Relationship Between Hamlet And Ophelia

Since her childhood Ophelia is surrounded by two men - her brother Laertes and her father Polonius. They have the strongest authority over Ophelia and traine her to be obedient and chaste. Consequently, Ophelia believes what she is taught: women are chaste and constant; males are legitimate and noble. The assumption of "guardians" represents Ophelia as a week woman easy to manipulate. After the first scene she is going to be wrestling with many conflicting ideas of a proper way of behaviour of a young woman in the patriarchal society, where controversial attitudes toward men and women make the last to obbey (Dash).
Ophelia is a beloved daughter and sister. Her father and brother love her enormously and make a great efforts to protect her. Polonius and Laertes tell Ophelia that Hamlet's words, that she has taken as "holy", are mere meaningless. They order her to protect her chastity as men are inconstant "giving more light than heat, extinct in both, / Even
However from Hamlet's speeches it can be assumed that he has deep feelings for Ophelia: "I did love you once" (3.1.114) and "I lov`d Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/ Could not with all their quantity of love/ Make up my sum" (5.1.269-271), but her faith in love and sincerity is crashed. She is not aware of Hamlet's conversation with the Ghost and she can not understand his tournament. She knows nothing about his condemnation of Gertrude`s "incest", so she is confused by the accusations of disloyalty he displaces on her. Finally the loss of her father, whom Barbara Smith calls "her link to emotional security", fatally assaults her mental stability and remains her betrayed, frustrated and lonely. Nevertheless, Irene Dash believes that the source of Ophelia's madness is not merely in her father`s death and Hamlet's rejection but also in Polonius's complex manipulation of