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Recommended: The death of ophelia
Ophelia's suicide was caused by the loss of stability that her father provided. Even though he was only working in his self-interest, she still depended on him and trusted that he would provide her good counsel. Also, the inability to express her love for Hamlet leads her to commit suicide. Both Laertes and Polonius were against her relationship with Hamlet because of his potential to ruin her life. They advised her to avoid Hamlet and repress her feelings towards him to protect herself from a threat to her honor. She loses her purity due to the relations she had with Hamlet and comes to believe thatHamlet will abandon her and leave her disgraced, just as Laertes warned. This combined with the loss of her father and her suppressed feelings
toward Hamlet cause her to lose the moviation to live.
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:
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
Ophelia descends into madness during the play, mostly because the death of her father, Polonius, has sent her reeling. Ophelia’s true insanity is the perfect contrast to Hamlet’s contrived insanity. Hamlet appears weak and indecisive compared to some of the other characters, especially Fortinbras and Laertes. However, Ophelia seems more fragile and vulnerable when compared to him. Although we don’t know for sure if she committed suicide or if her drowning was accidental, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume she killed herself out of weakness. Conversely, although Hamlet does consider killing himself, his suicidal thoughts are brief. He decides that revenge is better than doing himself in at that moment. (“Hamlet” C: 697). Through Ophelia’s promise to her father not to see Hamlet anymore, she is restricted from engaging directly with him. Thus, she becomes a site for the audience to locate his frustrations. Hamlet, being unable to talk with her, cannot understand Ophelia’s actions. She leaves for the last time saying “And will he not come again? / No, no he is dead/” (“Hamlet” C: 728). The death of Ophelia is only reported back to Hamlet. Spoken in song, Ophelia’s final words are not even truly her
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.
It is widely believed that “Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself” and this holds true for Hamlet’s Ophelia. Ophelia’s death symbolizes a life spent passively tolerating Hamlet’s manipulations and the restrictions imposed by those around her, while struggling to maintain the last shred of her dignity. Ophelia’s apathetic reaction to her drowning suggests that she never had control of her own life, as she was expected to comply with the expectations of others. Allowing the water to consume her without a fight alludes to Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia as merely a device in his personal agenda. Her apparent suicide denotes a desire to take control of her life for once. Ophelia’s death is, arguably, an honorable one, characterized by her willingness to let go of her submissive, earth-bound self and leave the world no longer a victim.
It is impossible to get around Hamlet's murder of Polonius being a trigger for Ophelia's decent into madness. However, upon closer examination it is not this trigger alone that is the cause for her madness and it is surely not only this that leads to her eventual suicide. Ophelia is expected to be a perfect lady, which in part meant following the orders of the men in her life. In addition to that pressure and cruelty is the added cruelty of how often those men change their minds about her and what she should do. Adding to that the repeated abandonment and the murder of her father by her lover, it is no wonder she went into a madness that ended in her death.
Even though she repels his visits and letters, we know it 's only because it was due to her father 's requests. As Hamlet perceives her actions as though she is not interested, finds himself having to put these emotions on the back burner in order to contemplate avenging his father. With the other issues upon his mind, he is unable to concentrate and devote his time to romancing Ophelia in a way to build their relationship. And with his other issues that he had to deal with he felt it necessary to also convince Ophelia that he was insane. Whether this was a ploy of his to save her from emotions related to their relationship and quite possibly her hopes of love with him or not, is a question that could also lead to the fact that he thinks about things too much rather than just taking action. Possibly by trying to deceive Ophelia into thinking that he was insane proves that he was thinking that he did not know who he could trust with the matter at hand but he was wanting to deal with plotting the death of Claudius. Upon the discovery of Ophelia 's death at her grave site, he realizes and has regrets for not pursuing her
Inevitably, Ophelia falls off of a branch and drowns in the water. Again, when Hamlet returns from England and finds out about Ophelia dying he shows no attention to his actions as if he did not have any part leading up to her death. Hamlet exhibits a morose tone as he is deeply saddened by her death: “I loved Ophelia,” shows the expression to which Hamlet has when it comes to Ophelia. It was as if he did not want this to happen, but he does not indicate any means of claiming responsibility for her
Hamlet: one of the greatest plays written of all time by William Shakespeare. One controversy throughout the play is Hamlet’s love for Ophelia. Many believe Hamlet is the reason for Ophelia’s death. Hamlet shows many reasons as to why he is at fault for the death of Ophelia, such as his madness. His father’s death, his mother’s quick remarriage and his love for Ophelia are the cause of his madness. Although his madness is considered voluntarily, Ophelia’s is not. Controversially, Ophelia also has craziness that she cannot just stop. It is caused by the death of her father and love for Hamlet. Some may believe Hamlet is a respectable man, but he is responsible for Ophelia’s death by verbally and physically harassing her.
Ophelia was one of the few whom Hamlet did not hate. Hamlet seemed to put an extent of trust in Ophelia. Ophelia was there to see Hamlet in his lamentable times of contemplating death. Into the play, Ophelia’s father, Polonius was killed, and she could not cope. The insanity overtook her, and she died in the most ignoble way, she drowned herself. At her funeral, Hamlet jumped into the grave and declared his love, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers Could not, with all their quantity of love, Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?” (5, 1, l. 282-284). Hamlet showed a strong mourning over her death. In all, Ophelia is one of the two people Hamlet showed such an emotional reaction
Throughout literature, women often play the stereotypical role of living secondary to men. In Hamlet, Shakespeare highlights this reality through Ophelia, a weak-willed women that molds to others’ beliefs, including her father and brother. Shakespeare inserts a constant sense of being ignored and mistreatment to Ophelia, painting a picture of her helplessness and sorrow. Shakespeare allows Ophelia to always seem content with her state of being, but following the death of her father, Polonius, her emotional instability appeared. Though Ophelia is thought to have committed suicide, through analyzing the text, it is possible to interpret the death as accidental. According to this interpretation, Ophelia had no intention to die, but simply succumbed when faced with the prospect of ending her misery.
Her father's death strikes her heart making her lose hope that there is anything to live for. Through the perception of the people in Denmark they proclaim that she is hysterical and heartbroken, “Poor Ophelia has been robbed of her sanity… (240).” Upon her father's burial, Ophelia feels like he was not treated as a worthy individual because he was not given a proper Christian burial. Without any hesitation, she expresses her beliefs of the sudden betrayal the king and queen has done to her father after all that he did for them even though she did not know all that happened. Although, due to Hamlet's actions, the impact alone on Ophelia is profound, she suffers from the lost of two men in which she loves dearly, thus leading her to commit suicide, “Your sister’s drowned, Laertes (270).” With the mindset that he would be saving his love by holding the truth from her, Hamlet destroys many lives, including the one he loved the most- the person that kept him sane and actually understood
Her first abandonment comes from her brother, Laertes, whom she cares for immensely. Before leaving for France, Laertes says to Ophelia, “My necessaries are embarked. Farewell. And sister, as the winds give benefit and convey is assistant, do not sleep, But let me hear from you” (Shakespeare 1.3.1-4). The close relationship that exists between brother and sister is recognizable here, as Laertes says his farewell to Ophelia and shows concern for her well being while he travels. Ophelia now loses her closest confidant and as those closest to her diminish, she begins to draw closer to becoming completely alone. Another important relationship ends between her and Hamlet, pushing Ophelia even closer into loneliness and growing closer to insanity. After Polonius demands that she ceases all contact with Hamlet, Ophelia possesses even more reason for her fall to insanity due to her forbidden love. Polonius instructs Ophelia, “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. Look to ‘t, I charge you. Come your ways” (Shakespeare 1.4.141-144). Since Ophelia must obey her fathers demand, she emotionally detaches herself
Ophelia’s emotions were devastated and she went mad. Ophelia began wearing flowers in her hair and dressing distraughtly. Ophelia sang songs with explicit terms about sexuality, destroying her pureness. Ophelia’s madness led to her beautifully tragic death. Many questioned her death as a suicide or accidental, Ophelia’s death was a suicide due to the torment Hamlet put her through. “And pathetic as Ophelia's madness is, it is also, we feel, the kindest stroke that now could fall on her. It is evident, I think, that this was the effect Shakespeare intended to produce. In her madness Ophelia continues sweet and lovable” (Bradley). Ophelia’s madness was seen as a relief from the torment she endured from Hamlet. Even in death she was seen as a weak and beautiful soul. Hamlet’s feelings to Ophelia became confusing when he learned of her death. He swore that he loved Ophelia more than anyone else in her life, but he was the one who caused her misery. Hamlet and Laertes fought over who loved her more in her grave and this was seen as a strange reaction since they disrespected her grave. Hamlet’s inconsistency for Ophelia continued after her death, and she died never knowing Hamlet’s true feelings for
Ophelia was a pawn, nothing more, which was used by those that supposedly loved her for their own purposes. She was used by her father to drive Hamlet to madness, as he thought. Hamlet used her to convince Polonius and others that he was mad. Ophelia eventually looses both of these men, which is what drives her to insanity, possibly because the two biggest "influences" of her life have disappeared.