Hamlet Character Analysis

In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, the character Ophelia is very controversial due to the fact that Shakespeare places her as the focus inside the minds of all the men in her life such as Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet. Although Ophelia may appear to just be a beautiful, weak girl, she has the ability to gain power and attention over all of the men in her life. Throughout the play, Ophelia does not have much of a voice while also being mistreated and emotionally abused by her boyfriend Hamlet. Although Ophelia does not express her opinions and emotions publicly, she propels the plot along by influencing major events. Ophelia’s weak, indecisive, and obedient personality allows her to progress the plot by Shakespeare making her the focus of the men in

In medieval times, men believed that women were objects to be had, and respecting them was not important capacity. Hamlet exemplifies this behavior when he says: “Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me.” (Shakespeare 3.1.123-126). Through this statement, Hamlet is basically calling Ophelia a whore. But due to the fact that Hamlet is a man and that he believes women are subservient to his greatness, he has the ability to say such brash things to Ophelia and she will still love him. Due to this knowledge, Hamlet continues to play with Ophelia’s emotions, which acts as a catalyst for Ophelia’s madness. Additionally, Hamlet states that Ophelia should “Get

The Foils are secondary characters that have differences or mutual things with the main characters, and they also help to give more protagonist to the principal character. Hamlet has different foils, and one of them is Laertes. Laertes is put in the play as the antagonist of the play. Laertes and Hamlet have a mutual feeling, revenge. Both of them want to take revenge for the death of their respective fathers.

William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a revenge tragedy which concentrates essentially on Hamlet’s struggle about avenging his father’s death. Throughout the play, Ophelia is one of only two leading females,who is constantly manipulated by her father, Polonius, her brother, Laertes and Hamlet. Like most of the traditional women in Shakespeare's plays, she is born with an beautiful look and has a kind femininity. However, this type of female characters obviously forecast the unexpected outcome in Ophelia's life. Her love for Hamlet and her devotion to her family creates conflicts and leads to the greatest tragedy in Hamlet.

Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, and loves Hamlet, therefore, she is one of the first people that Hamlet convinces that he is mad. When Hamlet first persuades her that he is mad, he convinces her by not using words. This led to her thinking that he is mad because Hamlet always talks to her. Therefore, by not speaking to her, Ophelia is concludes that something is wrong. She came to this conclusion when Hamlet “took [Ophelia] by the wrist and held [her] hard” (2.1.99) and then “raised a sigh so piteous and profound/As it did seem to shatter all his bulk/ And end his being: that done, he lets [her] go” (2.1.106-108).

   Throughout Hamlet, Shakespeare makes it evident that Ophelia is very unstable. She continuously changes her mind about the way she feels. Laertes and Polonius command her to do things that she does not agree with, but she does them with no argument. Afraid to stand up for herself, she stands back and watches everyone else control her life. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia is treated as a marionette with her strings in the hands of the people around her; however, Kenneth Branagh portrays her as independent and innocent, ignoring Shakespeare's representation of her as feeble-minded through complete male dominance in her thoughts and actions, her indecisiveness, and digression into madness.

Ophelia is shown as a victim of the male characters around her throughout the play. Hamlet makes Ophelia believe that she is the cause of his madness throughout the play when she had nothing to do with it. Even though Hamlet loved Ophelia very much he looked down on her as a sexually object rather than the women he loved. Polonius treats Ophelia like his property, rather than his daughter. Ophelia is expected to do whatever her father tells her and to follow his demands instead of her own wishes. At one point in the play Ophelia says to her father “ I do not know, my lord, what should I think?” which shows just how much mind control her father held over her.

She is one of the first people he meets when he starts to put on the act, and in their interactions he emotionally traumatises her. The first time they meet Hamlet acts so out of hand that Ophelia claims that Hamlet acted “as if he had been loose’d out of hell” (II. i. 93). Moreover, Hamlet persists to play with her emotions when he tells “get thee to a nunnery” (III. i. 131), and it is all done to present a believable madness. It is evident that Hamlet’s discarding of Ophelia likely plays a role in her madness throughout her singing:

Immediately after Claudius murders Hamlet Senior, he is composed and makes himself seem like an authority figure who is here to help the country deal with its current chaos. He presents himself to the public in a manner that is comforting to the people of Denmark, he takes charge and although he is still ambitious, it seems as though it is all to benefit the country. Instantly, he steps up to help Denmark get back on track. He still acknowledges that the death of his brother was tragic and very upsetting to the country, although it is still quite bold of him to marry Gertrude so quickly after Hamlet Senior dies. He makes it clear that there are important things to be done and this is why he is taking charge. Secondly, as the plot thickens, Claudius becomes more and more thirsty for power, which continues to feed his drive and ambition. His weakness begins to be seen in the light due to his circumstances. After murdering his brother, he becomes paranoid and extremely focused on maintaining his power and the throne. His ambition develops as he goes to further and further lengths, pushing himself to his personal limits. This is displayed when he forms the plan to kill Hamlet once he returns to England. When planning, Claudius says to Laertes:

Ophelia reflects on this encounter when she states, “And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,/He falls to such perusal of my face/As he would draw it. Long stayed he so. ”(II,i,67-69) Hamlet’s distortion with reality is present in this encounter because he’s not seeing Ophelia for what she is, and the way he acts, lifting up her arm, sighing, alludes to the fact that Hamlet

Ophelia is underappreciated as a human being and viewed as a sexual enticement for Hamlet. Hamlet fails to address the feelings of Ophelia, but instead refers to her as having “nothing” (Hamlet Act 3 Scene 2 line 119). This is shown in Act III Scene ii of Hamlet:

In the beginning of the story Hamlet reassures Ophelia of his undying love for her, with letters and gifts. Polonius does not believe that Hamlet truly loves his daughter. Polonius tells Ophelia “Ophelia, do not believe his vows, for they are brokers not of that dye which their investments show, but mere implorators of unholy suits,” (lines 126-129). He is telling her not to give into his sweet talk, she is wasting her time with him. When Ophelia cuts all ties to Hamlet, Polonius believes that this is the reason for Hamlets odd behavior.

In the play Laertes says, “For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor, hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, a violet in the youth of primy nature, Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting…” (Shakespeare 1.3.5-9). He is basically telling her that Hamlet loving her is all a phase that’ll pass and he does not really want to be with her. So, he commands her not to speak to him again and knowing Ophelia unable to ignore her brother’s opinion. Since she has no control of her life, she writes hamlet a letter basically telling him that she cannot see him anymore. These series of events lead to her madness, which ends up killing herself.

In numerous stories, characters go through internal and external conflicts. Some conflicts surround their inner thoughts and others are a part of the outside world. In the story Hamlet, the leading character, Hamlet, was in a deranged state of mind. Hamlet’s mind becomes twisted and dark because he seeks revenge on the people who did his father and himself wrong. In the story, it asserts, "in my heart there was a kind of fighting" (5.2.4). This quote hints insanity since he said there is fighting in his heart that would not let him sleep. Some could argue that Hamlet was just acting insane for attention, but the real case was that Hamlet was actually unbalanced due to his father’s death, the marriage between his mother and uncle, and all

When Hamlet finds out his father’s death was not an accident, he becomes enraged with a innumerous amount of emotions. “Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." (Act II, Scene II). Hamlet has reason to believe his dad was murdered and he is determined to find out by who, even if it does sound crazy, he knows he will get to the bottom of this.