Compare And Contrast Ophelia And Hamlet

The story of Hamlet is a morbid tale of tragedy, commitment, and manipulation; this is especially evident within the character of Ophelia. Throughout the play, Ophelia is torn between obeying and following the different commitments that she has to men in her life. She is constantly torn between the choice of obeying the decisions and wishes of her family or that of Hamlet. She is a constant subject of manipulation and brain washing from both her father and brother. Ophelia is not only subject to the torture of others using her for their intentions but she is also susceptible to abuse from Hamlet. Both her father and her brother believe that Hamlet is using her to achieve his own personal goals.

The play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, looks at the issue of madness and how it effects the characters of the play. Madness can be looked at from very different perspectives, such as strong and uncontrollable emotions, a person’s desires, and also a persons mental stability. Throughout the play, the audience is questioning the sanity of the main character, Hamlet, as he goes on his quest for revenge. The people around him also show signs of madness, such as Ophelia and Claudius, but in different forms. Existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzche says, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also some reason in madness.” What Nietzche is saying is that when you are in love with someone or something, there is always a little

     Hamlet's madness drove him to seek revenge on anyone who seemed to be trying to trick him or get in his way. His madness and need for revenge led Hamlet to the accidental killing of Ophelia's [sic] father. He also wanted to make his stepfather pay for killing his father and convince his mother that she should be mourning her first husband's death. Ophelia's madness was directed at herself.  Without her father she was left with nothing. She felt that her chances with Hamlet were gone. A women without a man did not have many options to find fulfillment and satisfaction in life - as a result, Ophelia fell into a brook and drowned. Again, that they both took a life to rid themselves of the madness is another similarity.

Many directors choose to make many different decisions when producing their version of Hamlet. Every actor portrays the character Hamlet in several ways making each version almost a new story. Mel Gibson's 1990 version and the 2009 David Tennant films are very different in style, scene omissions and several other aspects.

Ophelia is also put forth as a foil to Lord Hamlet. Before the events of the play unravel Ophelia, whom is the daughter of Polonius and sister of Laertes, gives us traits of Hamlet She reveals that he was a model courtier and scholar, “The glass of fashion and the mould of form, Th’ observed of all observers.” Ophelia also offers another dimension to the story, the love interest. They both love each other, even though it may seem that this love is not a legitimate one too many seeing as how Hamlet was going crazy. Or so it seemed, yet again she brings out information to us, that Hamlet was not nuts but just enraged.

‘The pangs of despised love” (3.1.72). Though Ophelia’s father, Polonius, in The Tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, orders her to stay away from Prince Hamlet, that does not stop her from loving him. The love that both Prince Hamlet and Ophelia share appears to be very strong, but sensitive at the same time. The mistake that Ophelia makes not only breaks Prince Hamlet’s heart and love, but it also makes her go crazy trying to redeem that lost love.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the stage was used as a way to break the barriers of gender norms. In his creation of Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the voice of Ophelia as a means to battle the gender norms that had been placed on Elizabethan society. A good women was seen as someone that was quiet and submissive. If a man could not control a woman’s tongue, there would be no chance that the man would be able to control her body. Though Ophelia’s character was more than capable of exhibiting reason, the control that her father, Polonius, held over her let Ophelia to the the madness that would claim her life by the end of the play. On the other side of the gender spectrum, Hamlet, a prince that should be have been more than capable of

   Poor Ophelia, she lost her lover, her father, her mind, and, posthumously, her brother. Ophelia is the only truly innocent victim in Hamlet. This essay will examine Ophelia's downward spiral from a chaste maiden to nervous wreck.

Madness, the state of being mentally ill, exuberating extreme behavior, or a state of a frenzied mind. A definition which is a recurring major theme in Hamlet. By comparing and contrasting Hamlet to Ophelia, readers can see the different state of mind between the two characters.

    Queen Gertrude and Ophelia, the main female characters in Shakespeare’s dramatic tragedy Hamlet, have a variety of personal qualities and experiences in common. This essay, with the help of literary critics, will explore this commonality.

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, there were many important characters just like Hamlet who show up in more than three-fourths of the play; but there are also characters that don’t necessarily show up as much but still have a strong role. One of the characters that didn’t get as much screen time but was still important was Ophelia. Ophelia was a sister, girlfriend, and daughter that so many people loved. Therefore, Despite the lack of presence of Ophelia, she ultimately played a big role in the lives of a lot of the characters.

In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare developed the story of prince Hamlet, and the murder of his father by the king's brother, Claudius. Hamlet reacted to this event with an internal battle that harmed everyone around him. Ophelia was the character most greatly impacted by Hamlet's feigned and real madness - she first lost her father, her sanity, and then her life. Ophelia, obedient, weak-willed, and no feminist role model, deserves the most pity of any character in the play.

Have you been in love? Love does not have any shape, It does not look at social classes, skin color, even if your parents do not like you to be with her o him, but sometimes those are small obstacles that do not allow us to be with the person we love. A clear example, can be Ophelia and Hamlet on the play called Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. This pair of characters were in love with each other, but, Polonius, Ophelia's father, was against this relationship because he thinks Hamlet is playing around with her. As many relationships, everybody has parallel and contrast things. Even though compared to Hamlet, Ophelia has someone who supports her after her father's death , Hamlet and Ophelia loss of a parental figure and both of them

    The Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet features two female characters in main roles, Ophelia and Gertrude. They are similar in a surprising number of ways. This essay proposes to elucidate the reader on their likeness or similarity.

   Michael Pennington in “Ophelia: Madness Her Only Safe Haven,” elucidates the character of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet: