How Is Ophelia Presented In Hamlet

Ophelia is a very interesting and confused character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. She has so many moments where she is hanging onto her sanity by a thread, and one small thing could set her off. Ophelia illustrates character traits leading to her tragic downfall, including innocence, ignorance, and distraught actions.

Ophelia is one of the most recognisable and popular of Shakespeare’s heroines. She has been a focal point in literature and art throughout history. In early artwork Ophelia was displayed in a group context with the focus not being on her, usually being positioned in the background. Towards the end of the 18th century her character became popular at a fast pace, with Ophelia being the most depicted literary subjects in art.

Ophelia is one of the foils of Hamlet, because she is close to Hamlet and shows the different sides of Hamlet toward certain things. Hamlet starts acting crazy after his father’s death and gives Ophelia mixed emotions about his love for her. Ophelia believes Hamlet loves her

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.

First, let’s discuss the events that led up to Ophelia’s emotion turmoil. The audience learns of Ophelia’s and Hamlet’s love for each other is in the play’s beginning. Hamlet does not fall in love with Ophelia until after his father’s demise. Shakespeare makes it known that Ophelia is very much controlled by her father. She is the daughter of Polonius, the chief advisor to the new King Claudius. Ophelia’s father demands she is to cease contact from prince Hamlet. Polonius states, "I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth have you so slander any moment leisure as to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. Look to t, I charge you. Come your ways." (I.iii.132-35). Ophelia is shown to be powerless, as her father makes all her decisions. Ophelia’s confidence and emotions will begin to dissipate due to her father’s commands. All she can reply is "I do not, my lord, what I should think." (I.iii.104). She is used to being very obedient to her father, and always relying on his word. Even her brother turns his commands upon her as well. Her brother, Laertes, agrees with what their father commands. He also tells Ophelia that Hamlet is not right for her, "Perhaps he loves you not" (I.iii.16). Laertes believes

Although Hamlet often lies to the people around him in order to deceive them of his intentions, Shakespeare indicates when Hamlet is being sincere by the use of prose; in this passage, Hamlet is speaking in prose, so he is being honest about his feelings towards Ophelia. Hamlet’s feelings for Ophelia completely change after the contagion has taken over him and causes him to act rashly. Hamlet openly treats Ophelia poorly for the majority of the play; his treatment corrupts her, and causes her to go crazy, “[Sings.] Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day, / All in the morning betime, / And I a maid at your window, / To be your Valentine, / Then up he rose and donned his clothes / And dupped the chamber door, / Let in the maid, that out a maid / Never departed more” (IV.v. 53-60). After Polonius’s death, Ophelia bursts into the the palace singing many songs, but this song in particular is directed towards Hamlet. She is singing about her love with Hamlet, and how he stole her purity and left her alone during this horrible time of loss. In between Ophelia’s songs, Camden believes that Ophelia is depicting how she feels, “She is mad, cries ‘hem’ to clear her throat because of a feeling of choking or suffocation, beats her heart to relieve the sensation of oppression around it, weeps, prattles constantly, sings snatches of old songs, is distracted and has a depraved imagination, and ends her life by drowning” (Camden 254). Ophelia is oppressed because she is a woman living in

Do women really need a man to keep their sanity or do they need a man to tell them that they are wanted so that they can live? In the medieval days, women relied on men for everything and anything, from a home to fighting for their family in times of war. Women had very high standards that they had to live up to or they would never find a man that would want to marry them. Some were very weak people who waited upon the thoughts of men. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Ophelia is affected by the corruption of the men which ultimately pushed her to insanity and suicide.

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia, daughter of Polonius, is Hamlet’s secret lover. She is inert and simpleminded. She could have eventually become the hero of her own story-- to overcome the misfortunes in her life –but instead is dragged into insanity, becoming as insane as Hamlet. While we continue to read of Ophelia, we see Hamlet become a man. A man who is convinced all women are nearly objects.

That he’s mad, ‘tis true” (II.ii.104-105). The only reason Ophelia was capable of breaking the social norm was due to her insanity and she denotes Hamlet’s deteriorating mindset as he tries to shed social constructs and morality in order to become a character of action and motivate his compulsion for revenge. Hamlet represents himself as a misogynist as he views women as corrupt and cruel individuals. The women Hamlet had interacted with help demonstrate his true qualities. Hamlet’s continuous interactions with Ophelia characterize his Anima whereas his inability to create his Self is shown by the comparison with the moral voice of the

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, he has created an adolescent character called Ophelia. The character of Ophelia is minor, yet she plays a significant part in our discovery of Hamlet. Without Hamlet there is no Ophelia. Ophelia is a girl who lets herself be determined by those she trusts dearly. Her naivety allows her to be used by her father Polonius and Hamlet without her even fully knowing. She allows herself to be taken advantage of by these characters because of her loyalty and trust towards them which results in her ludicrous behaviour. Her kind hearted nature has allowed her to fall in love with Hamlet, even though he does not truly feel the same way about her. Having a hard bringing up by her father Polonius, it is evident that Ophelia

First of all, Ophelia’s naivety presents issues when she cannot have have a solid stance on critical issues. Having a solid stance on critical issues is of most importance with the controversial death of King Hamlet and other small details, such as Claudius’ hatred for Hamlet and Gertrude’s neglectful nature. Since Ophelia is obvlius to everything happening around her, she begins to feel misunderstood and used, eventually going mad.One example of her obliousness can be found in Act 3, scene 2. In this instance, Ophelia and Hamlet are watching the play that Hamlet has manipulated and Hamlet jokes his father has only been dead for 2 weeks when he observes how cheerful his mother looks. The joke fleis over Ophelias head and she believes that he

Ophelia is a innocent, pure, and a virginal young girl at least in the eyes of her father Polonius and her brother Laertes but she can also act as a blind lover and be taken advantage by the people she cares about. Ophelia is often used as a tool by other characters since she can be easily manipulated and it's not until her madness and death at the end of Act 4 where she sparks anger and sorrow amongst characters. Ophelia's character throughout the play goes through several changes but the most important change happens after her father's death where she begins to act lunatic and deranged. In contrast to Hamlet’s character Ophelia seems to be truly crazy but the love between Hamlet and Ophelia is sincere.

To begin with, Shakespeare presents Ophelia as an egg with a slight crack in it. She is very smart and aware of things and her surrounding. She is the type of person who can not really hide her feeling and emotions. She would rather suffer in pain and hurt to please her family or the people around her. If was ask Ophelia on question it would be; Why? That was the main question running through minds while reading and watching the play. You can tell Ophelia has a mind and a heart of her own, but she must obey her father and higher powers. Back then in those times women did not have much say or choice in the things that had to do. So not having that much freedom on top of just having a “good girl”, “must do what I am told” prospective on things make Ophelia more of an annoying character.

Ophelia in the book Hamlet is a young naive misled woman who is influenced by others, and she is also in love with someone who doesn't feel the same way. She is pressured by her family and her lover to do things she isn't comfortable doing, but she does them anyway. Some things didn't go her way in the end, and that drives her to insanity and leads to her downward spiral to death. Ophelia goes insane because Hamlet's love isn't true, he kills her father, and she has no one to confide in.

The character of Ophelia in Shakespeare's “Hamlet” is a dynamic character often overlooked by most readers. At first glance, she is displayed as weak and easily manipulated, shown by her suicide in the play. However, when her character is looked into with more depth, she comes off as a character who is strong and independent and made the choice to kill herself with a purpose. “Hamlet” is a revenge tragedy, but Hamlet isn’t the only character who seeks revenge.