Why Is Hamlet Mad

Hamlet Essay

The tragedy of Hamlet was a very interesting play with many very interesting characters that did a great many heroic and disappointing things despite the complexity and difficulty to understand the true personality William Shakespeare intended for each. Ophelia, one of the minor characters, represents one of the two women captured between men set out for revenge. Despite the minor role this character played, her impact on the play was quite significant. However, one of the most important questions to analyze, and the question this paper will explore below is why she went mad. This paper will delve into the kind of person Shakespeare portrays her as, why she is so easily affected, the factors causing her madness and the importance
Her obedience is displayed most obviously when she says, “I think nothing, my lord” (III, ii, 124). This feature is an extremely important and necessary trait in the eyes of the Elizabethans, as well as in the eyes of many parents today. It is usually an honour to have a daughter that is obedient and is not sassy or impertinent; however, when the parent who happens to raise this child does not happen to be the ‘brightest bulb in the box,’ the outcome can be deadly. Regrettably, this is the case in the tragedy of Hamlet, and Ophelia is the unfortunate soul on which all anger and frustration is directed. She, on the other hand, does not have anyone to lay the blame on and is a classic example of why equality is so important. Ophelia is unable to tell Hamlet of her love because of her father’s prohibition seen in I, iii, 126-129 “These blazes, daughter,/Giving more light than heat, extinct in both/Even in their promise, as it is a-making,/You must not take for fire.” She is unable to ease her pain from her father’s death through even revenge, as it is Laertes’ duty, unable to ask her brother not to kill the love of her life, and not to say, “Let come what comes, only I’ll be revenged/Most thoroughly for my father.” (IV, v, 153-154); all this in addition to the loss of any stability in her life the moment her love for Hamlet is acknowledged and banned. If the morals
Hamlet seemed to expect Ophelia to surpass Gertrude's shortcomings and over come any negative traits attributed to the average woman. Hamlet put much faith in Ophelia in the beginning seeming to trust her to keep their love a secret until after the matter of revenge for old Hamlet had been resolved. Polonius forcing Ophelia to douse the flames of love which Hamlet had sparked, and his refusal to allow Ophelia to tell Hamlet of the reason she had stopped contacting him only caused Hamlet’s belief that women could not be trusted to be confirmed. This is seen in III, ii, 174-175 when Ophelia says, “’Tis brief, my lord…” and Hamlet replies with “As woman’s love.” Eventually, Hamlet grew to believe that Ophelia was a false and fictitious person causing his callousness to erupt. One cannot help but sympathize with Ophelia when she obviously loves Hamlet and willingly submits to his insults and heartlessness and seen when he instructs her to go to a nunnery, again when he asks her, “Lady, shall I lie in your lap?” (III, ii, 119). Ophelia, being trained to be submissive merely follows along and tries to please Hamlet as she would her father. This seems to be a mistake and if she were to retaliate, I believe Hamlet would have