How Does Ophelia Commit Suicide

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

Ophelia has no form of deciphering the cryptic contradictory expectations that the people around her demand from her.

In the beginning of the play, Ophelia was like any other obedient young woman during the time. In Understanding Hamlet, Richard Corum shows that Ophelia is obedient. He writes, "Though Hamlet has been courting her, Ophelia willingly obeys her father when he tells her to discourage the prince's advances" (Corum 26). Ophelia obeys her father's demands because it was expected during that time of women to comply with men's wishes. In Hamlet, Ophelia disregards her own feelings towards Hamlet. Ophelia does as she is told:

Ophelia’s father, Polonius, wishes to keep his family’s honor in tact, and fears that Ophelia’s open regard for Hamlet will diminish his honor. Both Polonius and Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, believe that Ophelia’s preference for Hamlet will only end in disgrace for their family, as Hamlet would never marry her due to her lower social standing, therefore, they counsel her to break off any understanding with Hamlet. As a woman, Ophelia realizes her duty to her father and her brother, and therefore decides to disregard her own feelings about Hamlet and do as her father and brother wish.

In the beginning of the play, it is clear through her thoughts and actions that that Ophelia is an obedient person. But upon closer inspection, the audience can see that she is not merely an obedient, but completely dependent and weak character. In fact, her needy nature is unmistakable from the beginning. OPH: “I do not know, my lord, what I should think.” POL: “Marry, I will teach you. Think yourself a baby…” (Act I, Scene III, lines 105-106) Her cruel clashings with Hamlet, which go against her feelings for him,

In Conclusion, In act 3 scene 1, Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” Soliloquy was critical in developing the plot because this was when Hamlet was at his most suicidal standpoint in the play.

Even in death, she displays yielding and passive behavior: Ophelia does not have the intention of committing suicide, though she fails to save herself from sinking. She is essentially a casualty of a society that enforces unreasonable expectations for its women and is never afforded the liberty of thinking for herself and making her own judgments and decisions. Her passive death represents the lack of control she has over her own person and the dependence she has developed on other people. Therefore, Ophelia is mentally unstable and not capable of realizing that her life is on the line. Ophelia is trained by the men in her life to be compliant with their demands, preventing her from practicing her autonomy and enabling her to be easily manipulated by Hamlet.

As a result of every other aspect in Ophelia’s life being out of her control, she

Ophelia from the play “Shakespeare” plays an important female role. She is a beautiful young woman with innocence. She deals with struggles that most young women don’t have to deal with. Ophelia changes immensely throughout the play. Ophelia is torn between Hamlet and her family, causing conflict with both relationships and affecting her thought process to drive her mentally insane.

of a terrible waste of young life. As a result of the way in which

Ophelia only denies requests from people that would insult or jeopardize her femininity, in all other situations she is passive to what others say and how they wish for her to behave. Polonius is a strong influence in Ophelia, giving her orders, not giving her any chance to make her own decisions. QUOTE. Ophelia isn’t confrontational towards anyone, except in a manner that protects her femininity and innocence. In the way she talks to Hamlet, she never shows her true love to him, yet she shows what Polonius wants her to be. Going as far as to give back his gifts to her and denying that she loves him, all for the sake of her father, and the king. QUOTE. She is a weak, female character, who is passive to the actions of those around her, and lacks in action, that comes from her own devices, instead of following her own intuition. Ophelia stands up to Hamlet’s advances at the play, showing a desire to preserve her femininity, and virginity. It is largely assumed that Ophelia is still a virgin……… QUOTE. Ophelia’s passivity continues into her insanity and into her death, within her insanity Ophelia causes trouble, and sings of naughty things, yet she causes very little interruption or trouble. Her depictions in art primarily focuses on her by or in the water, surrounded by flowers. (IMAGE). Flowers are central to feminine imagery, as well as having an idea of brevity, both concepts that are central to

To begin with, Ophelia is a character from the Shakespeare classic Hamlet. She is perceived as a young woman who is kind hearted and obedient towards the male characters within the story. These characteristics cause her to be seen as the victim of the male characters who revolve around the story of Hamlet.

In the relationship between her and Hamlet, he desired her like bait. He only showed lust for her, and wanted her to fulfill his sexual desires. “The majority of the critics have viewed Ophelia as a week character, in both form and function, and many have dismissed her as a woman … she has been consistently viewed as the least complex of the principal characters of Hamlet, the least useful.” (Resetarits). Ophelia loses her identity as a woman as she becomes a pawn to the men.

After reading Act 3 Scene 1 from Hamlet, it is easy to become caught up in the insults and contradictions that are part of Hamlet’s disguise. The tones of this scene point to a deeper meaning behind Hamlet’s desperate decisions and mockery. They not only legitimize his true love for Ophelia but also give a hint inside Hamlet’s mind and behind his plans. His love for Ophelia is authentic for he shows tell-tale signs of heartbreak towards her rejection of his love and her treason. Furthermore, his love passes the ultimate test of love- he recognizes his incapacity to make Ophelia happy and successful if he devotes his entire being to

The only way she sees how is by becoming mad, which eventually causes her death. As a mad woman, Ophelia would not be bound by the societal restrictions of women; she could talk freely to some extent. However, even in insanity she is not free. She still has no freedom of choice. Ophelia is eventually regarded as irrational, and her words are not taken seriously and are taken to be simply mad-talk. Whereas Hamlet has the power to change his fate, Ophelia does not, and her death is considered to be tragic because the only escape she sees from her oppression is madness and death. Her limited options in a male-controlled society and her realization of those limitations are what make Ophelia's death the true tragedy of Hamlet. As Annette Wyandotte observes in one of her essays, “One could argue that Ophelia’s death is the true tragedy of Hamlet.” Without critiques, the audience might think that Hamlet’s faith and actions are the main tragic elements of the play, but Ophelia has much of a bigger role than simply her life and love