyd-Wilson 401). This relationship Ophelia has between her father is very one-sided and unhealthy. It is formal and proper with very few emotions attached to each other. However, because Polonius is the only parental figure Ophelia has and loves him, his death was extremely difficult for her. Her father, hasn’t left her like Laertes and hasn’t rejected her like Hamlet. Making his unexpected death the final straw to her losing her sanity. Without someone to guide her, she is lost. She is unable to blindly follow a man but is to racked with emotion to think clearly.
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.
During Hamlet, Polonius and Laertes use Ophelia for their own self-gain not taking her feelings in consideration. In the article “Jephthah's Daughter's Daughter: Ophelia,” Cameron Hunt reveals that Polonius disregards Ophelia’s wants for his ...
Ophelia is conditioned to obey Polonius and Laertes’ commands, thinly veiled as guidance for her “own good.” She is never trusted to have a mind of her own, often having her intelligence openly insulted, causing her to be dependent on the men in her life. These men exercise authority over her, patronize, and degrade her, lowering her self-esteem to a non-existent level, and leaving her a...
However, after Polonius’ death, Ophelia no longer has an immediate figure of authority over her, ...
Her dependence on her father, and thus her inability to think for herself, is established when she is forced to end her relationship with Hamlet. When asked on her opinion of Hamlet’s romantic pursuit, she responds with, “I do not know, my lord, what I should think” (18). Ophelia fails to claim an opinion on the basis of one of her own relationships. It is Polonius who declares her beliefs, “Marry, I’ll teach you. Think yourself a baby”(18). Ophelia is truthfully described as a baby in thought as her father is the one performing her thought process. The death of Polonius removes the controlling force of Ophelia’s life, and as she can not think for herself, she becomes insane. Whether seen as suicide or not, her drowning can be attributed to her
In Elizabethan times, Ophelia is restricted as a woman. She is obedient to the commands of the men in her life although she often attempts to do the right thing. Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet all have a grasp on Ophelia and who she is. She does not have the freedom to change her fate as Hamlet does. Shawna Maki states, “Ophelia’s life is determined by the whims of men who control her” (1). Polonius takes advantage of his relationship with Ophelia by using her to achieve a better relationship with Claudius. Polonius and Laertes teach Ophelia how to behave, therefore, abusing their power in allowing Ophelia to become who she wants to be (Brown 2).
It is obvious throughout the play Ophelia is ordered around by Laertes and Polonius, and obeys them without a moment's thought. They act like she has no mind of her own, but she listens and does as they wish, so it seems she cannot think for herself. Polonius and Laertes treat her as though she is worthless. Laertes urges Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet ...
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.
He is essentially telling Ophelia how she should be behaving and reacting to her own situations. This is portraying her as a woman who cannot think for herself and is dependant on Polonius. In addition, Polonius’ death is the trigger to Ophelia’s insanity, because she depended upon him a great deal. When Ophelia is told by Polonius to never contact Hamlet again, she obeys Polonius, but Hamlet acts crazy in reaction to her denial. Ophelia says, “No, my good lord; but, as you did command, / I did repel his letters and denied / His actions to me.” (2.1.109-111) By doing everything Polonius tell her to do, she makes matters for herself worse. Ophelia cannot stand up for her...
Ophelia doesn’t have much of an assertive voice throughout the play, but still here character still largely influences the play. Ophelia is used by Polonius to spy on Hamlet, and prove that he is mad. Ophelia never stands up for herself, and assumes the role of a typical woman during the time period. She does as she is expected to , obey. She never defends herself from Hamlet’s harsh remarks either. She shows no defiance from her fathers order, Ophelia just acts as she is expected to. Ophelia is especially significant in the scene where Hamlet insults her and all women. In this scene Hamlet seems to know that Polonius is watching, and using Ophelia to spy on him. So Hamlet uses Ophelia, much like Polonius. Hamlet talks to Ophelia in such a way in this scene that he seems to insinuate things. Hamlet is able to insinuate that Ophelia perhaps isn’t pure, and may be pregnant with Hamlet’s child. During this scene is also the first time it is suggested that Hamlet knows about the death of the king. Ophelia appeared flawless up to this point. But now Ophelia is essentially like a battleground for Hamlet and Polonius. They both utilize her to say what they want to one another, and prove what they want. Both use her to their advantage. Hamlet also uses Ophelia to get the word out that he mad, after seeing Ophelia and acting crazy. Ophelia serves a tool for both Polonius and Hamlet...