Hamlet's Manipulation In Ophelia

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

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

In another scene, Polonius orders Ophelia to return the gifts that Hamlet gave her, and to make her rejection of him unmistakable and absolute. Polonius believes that if she is the cause of Hamlet’s madness, this would be the proof. “That Hamlet loses his mental stability is arguable from his behavior toward Ophelia…” (Foster, par.16) In Branagh’s version, we see how terribly this tears Ophelia’s heart. When Hamlet sees her, he walks up to her, telling her how much he loves her. After Hamlet kisses her, she returns the love letters that he wrote back to him. She sees how crushed he is, which makes her feel even worse; but she also believes she has to do this because her father ordered her to. Hamlet tells her “Get thee to a nunnery” (William

Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia suddenly becomes complicated, after Hamlet’s encounter with the Ghost. It all starts when Hamlet first appears in Ophelia’s chamber pale and dishevelled, after receiving news from the Ghost that King Claudius had poured poison into his ear, and it was Hamlet’s duty to avenge the death of his father. Hamlet’s condition frightens Ophelia, as she runs off to tell Polonius about the encounter;” My lord, as I was sewing in my closet/ Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced/… speak of horrors—he comes before me” (2.1 87-94). Hamlet may express that he does not love Ophelia anymore, but his ill treatment towards her comes at the price of testing her loyalties towards him or her father Polonius, who is the eyes and ears of Claudius. As Ophelia runs off to Polonius, it is clear to Hamlet that he cannot trust Ophelia with such a deadly task at his hands. Behind all this phony madness, it breaks Hamlet’s heart to jeopardize his relationship with Ophelia for his own motivations, but it is an intricate decision he has to make. This is again evident in Act 3, scene 1, when Hamlet instructs Ophelia; “To a nunnery, go, and/ Quickly too. Farewell” (3.1 151-152). The only reason Hamlet would utter such bitter words to Ophelia, is because he trusts Ophelia will be kept safer there than anywhere near the kingdom. In doing so, Hamlet proves that he still cares for Ophelia and what they had, but he cannot manage their relationship at the same time getting revenge, because he’s too caught up in pursuing his own motives. Eventually, as Ophelia goes mad and dies,

“The observed and I, of ladies most deject and wretched, that sucked the honey of his music vows, now see that noble and most sovereign reason, like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; that unmatched form and feature of blown youth blasted with ecstasy; o woe is me, to have seen what I have seen, see what I see!” (2671-2672). The general love and relationship that was administered between Prince Hamlet and Ophelia were not only complicated but problematic. Throughout the play, the reader gains a deeper insight into their overall involvement and what lead to the total turmoil of their love. Arguably, it might be perceived by the reader if Prince Hamlet even loved Ophelia or if she was only a part of his mind games. Furthermore, the heightened debate of their relationship can be strengthened either way by numerous opinions, but I believe far in Prince Hamlet’s twisted mind he cherished and loved Ophelia.

Polonius teams up with King Claudius and once again places demands on Ophelia which require her to disregard her own self to fulfill their wishes of deceiving Hamlet into revealing the cause of his erratic behavior. And once again, it is Ophelia’s duty to her father and this time to the king to be obedient. Disobedience to the king and his advisor are not an option. Polonius wants the king to look on him in good favor and he is willing to step on his daughter to get this admiration. He neglects Ophelia’s feelings by not even thinking of how his requests will affect her. He feels at liberty to request whatever he would like. He is purely worried about himself. Polonius holds a position of unquestioning authority over his daughter. He treats her as though she is not intelligent enough to make her own decisions and he knows that she will inherently obey him. To him her feelings are irrelevant and immature which he states when saying “Affection, puh, you speak like a green girl.”(1.3.101) Following her fathers instructions, she loses her lover and a piece of her happiness.

The first instance of Polonius’ overbearing nature is seen in Act 1, scene 3, where Polonius is giving “advice” to his daughter about Hamlet. Once Laertes heads to the ship, Polonius instantly demands Ophelia to tell him what her brother told her. Polonius hears his daughter talk about Hamlet and immediately states her reputation in the eyes of others. He states, “Have of your audience been most free and bounteous…you do not understand you so clearly as it behooves my daughter and your honor,” (Act 1, scene 3, 93-98). He makes it clear that she is making herself very available for Hamlet and not conducting herself in a fashion that is appealing to her name. It’s obvious that Ophelia fancies Hamlet’s romantic advances on her, but Polonius doesn’t care for her independent thinking. He ridicules her calling her a “green girl” a “baby” for thinking that Hamlet’s offers of affection are real (Act I, scene 3, 101-105). The scene ends with Polonius reminding Ophelia that Hamlet’s intentions are not to love, but empty promises sought to advance in sexual acts. Although Ophelia strongly feels love for Hamlet, she listens to her father’s advice and ends the scene with “I shall obey, my lord,” (Act 1, Scene 3, 136).

Ophelia and Gertrude seldom converse with each other throughout the play; however, they both serve as the only women in Hamlet’s life. They both display the traits of the “subordinate woman” which was expected of women in the seventeenth century (Clarke). Ophelia plays the role of the “good daughter.” She is an inferior of both Polonius and Laertes, and obeys them in all matters, including those of the heart. She also plays the role of a “punching bag” for Hamlet when she simply lets him release his anger onto her. In fact, Ophelia does not act independently until her madness consumes her, and even then, it has been argued that she was subordinate to her insanity (Dane, 420). Gertrude, in contrast, does not need madness to demonstrate

Ophelia, ever since her introduction, has been introduced to be a sweet and sympathetic person, providing the play with emotional moments, but her death was used as a bait and switch by Shakespeare towards audience members who had expected her to change the play’s somber mood to more hopeful one, which in turn makes the play even more tragic. After she had been visited by an apparently crazed Hamlet, she tells Polonius about the visit, prompting him to believe that the young prince is crazy in love, and goes out to tell the king. After it was explained to Claudius, and Hamlet’s former friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern failed to find the underlying cause of his madness, Polonius makes Ophelia approach Hamlet while he and the king hide and monitor his behavior.

           Ophelia allowed herself to become a sort of marionette in Polonius' schemes toward understanding the seemingly mad prince. While her relationship with Hamlet was on the line, she allowed Polonius to commandeer the strings that determined her actions. Polonius was determined that Hamlet's supposed madness stemmed from lovesickness for Ophelia. He convinced Ophelia that her betrayal of Hamlet was a necessary evil and she began to relay all of Hamlet's messages and attempts at communication to him. He told the king and queen:

When Polonius tells Ophelia to repel Hamlet's advances, she promises to obey. And it is only after their fathers are killed that Hamlet and Ophelia begin to act mad.

Polonius believes that the fire that is burning within Hamlet fro his daughter will soon go out. Then Ophelia would loose here "maiden presence" her pure self. Ophelia does not believe this is true but trust her father enough to disregard what she feels and listen to her father," I shall obey, my lord" (pg18 line 136).

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:

Overwhelmed by outside forces and her repressed love for Hamlet, Ophelia is truly a sad and remorseful character in this play, an innocent victim with little essence or depth. An evident victimized woman, ruled by her Renaissance sense of romantic love, it can further be argued that Ophelia was extremely ambiguous. She was too incompetent to decide what she really desired in life. Because she falls in love with Hamlet at a very young age she cannot truly comprehend what love is all about, even though there is strong evidence that Ophelia had sexual relations with Hamlet. Hamlet emphasizes the hypocrisy of his words