Ophelia's Descent to Madness in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Essay

Hamlet reveals his true feelings for Ophelia when he was standing at her funeral. He realized that after the treatment that she got from him and then the killing of his father he think its it's fault that she has killed her self.

Ophelia spend her life devoutly obeying her father. When Ophelia attempts to describe the nature of her and Prince Hamlet’s relationship and discloses that “He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders / Of his affection to me,” (1. 3. 100-101) her father ridicules her feelings and states “Affection? Pooh! You speak like a green girl, / Unsifted in such perilous circumstances. / Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?” (1. 3. 102-104). After Polonius demands that Ophelia stop seeing Prince Hamlet she concurs— “I shall obey, my lord” (1. 4. 136). Furthermore, Polonius uses his daughter to spy on Prince Hamlet (1. 3). Ophelia does all that is asked of her, not once taking consideration for her own feelings. She does not have any control over her own life—that is enough to cause anyone to go insane.

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.

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

Ophelia likely feels lonely due to her being the only female in the direct family. Her father seemingly has her best interests at heart, and tries to convince her that Hamlet’s advances towards her aren’t genuine:  “Affection! Pooh, you speak like a green girl, Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. Do you believe his “tenders,” as you call them?” (3.4.101-103). Additionally, her father warns her to not fall for Hamlet’s attention, “Marry, I’ll teach you. Think yourself baby, that you have ta 'en these tenders for true pay, which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly, or—not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, running it thus—you’ll tender me a fool” (3.4.105-110). He declares she must hold a higher level of respect for herself than to fall for some lowly suitor, and even adds how she should avoid making he, her father, look stupid by returning Hamlet’s advances upon her. With no instruction from a female role model in her life, she is left to her emotions and the contradicting instructions from her father and brother.

   Throughout Hamlet, Shakespeare makes it evident that Ophelia is very unstable. She continuously changes her mind about the way she feels. Laertes and Polonius command her to do things that she does not agree with, but she does them with no argument. Afraid to stand up for herself, she stands back and watches everyone else control her life. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia is treated as a marionette with her strings in the hands of the people around her; however, Kenneth Branagh portrays her as independent and innocent, ignoring Shakespeare's representation of her as feeble-minded through complete male dominance in her thoughts and actions, her indecisiveness, and digression into madness.

Ophelia appears in the play for the first time in Act 1 Scene 3 where Polonius and Laertes are telling her that Hamlet is only with her for sex and that she should distance herself from him. After this discussion Ophelia faces her first conflict in the play which is to listen to her father and leave Hamlet or disregard her father and continue seeing Hamlet, after contemplating she decides to listen to her father which shows that Ophelia can be manipulated and will rather pleas her father then do what she thinks is best for her.

Ophelia is misguided by her father, Polonius, when he tells her to spy on her lover, Hamlet, and report back to him and King Claudius. She is torn between her father and Hamlet, Once Hamlet found out about what she is doing he began to state his true feelings

Act I Scene 3 of Hamlet displays, Laertes undermining Ophelia’s trust in Hamlet and ‘the trifling of his favour’ . ‘You must fear,’ he warns her, ‘Fear it Ophelia, fear it my dear sister’. And, ‘Be wary.’ This repetition of ‘fear’ appears to be the indoctrination of a small, weak, submissive child: he is almost beating his strong, forceful message into her. She willingly adheres.

All of the influential people in Ophelia’s life are men: her father, Polonius, her brother, Laertes, and her love interest, Hamlet. These are the people with the most power over her, the people who are most able to dictate her decisions in life. Ophelia wants to believe Hamlet’s love is true. Her only desire throughout the play is to help Hamlet and end his madness so she can marry him. Once again we see that the only concern woman have is to marry someone of high title.

Ophelia is shown as a victim of the male characters around her throughout the play. Hamlet makes Ophelia believe that she is the cause of his madness throughout the play when she had nothing to do with it. Even though Hamlet loved Ophelia very much he looked down on her as a sexually object rather than the women he loved. Polonius treats Ophelia like his property, rather than his daughter. Ophelia is expected to do whatever her father tells her and to follow his demands instead of her own wishes. At one point in the play Ophelia says to her father “ I do not know, my lord, what should I think?” which shows just how much mind control her father held over her.

On the other hand, although Ophelia expresses shock towards her father’s death, there is limited evidence to prove that he actually caused her to go mad or even attributed to her madness at all. Scholars note that, “Ophelia’s personality is shaped by her father... Despite his neglect of her psychological needs, Ophelia regards Polonius as a wise protector and moral compass who demands for submission and compliance...” (Smith 97) When Ophelia is first introduced in Hamlet, she is a very submissive, obedient daughter who will dutifully follow any order her father gives her. As stated previously, Ophelia is naive and unaware that her father is depriving her psychologically by prohibiting her from making her own decisions.

While having a conversation with Hamlet, Polonius states, “Through this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” (Act II. II, 200) Polonius believes that Hamlet’s madness is over his love for Ophelia. He takes the love letters that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia and presents them to the king and queen as evidence of Hamlet’s madness. Ophelia is in a state of madness as well.

Ophelia, the love interest of Prince Hamlet, is displayed as being obedient to her father, Polonius, and her brother, Laertes. Both of them instructed her to disregard Hamlet’s affections, saying “his affection will fade after a minute,” (1.3.8) and Ophelia should not “mistake that for true love,” (1.3.119-120). Ophelia, staying true to the obedient role of women at the time, listened to her father

Later in their conversation regarding Hamlet, Polonius continues his manipulation on Ophelia when he states, ?This is for all: 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.131-135). In Polonius?s demand that Ophelia avoid any interactions or confrontations with Hamlet, his lack of knowledge for Ophelia?s true feelings toward Hamlet is shown. Polonius, not having any sympathy for Ophelia?s feelings toward Hamlet, denies her access to her true love, which denies her the ability to express her feelings of love to the person she desires. Used to being obedient to her father and obeying his demands, Ophelia is left with no other choice than to trust her father?s opinion on Hamlet. Immediately after his command, Ophelia responds, ?I shall obey, my lord? (I.iii.136). Ophelia?s respectful response to her father?s unsympathetic command shows her inability to make her own choices in life. Even though Ophelia contains real feelings for Hamlet, her father?s