Is Hamlet Responsible For Ophelia's Death Essay

In the play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare shows a huge contrast in characters from the beginning to the end. Which questions, who actually caused the death of Ophelia? There may be some who argue that Hamlet is responsible for Ophelia’s death because of his insanity actions (e.g killing of Polonius, the harsh treatment given to Ophelia after Hamlet’s soliloquy, “To be or not to be”) but the character in Hamlet that is definitely responsible for Ophelia’s death is Gertrude. Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother is seen throughout the play as a puppet, being used by Polonius and Claudius to spy on Hamlet. However because of Gertrude’s actions it lead Ophelia’s death by being an overprotective mother of Hamlet, being pusillanimous in situations and her very detailed description of Ophelia’s death.

Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother can be seen at the beginning of the play as an overprotective mother, this is a driving force that led to Ophelia’s death. Near the beginning of the play, after a meeting with the state, Gertrude is seen tell Hamlet to stop overreacting,

“Good Hamlet, cast thy knighted colour off, And let thine eye look like a friend of Denmark; Do not for

Since Gertrude controls Hamlet’s life it is most likely that she is against Hamlet’s love relationship with Ophelia. This is because Gertrude is the Queen of Denmark and is also an overprotective mother, making Hamlet the Prince of Denmark. Since Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark it would make sense for Hamlet to marry someone that has royal blood whereas Ophelia does not have royal blood. From what we know of Gertrude, she is an overprotective mother meaning that it would make sense for her to control Hamlet’s future (e.g marriage) thus disapproving Hamlet’s love relationship with Ophelia and creating the motive to killing