How Does Hamlet Use Ophelia

   Concerning the Ophelia of Shakespeare’s tragic drama Hamlet, is she an innocent type or not? Is she a victim or not? This essay will explore these and other questions related to this character.

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:

Ophelia is an unmarried daughter leaving her with no choice but to obey her father’s commands. When Hamlet learned that Claudius may have been involved

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

The awful way Hamlet treats Ophelia’s father, Polonius, justifies that he does not truly love her. To begin with, Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius and hardly feels any remorse for doing so. Despite the rocky past of the two men, Hamlet does not show any grief or worry after killing the father of his “true love”. Instead, he uses the deceased body of Polonius to tempt rage out of Claudius for his own satisfaction. When Claudius asks Hamlet where the body is, Hamlet refuses to answer and says, “But if indeed you find him not/

A: Why has Hamlet been so mean to Ophelia throughout the play? For what reason does he treat her this way?

Consistent with the ideology of women during the Elizabethan era, Ophelia is weak minded, obedient and controlled by the men in her life. Under her father’s command, Ophelia agrees to spy to Hamlet, “Ophelia walk you here. Gracious, so please you, we will bestow ourselves. Read on this book, that shows off such an exercise may colour your loneliness.” (Act 3, Scene 1).

Hamlet’s behavior is not the only are within the play where one is able to view his sense of disregard for the feelings of women from the viewpoint of Ophelia. Hamlet’s actions throughout the play also display a type of indifference as well. One specific moment that can attract the reader’s attention is the scene in act two where Ophelia enters in the conversation about Hamlet’s supposed insanity. Within this scene, Ophelia mentions that Hamlet, looking “pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other,” appeared, in her words, “before me” (II.i.80&84). What is interesting about this scene is that when Polonius asks her if Hamlet was going crazy due to his love for her, Ophelia mentions that she is not sure and, in her words, “I do fear it” (II.i.86).

The noble and innocent youth Ophelia tries her hardest to obey/impress her elders. Prince Hamlet and Ophelia have a complicated relationship in which they have on and off’s. At the beginning Ophelia’s love for Prince Hamlet is strong but she has to keep her innocence/ obedience

Polonius uses Ophelia as a pawn and manipulates her to get information from Hamlet. When Polonius sees that Hamlet has gone mad, he thinks it is the result of Ophelia’s lack of affection. Claudius says “We have closely sent for Hamlet hither, / That he as ‘twere by accident, may here / Affront Ophelia”(III. i. 32-34). He then says that Polonius and him are going to listen to the conversation. Polonius is hoping that Hamlet shows signs that his madness is due to Ophelia and being lovesick. Polonius is manipulating Ophelia to do whatever he wants. He doesn 't seem to care what she wants. He just wants to be happy. First he tells her to

as these lines relate back to the development of Ophelia’s character, as well as play an important role in the plot of the play, and a major conflict that is portrayed.

Ophelia plays a role in the court; to keep her “chaste treasure” (1.3.32) and to be married according to her father's wishes. Ophelia must not give her “thoughts no tongue” (1.3.59) about marriage as her father controls who and when she marries. Ophelia is powerless to act against her father’s decisions regarding Hamlet who walks “with a larger tether” (1.3.125) and is a prince. The marriage that Ophelia dreams of is unlikely, due to her status as a commoner. Polonius “charge[s] (Ophelia)” (1.3.134) to never talk with Hamlet again. Ophelia is also utilized by Polonius to carry out his devious plans. Ophelia is positioned in the garden “by accident” (3.1.30) to encounter Hamlet. Polonius knows of Hamlet`s disdain and does not take this into consideration before placing Ophelia in the Garden. Polonius makes no effort to ask if Ophelia is in agreement with his plan. Ophelia is manipulated yet again, by Polonius’s actions and is at the receiving end of the harsh words; “Get thee to a nunnery” (3.1.121) from Hamlet. Ophelia`s future lies in the hands of Polonius and Hamlet. Ophelia is thus seen as a one-dimension character who has no free will.

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.

Throughout the play of Hamlet, there is an emerging of events that occur within Ophelia. She believed she would marry Prince Hamlet even though her father and brother advised her to stay away from him because they knew she was not worthy and that Prince Hamlet would only a predicament in her life. Laertes stated, “Hamlet might love you now, he is subject to his birth” (2640). Her brother also told her before he left for school, “Fear it, Ophelia; fear it, my dear sister, and keep you in the rear of your affection, out of the shot and danger of desire. The chariest maid is prodigal enough, if she unmask her beauty to the moon. Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes. The canker galls the infants of the spring too oft before their buttons be disclosed, and in the morn and liquid dew of youth, contagious blastments are most imminent. Be wary then, best safety lies in fear. Youth to itself rebels, though none else near” (2640-2641). During Laertes speech to Ophelia, he instructed her not to give herself away to Prince Hamlet because no one would seek her anymore, as she would be viewed as used goods. The reader can sense a form of foreshadowing in the play with the domination of men in Ophelia’s life affecting how she handled her various situations with Prince Hamlet. Later, Ophelia is indeed worked by