Lastly, Ophelia’s suicide demonstrates the epidemic of chaos due to the lost of morality. Ophelia is portrayed as innocent through her obedience for Polonius. Although Ophelia and Hamlet share “honorable love,” Polonius instructs her not to, “give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet” (I, iii, 134), thus, despite her feelings, she replies, “I will obey, my lord” (I, iii, 136) and repulses the man she loves, demonstrating her loyalty and virtue. Her pardon for Hamlet’s vulgar behaviour also reinforces her blamelessness. Although Hamlet bears offense in his feign madness, Ophelia does not retaliate, but rather, she prays for him, saying, “O, help him, you sweet heavens!” (III, i, 135), further demonstrating her innocent nature. However, Polonius’ …show more content…
Polonius and Laertes exemplifies the dishonesty surrounding Ophelia by misleading her to believe that Hamlet does not love her and will never marry her. Laertes states that Hamlet’s love is, “not permanent, sweet, not lasting,” (I, iii, 8) and that “he himself is subject to his birth: / He may not, as unvalued persons do, / Carve for himself” (I, iii, 18-20). However, at Ophelia’s grave, Gertrude pronounces that, “[she] hoped [Ophelia] shouldst have been [her] Hamlet’s wife” (V, i, 237), revealing the reality in comparison to the lies Polonius and Laertes issued to Ophelia that causes her to repulse the man she loves. She is not given the credit for making her own decisions, instead, she is deceived and manipulated, leaving her to grieve upon the loved ones she lost, contributing to the hopelessness that leads her to her tragic death, demonstrating the chaos that breds from corruption can grow and infect others. Therefore, although Ophelia is guiltless, the deception of those surrounding her leads to her death, exhibiting the inevitable downfall that stems from dishonesty’s infectious
Both Polonius and Ophelia try, unsuccessfully, to manipulate Hamlet into a place of inferiority. In the first scene of Act II, Polonius and Ophelia discuss the meaning of Hamlet's odd behavior. Though the two characters agree his actions arise out of the torment of spurned love, they arrive at that point through very different means. At the beginning of the dialogue, Ophelia says that she has been "affrighted" by Hamlet in her bed chamber. (II,i 75)
We are first introduced to the flawed relationship between Polonius and Ophelia when her brother, Laertes, is departing for Norway in Act 1 Scene 3. Here, Ophelia shows the viewer/reader her subservient behavior and her undeniable love for her family, and how that is taken for granted at the same time. Laertes tries to warn Ophelia and convince her not to get involved with Hamlet, “Fear it, Ophelia. Fear it, my dear sister, / And keep you in the rear of your affection, / Out of the shot and danger of desire.” (I.iii.33-35). Laertes is, to be blunt, telling Ophelia not to have premarital sex with Hamlet, basically scaring her away from doing so. And though she readily agrees, because he is after all her brother, it is Polonius that really uses and takes advantage of Ophelia’s loyalty to her family.
Upon learning that Ophelia has allied herself with Polonius and Claudius, he loses his head and has an incredibly dramatic episode. He is initially honest and open with Ophelia, but his mood quickly changes when he learns they are being spied on. He questioned Ophelia’s motives by asking whether she was honest and fair. He breaks her heart upon the realization she is not on his side. He tells her that he once loved her, then their conversation spirals into nothing more than Hamlet hurling insults at his former love before storming out.
As the play opened, Hamlet and Ophelia appeared as lovers experiencing a time of turbulence. Hamlet had just returned home from his schooling in Saxony to find that his mother had quickly remarried her dead husband's brother, and this gravely upset him. Hamlet was sincerely devoted to the idea of bloodline loyalty and sought revenge upon learning that Claudius had killed his father. Ophelia, though it seems her relationship with Hamlet is in either the developmental stage or the finalizing stage, became the prime choice as a lure for Hamlet. Laertes inadvertently opened Ophelia up to this role when he spoke with Ophelia about Hamlet before leaving for France. He allowed Polonius to find out about Hamlet's courtship of Ophelia, which led to Polonius' misguided attempts at taking care of Ophelia and obeying the king's command to find the root of Hamlet's problems. Ophelia, placed in the middle against her wishes, obeyed her father and brother's commands with little disagreement. The only time she argued was when Laertes advised her against making decisions incompatible with the expectations of Elizabethan women. Ophelia tells him, in her boldest lines of the play:
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 ...
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.
The causes of Ophelia's decent into madness start long before she is raving and signing rude songs. It is a madness brought of mistreatment; a mistreatment that started with her father. Upon first hearing of Hamlet's affection for her Polonius is very dismissive of it. He even tells her not to waste her time with him as a result "I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth Have you so slander any moment leisure As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet." (Shakespeare & Bevington, 2009, pp. P1105 L133-135) This is given as an order, which Ophelia says she will obey. The earlier exchange is quite dismissive of the affection between Ophelia and Hamlet, despite her defending it in terms of Hamlet having shown that love both in words and gifts and the defense of him courting her in an honorable fashion. Polonius is again quick to dismiss his daughter's view of the world saying "Affection? Pooh! you speak like a green ...
Ophelia trusts the advise given and her obedience is very evident in this matter as she avoids contact with Hamlet until she is told by her father, with the King and Queens approval, to meet up with him by 'accident' in the lobby. Deceit not being in her nature, believing that her father, the king and queen are right and true; that Hamlet is mad; and probably curious to know if Hamlet is "mad in love" with her the young, obedient, powerless Ophelia does her part to search out the truth. But tragically this one forced step outside of her true character begins her downfall. In a precarious predicament, loyalty to her father compelled Ophelia to lie to Hamlet when he asked about her father?s location at that moment saying he was at home instead of behind a tapestry right the...
Ophelia is a perfect example of how the poison of revenge of the kingdom of Elsinore does not only affect the person committing these acts, and as the victim, but the innocent bystanders as well. Originally Ophelia had nothing to do with King Hamlet’s unjust death, but her relationship and involvement with Hamlet, her father, and Claudius and Gertrude is enough to make her a lunatic and at last her deplorable death. Shakespeare shows Ophelia’s heartbreaking downfall in her speeches after her father’s passing “There’s/ rue for you, and here’s some for me.../Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference.—There’s a daisy. I would/ give you some violets, but they withered all when/ my father died. They say he made a good end” (Hamlet: IV.v.51). It is clear that the corruption in the kingdom causes Ophelia to become insane. She cannot cope with or overcome her father’s unfortunate death because it was committed by her love, Hamlet. As Ophelia becomes insane due to her father’s death, she is also affected by Hamlet’s treatment of her. Ophelia wants to trust Hamlet and does not understand his antic disposition, but still tries to be loyal to him. However, the way Hamlet treats Ophelias contributes to her insanity and is arguably the most recognizable cause of her misfortune “Get thee to a nunnery,/...Or, if thou wilt needs marry,/ marry a fool,
At first, Hamlet is successful, and society is convinced Ophelia is the reason for his madness, thus granting Hamlet more time to plot Claudius’s murder. This is achieved in Hamlet’s “to be or not to be speech” [3,1,57] when Claudius and Polonius spy on the conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia. During the Act, Ophelia displays traits of dishonesty and Hamlet uses this to his benefit and appears to go insane to convince Ophelia, Claudius and Polonius that Ophelia is responsible for his madness. Hamlet insists his madness is an “antic disposition” [1,5,179] and that “Thou this be madness, yet there is method in it”. [2,2,204] In the play, Hamlet uses his “antic disposition” [1,5,179] to refuse Ophelia’s affections, which is powerfully portrayed when he exclaims to her “get thee to a nunnery.” [3,1,138] By denying Ophelia’s love, Hamlet’s power in the relationship is effectively demonstrated, and it is shown he is in control of their relationship. In addition, this is reflected in Ophelia’s self-destruction, as she has no purpose to live a life without Hamlet or a man. Overall, Hamlet is successful in using his power over Ophelia for the sake of his
Ophelia suffered from the death of her father, and her rocky relationship with young Hamlet. She wants to continue to have a relationship with young Prince Hamlet but “doesn't realize the danger she's in” (4.7.173&174) even though she has been warned about young Hamlet. Ophelia was warned by her brother, Laertes, that young Prince Hamlet intentions are not what Ophelia thinks they are. Ophelia’s father, Polonius, forces her to stay away from young Prince Hamlet, which also causes poor Ophelia to go insane. Her brother, Laertes, and her father, Polonius, did not want Sweet Ophelia dealing with young Prince Hamlet. Although, Ophelia loves the young Prince, Ophelia cannot be with the young Prince. Ophelia’s suicide was “due to both her father’s
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.
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...
Point #1: Where this is seen is in act 1 scene 3 with Laertes saying goodbye to Ophelia and Polonius. Laertes warns Ophelia about Hamlet and her dad does the same. The difference here is that Polonius is kind of scolding her for believing that Hamlet actually loves her and tell her to cut ties with him. He makes her look like she’s dumb and isn’t considering her feelings, instead how’ll it make him look as a person. He’s not letting her make her own decisions and she should be able to do what she wants to with her life!