I was shocked by the madness of Ophelia, and the manner in which Gertrude approaches the situation, both were unexpected. Earlier in the novel, the relationship of Ophelia and her father is revealed, and it pears to be a very weak relationship, based on the oppression of her under her father’s rule. From this relationship that the two share I would never assume that Ophelia would be driven mad by the death of her father. I sympathize with Ophelia since she has endured so many pains, first discovering Hamlet’s madness, then discovering the death of her father. She is entirely alone in her sorrow, and the King and Queen do nothing buy agitate her and pick at her wounds. Also in this scene Gertrude refuses to see Ophelia, and only agrees when…
You don't have to be a feminist to know that Ophelia is little more than a plaything and a tool of the men around her. Hamlet may well have loved her and treated her well once, but by the time he has the burden of revenge on him, he treats her rather badly. Now, of course, he does so because he knows that she's followed her father's orders and has rejected his love. Further, Hamlet knows that Ophelia is being used by her father and the King to spy on him.…
Hamlet is the cause of Ophelia’s tragic downfall. She enters the play vibrant and in love; Ophelia bound herself to Hamlet, he came to her in his weakest moment after meeting the ghost, and then lets her sink to her death. By leading her on, then rejecting her, he sets Ophelia up for a brutal heartbreak as she falls desperately in love with him, only to be pushed away. Her instability, as a product of this, comes to a head when Hamlet kills her father, mentally crippling her. The loss of the two most important men in Ophelia’s life proves too much for her, so when the river swallows her whole, Ophelia accepts her death with open arms. Ophelia’s character plays an important role in modern literature, many authors are able to take inspiration…
that he is going to act mad in public, and that they should not worry for…
Hamlet is one of Shakespeare's most renowned tragedies. It’s a story of mortality, revenge, and most of all, madness. On Hamlet's quest for revenge, there was one death that caused Ophelia to ascend into her own madness. There are only a few signs before hinting towards Ophelia being insane, but he the days following the death she takes the plunge down the rabbit hole. This lead up to when Ophelia finally died and ended her own life.…
In many of William Shakespeare’s works, it is evident that Shakespeare is alluding the lack of intelligence and weakness of women. “Frailty, thy name is woman” (1.2.146), quoted by Shakespeare in Hamlet is an example of this. In Hamlet, Shakespeare depicts characters like Ophelia and Gertrude as demonstrating weakness and being tools of manipulation by the males in their lives. Their actions and fates are greatly influenced by the men's decisions and are led by the men in their lives, which gives them a weak image. Women in the Elizabethan era were reliant on men to make their decisions as they were oppressed and disregarded in society. As Alex Gilbertson states, “this was not a glorious time…
One of the major themes within the play is people putting on acts. Hamlet was no exception; he pretended to have gone mad after his father died, even when this faux-madness led to losing people he loved. For example, Hamlet acted completely out of his mind when he was with the woman he truly loved, Ophelia, because of this act, he lost her. Had Hamlet confided in his love, and let her know what was going on as far as his emotions, she may have stayed sane and stuck by Hamlet. This action would also leave the possibility of Ophelia living, rather than drowning in depression. The possibility of not seeing Ophelia anymore could have been explored as well. While it would have been hard for Hamlet to ignore Ophelia, she may have lived her life much longer.…
Madness derives from great grief. Gibson and Zefferelli were effective in showing that Hamlet and Ophelia were mad. However, the movie did not show that most of the time in madness they spoke the truth as it did in the book.…
Ophelia’s whole world is shattered after her father dies, because of her previous conflicting loyalties to her father, who had never approved of Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia, and Hamlet now having killed him. After her father’s murder she talks a lot of death, and her madness is apparent when she sings in a completely crazed way:…
Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a revenge tragedy play that primarily focuses on Hamlet’s quest to avenge his father’s death. The tragedy of Hamlet, while mostly revolving around Hamlet himself, also concerns the character of Ophelia, and Hamlet’s relationship with her throughout the play. Despite of her absence from all but five scenes, Ophelia manages to receive a considerable amount of attention, as her character becomes truly tragic with her realization that she is powerless politically, socially, and psychologically amongst the men in her life, and without them. As a woman with limited options in a patriarchal society, this realization drives her mad, ultimately resulting in her death.…
Ophelia in Hamlet is characterized many times as a weak women especially in the quote, “frailty thy name is woman.” She is completely dependent on her father and proves her dependence when she acts cruel to Hamlet. Which goes against her true feelings toward Hamlet. Afterwords Ophelia agrees to not see Hamlet anymore, “ I shall obey my lord.” Which shows Polonious’s control over his daughter. Ophelia’s actions show that she will do anything to please her father, even making a personal sacrifice which she doesn’t agree with. Ophelia’s desire to please her father leads her to be used as a puppet in order for the King and Polonious to spy on Hamlet, Ophelia’s willingness to spy on a person she truly loves, shows her true nature toward her father. Even when Hamlet harasses Ophelia and tells her to go to a nunnery, Ophelia had the inability to defend herself. When her father passes on, Ophelia is left by herself, with no one to give her guidance. Instead of trying to move on with her life, she calls for her brother hoping he will have a plan for her, “My brother shall know of it and so I thank you for your good counsel.” Polonious’s was irreplaceable and finally Ophelia realizes this “ I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.”The significance of the violets are that they symbolize faithfulness and they all died because she felt useless without her father. Ophelia’s death is in result of her dependence and weakness of character.Overall, Ophelia goes mad because she has no position in society. Men have continuously ordered her around, used her, pulling her mind in every direction. She put her faith in one person and never made her own decisions. Similar to Ophelia is Gertrude. She is also characterized by the quote, “frailty thy…
The character of Ophelia is illustrated and cited as a heroine of Shakespeare. Although Hamlet’s life without Ophelia would practically be the same, Ophelia literally has no life without Hamlet evoking the question, “Is a woman’s life solely defined by the men in it?”. William Shakespeare is a universally acclaimed writer who lived during the late 1500s and early 1600s. Throughout his lifetime, he wrote over 35 plays and over 150 sonnets, including the very famous Hamlet (“Shakespeare FAQ”). Hamlet is in many ways a product of the Catholic Reformation and addresses many issues such as sin, fate vs free will, gender roles, and power and control (“Historical Context of Hamlet”). In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Ophelia, one of the two female characters, serves as a representation of females in a patriarchal society. Throughout the play, Ophelia…
Hamlet stabs Polonius thinking that it may be Claudius and even though this opens a new world of freedom for Ophelia, it is also obviously very upsetting and traumatic for her to deal with, especially as it was her love that killed him. After the death of Polonius, Ophelia goes insane and spends her days singing songs that make no sense to anyone but herself. She is found dead later on in the play drowned and it is quite possible that she killed herself to escape her madness. The only reason for Ophelia's madness is the men in the play and the way they treated her throughout; her father controlled her and caused her to unfairly loose her love, her brother agreed with Polonius and forced Hamlet and Ophelia apart and Hamlet was rude and hurtful and ended up murdering her father. In this way, Ophelia can be seen as a victim in a man's world because they lead her life for her and drove her to insanity that in turn killed…
Ophelia; a Rose? Shakespeare writes of a strong and wilful woman in the story of Romeo and Juliette. Juliette, the leading woman in this play, was torn from her lover, Romeo, but rather than standing back and accepting the inevitable, she fights for what she believes to be right. Even though her life ended tragically, she was still admired for finally getting what she wants. She said she would not, and could not live without Romeo, and she did not back down from her strong objective. In contrast, the love interest of Hamlet, Ophelia, goes through a similar situation when Hamlet comes to her and tells her they cannot be together, as well, Ophelia’s father Polonius and brother Laertes had forbidden the relationship. Ophelia loved Hamlet, just as…
Ophelia’s insanity causes her to commit suicide by drowning herself. In the end she never understood why Hamlet acted the way he did but found a way to relate to him in which her father too is killed and the betrayal of a loved one but her weak mind could not stop her from…