Hamlet: Ophelia's Descent Into Madness

By his cockle hat and staff and his sandal shoon.” (V. IV. 23-26) This shows how Ophelia has became crazy over Hamlet’s inability to show affection towards her and him rejecting her. Ophelia’s madness soon spirals into her commuting suicide by drowning herself in the river. This can be linked to Nietzche’s statement that there is some madness in love, as Ophelia’s love for Hamlet caused her to become crazy. Hamlet also shows signs of madness due to his relationship with Ophelia. Throughout the play it is unknown to the audience if Hamlet truly has feelings for Ophelia. It is not until Act V that the audience becomes aware of Hamlet’s true feelings when he finds out about Ophelia’s death, Hamlet states, “ I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?” (V.I. 255-257) This shows how Hamlet become mad with rage and sorrow as he hears of her death, finally revealing his true feelings. This relates to Nietzche’s statement that there is some madness in love, as Hamlet has not been able to show his true feeling for Ophelia, and once he become aware of her death he is filled with sorrow. This madness is shown when Hamlet develops a plan to fool everyone to thinking he is crazy.

Midway through Hamlet, Ophelia is well under the control of Polonius and Hamlet. They are both manipulating and using her as a pawn as to get what they want and she has little to no say about it. Act 2, scene 1 serves as a turning point, as it is when Ophelia begins to realize the manipulation she faces at the hands of both her father and Hamlet, and that she can only truly gain her freedom when she herself descends into madness. Polonius’ manipulation, Hamlet’s control and Ophelia’s own thoughts and actions demonstrate her descent, and the aftermath.

Thesis Statement: The origin of Ophelia’s madness is rendered through examination of her relationships with her father Polonius, her brother, Laertes, and her lover Hamlet.

     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.

His inconsistent treating of Ophelia eventually drives her to insanity. The actual recognition of his love for Ophelia can only come when Hamlet realizes that she is dead, and free from her tainted womanly trappings “I lov’d Ophelia”. This is without doubt one of the most villainous qualities of Hamlet.

Ophelia is Hamlet’s love interest throughout the entire play. However, in an attempt to be strategic, Hamlet feigns insanity in order to be deceiving and in turn breaks Ophelia's heart. His sudden disinterest towards her coupled with her father Polonius and brother Laertes’ commands to stay away from Hamlet composes a dire internal conflict within Ophelia's mind. She is torn between her undying love for Hamlet versus her desire to be an obedient daughter and sister. In addition, Hamlet unintentionally murders Polonius rather than Claudius, which also adds to Ophelia's insanity. To make matter worse, Ophelia has no mother figure within her life. So taken all together, she is stuck in a constant battle within herself with nobody who is there for her. “I hope all will be well. We must be patient/ but I cannot choose but weep/ to think they would lay him/ i' th' cold ground” (Hamlet v, iv). This quote from Ophelia demonstrates her deep sorrow towards her father's death, as well as the start of her path to insanity. Her lack of a maternal figure leaves her with nobody to discuss her feelings and troubles with. Because of this constant battle within her life, Ophelia finds herself in a confrontation with her emotions, which ends in her official decision of suicide. Which one could argue makes her decisive in the end which may be true, but her internal struggle leading to her choice of suicide is what makes her a great example of a character struggling with uncertainty during times of

In contrast to Hamlet, Ophelia did in fact go crazy for many reasons, one being Hamlet’s madness. After “going mad,” Hamlet taunts Ophelia numerous times when he says things like, “I could interpret between you and your love,/ if I could see the puppets dallying” (Ⅲ.Ⅱ). It is Hamlet’s statements that leave Ophelia embarrassed and confused, which eventually lead her to madness. She becomes so distressed by the thought of Hamlet’s incapability to love her back. When Ophelia went mad, even a gentleman just passing by noticed how “she speaks things in doubt,/ that carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing” (Ⅳ.Ⅴ). When Ophelia loses it, she really goes insane. Her words only make sense “half” of the time as if she is only half there in her brain as well. Ophelia is pitied by most people who come into contact with her and when she dies, Gertrude justifies Ophelia’s death by saying that she was “incapable of her own distress” (Ⅳ.Ⅶ). The amount of pity that Ophelia received is so much that “Poor Ophelia” is mentioned twice in act four. While Ophelia’s madness becomes a pity party, Hamlet’s madness is seen as strange and unusual. Ophelia became mad because of her confusion inflicted by Hamlet.

In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius, is seen as a fair maiden who wants her love with Hamlet to be eternal. Due to the many warnings from her father Polonius and her brother Laertes, she succumbs to her father’s wishes and plays the role of a good daughter, thus betraying Hamlet. Previously in the play where Hamlet gives his soliloquy on life and death, Ophelia has been ordered to break off her relationship with Hamlet while Polonius eavesdrops to prove that Hamlet has truly gone mad. As a result of Hamlet’s supposed madness and Ophelia’s docile character during the confrontation, both of their fragile hearts shatter and Ophelia begins her dark descent into madness, leading to her eventual death.

It is this act of madness, this adversity from both family and the object of her love, that drives Ophelia to lose her own tenuous hold on sanity. She finds it difficult enough to deal with her father and brother's commands, and Hamlet's apparent insanity is too much for her to bear. The conflict of this love story gone wrong arose, as other conflicts around it did, from Hamlet's "good" approach to Ophelia's love versus Polonius and Laertes considering it "bad".

64. As opposed to Hamlet’s madness by becoming too consumed within his own thoughts of revenge, Ophelia’s madness stems from her loss of identity. Though both characters had lost their fathers, Hamlet maintained his individuality, whereas Ophelia, without her sense of duty, has been rendered unto nothing. Ophelia is not the tragic hero that Hamlet is, she serves merely as a plot point and a foil to Gertrude in her purity and lack of selfhood. Ophelia is a damsel left to wallow in her tragic fate as no one comes to her rescue.

Although Hamlet loves Ophelia, as he clearly indicates when he bursts out at her grave and exclaims, “I loved Ophelia,” he confuses her with harsh comments. When Hamlet encounters Ophelia with the knowledge that someone is watching, he acts cruelly, telling Ophelia “I loved you not.” Hamlet’s emotional games with her, regardless of whether he intends to hurt her, create conflict and feelings of heartbreak in Ophelia. Moreover, Hamlet’s killing of Polonius amplifies his negative effect on Ophelia, leading to her descent into madness and eventual death. Comparatively, Polonius and Laertes affect Ophelia less directly, but they still influence her negatively by contributing to her emotional struggle regarding her relationship with Hamlet.

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.

Ophelia experiences alienation throughout Hamlet, although she ends her life with suicide, unlike Hamlet. The queen places blame on Ophelia for Hamlet's madness and states: "...for your part, Ophelia, I do wish that your good beauties be the happy cause for Hamlet's madness..." (Shakespeare 140). The queen lightens her feelings of guilt for the murder and places the guilt upon Ophelia. Gertrude, the queen, knows that she has committed something wrong with the plot of killing Old Hamlet and therefore finds an outlet through Ophelia. Also, to try to discover Hamlet's cause of insanity, Claudius and Polonius use Ophelia to get closer to him and find out that perhaps they could conclude that his

Ophelia is shortly affected by the protagonist’s mad conduct. And immediately she goes to her father, Polonius, to explain how she is “so affrighted” as a result of Hamlet’s visit:

This point is further backed by the fact that although Claudius and Gertrude would like to believe that it is Hamlet's unrequited love for Ophelia that has driven him 'mad', Hamlet's behaviour with Ophelia convinces them that Ophelia is not the main cause of his illness.  As Claudius said 'Love?  His affections do not that way tend; Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little, was not like madness.' (Act 3 Scene 1).