Ophelia Weakness Reveals Hamlet's Stren

Ophelia’s Weakness Reveals Hamlet’s Strength
Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, emphasizes the consequences of abandonment and isolation as differentiated through the contradicting reactions of Hamlet and Ophelia to parallel circumstances. Her suicide The unforeseen suicide of Ophelia reveals her inability handle her intense feelings and exemplifies Hamlet as a more resilient character due to immense mental strength. Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy exhibits his mental resilience by maturely handling his moods and thoughts, but instead Ophelia’s lack of mental stability portrays her as cowardly. Hamlet and Ophelia’s paradoxical reactions to the murder of their fathers in addition to experiencing unrequited love displays Ophelia’s
instability which further depicts Hamlet’s mental stability.
Ophelia illustrates her to her of mental weakness and her ability to cope with the challenges she is faced with when she commits suicide.
Her weak mindedness and cowardice eventually leads to her suicide; however, the cause of her of emotional weakness is due to forces beyond her control. Ophelia’s subjection to the loss of two loved ones at the same time allocates an overwhelming feeling of devastation that she is incapable of coping with due to her lack of mental strength. Claudius recognizes the intensity and overpowering nature of her suffering as he states that “when sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in batallions,” (IV, iv, 77). Ophelia’s immense losses include the Polonius’ murder, in addition to the Hamlet rejecting her feelings. The death of Polonius not only means the death of her dad additionally the one whom she derives all of her guidance from. The lack of support for Ophelia during this vulnerable period of her life further weakens her emotional stability; furthermore, Hamlet’s unusual conduct leaves Ophelia feeling more isolated and disliked. Hamlet illuminates his unorthodox demeanor to her by denying her mementos and by blatantly denies having ever loved her as states, “I loved you not” (III, i, 118). Denying the remembrances, he alludes to the
fact that he thinks as the entire relationship was false and not worthy of remembering. Hamlet’s words destroy any belief she still had of his feelings for her, further pushing hero into a feeling of complete isolation in the world. Furthermore, Hamlet’s murder of Polonius validates her believe of him not truly liking her now. The loss of her father results in her complete independence and her lack of affection from both Hamlet and her father leaves her immensely lonely. Her bizarre singing additionally suggests her mental instability and ultimate breakdown. Her songs describe Polonius as, “dead and gone [...] dead and gone,” (IV, v, 29-30) and suggest her fixation with her feelings and emotions of her father’s death, and she sings in order to get rid of these immense and overwhelming feelings of sadness. However, her suicide proves that this coping strategy is unsuccessful. Her overwhelming feelings of isolation, loneliness, and independence drive her to kill herself due to the lack of mental stability needed to actually deter one’s mind from such intense strain. Her instability enables suicide to present itself as the only way out of her pain and grievances, and by committing the act Ophelia surrenders to her suffering; therefore, her death identifies herself negatively and cowardly because she gives up and loses against the struggle between her emotions and her independence.
Contrarily, Hamlet characterizes great mental strength and stability through his strategies of coping with the grief of losing his father. Hamlet thoroughly considers the consequences of what suicide would mean in his “to be or not to be” speech. Initially, he contemplates suicide because it “end[s] the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to,” (III, i, 61). He further stresses the challenges and the seemingly mundane obstacles and heartaches that humans are destined to endure. However, the strange and unknown self of the afterlife creates a desire to endure the challenges of real life instead of facing the challenges in the afterlife. Ultimately, he states that “conscience makes cowards of us all,” (III, i, 84), illuminating the human inclination to procrastinate as well as emphasizing that overthinking prevents any actions from being performed. Hamlet’s tendency to procrastinate helps portray him as the everyday normal person. Any mind can produce thoughts; however, a mind can not create cowards. A mind that is conscious can cope with feelings, therefore preventing impulses such as committing suicide. Nevertheless, dwelling on one’s emotions and overthinking inhibit one’s intended actions. For instance, because Claudius was praying, Hamlet cowardly abstains from killing him even though it was his late father’s last wish (III, ii, 73). His apprehension is revealed as religious beliefs, which truly just disguise his procrastination. Nonetheless, the murder of Claudius identifies the tragic hero as indeed heroic because he ultimately follows through with his intended action.
The polar oppositeness between Hamlet and Ophelia’s differences in mental capabilities and strengths in addition to their abilities to cope with their overwhelming emotions ultimately reveals Hamlet as a hero and Ophelia as a lesser than Hamlet.
Ophelia embodies a foil for Hamlet in which his qualities are identified as favorable. Hamlet’s personification of a tragic hero stems from overcoming his procrastination in order to kill Claudius, whereas Ophelia’s succumb to ending her life portrays herself negatively and weak.The foil between Hamlet and Ophelia ultimately uncover Shakespeare’s that cowardice is stemmed in one’s inability to take action, not simply created by cowardly
actions.