Ophelia's Madness In Hamlet

In medieval times, the word of the man of the house, in this case being Polonius was to be obeyed by the women of the residence. Also the word of the husband is held to a similar standard. Therefore, Ophelia would have felt an obligation to obey both Hamlet and her father. This however, creates controversy within Ophelia herself due to her commitment to both her father and her unnecessary commitment to Hamlet. Her passion for Hamlet seems to be diffused by her greater sense of commitment to her father. Ophelia is not entirely true to Hamlet in that she lies to Hamlet and tells him that her father is at home when he is actually behind a curtain listening in on the conversation. This is evidence that Ophelia is not able to operate and maintain sanity under the pressure from both sources. In her choice of obedience to her father, she in a sense has chosen the course of her fate (which is inevitable doom). But does Ophelia fulfill the requirements of her day as a woman? One way of looking at the issue is the question that was Ophelia driven insane by her desire and love for Hamlet, or was she merely a casualty of a culture that creates unfeasible demands from women? Due to her incapability to create her own decisions, she is vulnerable to the influence of her father and brother and

In fact, by looking at her response, it is possible that she is faithful to Claudius, the man she married quickly after her husband died. This suggests Gertrude’s timid and weak vulnerability on the presence of Claudius’ character in the play. If Gertrude was more skeptical and active about Claudius’ succession as King, she could have prevented a man, who is in fact a murderer, to have control over many social aspects in the kingdom such as nobles and courtiers. It is clear that Hamlet’s knowledge of the truth regarding the death of his father is what drives him to behave insanely. As a result of Gertrude’s reluctant effort to speculate Claudius’ rise to the throne, the death of her husband resulted to her son’s insanity. If Gertrude was more pessimistic on Claudius, suspecting his motives to take the throne, then Hamlet could have avoided the irrational behavior that caused Polonius’ death and his departure to England. In turn, Ophelia could have avoided being depressed and suicidal. Since the scheme commenced without Gertrude’s interference, Ophelia became heart broken due to her conversation with Hamlet, where he insulted her. Heart break often leads to depression which eventually sums up to suicide. Gertrude is clearly responsible for Ophelia committing suicide because she could have prevented Polonius and Claudius’ scheme,

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:

While it is true that Hamlet was merely playing the role of someone who had gone mad, many people may say that Hamlet’s madness was brought upon himself simply by the fact that he was trying to fulfill the orders from his dead father yet couldn’t because of his lack of acting upon a plan. It is strongly possible that Hamlet became extremely frustrated because every chance he got to expose Claudius and capture him in this enormous secret, he failed to do so. Therefore, Hamlet’s madness could be judged as reasonable but most likely for different reasons than one may think. Rather than going mad over the concrete facts that his father died and his mother remarried his uncle less than two months afterwards, he drove himself mad over his own flaws. Hamlet’s tragic flaw absolutely led to his tragic downfall as a

      When one refers to madness in Hamlet, most would think of Hamlet's madness, or at least that that he was pretending to possess. Although Ophelia does go insane and ultimately commits suicide, the central lunacy of the play revolves around Hamlet himself. Hamlet's plan to act mad is completely unexplained. It is safe to

His madness was argued to be an act to confuse Claudius. He acted crazy to cover his plans of seeking revenge on Claudius, when talking to Polonius he acted completely mad, “For in the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?”(Hamlet 2.2.95) Hamlet used much blabber, such as this, when talking to anyone close to Claudius. As the play went on his madness was more and more liable. He started becoming very irrational and distracted by his plans. When Ophelia gives Hamlets letters back he goes into a rage, yelling “Get thee to a nunnery.”(Hamlet (3.1.131) The most well known action Hamlet committed was when he stabbed Polonius in a rash decision, hoping it was Claudius, “O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!“(Hamlet 3.4.171) One thing that brought him one step closer to going mad was Ophelia’s death. Hamlet may have been acting in the beginning but by the end of his devious plan to avenge his father, he lost himself and actually caused himself to go mad.

First, Hamlet starts to go mad when he enters Ophelia’s room one night. Ophelia says, “My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head, his stockings fouled, Ungartered, and down-gyvèd to his ankle, Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, And with a look so piteous in purport As if he had been loosèd out of hell To speak of horrors—he comes before me” (2.1.87—94). Ophelia is explaining to Claudius that Hamlet showed up in her room one night as she was sewing in her closet. She describes him as looking pale and revolting. Why would a sane person show up to a young lady's room unannounced looking tattered? This is that begins to question Hamlet’s sanity. Then Ophelia states, “He took me by the wrist and held me hard. Then goes he to the length of all his arm, And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow, He falls to such perusal of my face As he would draw it. Long stayed he so. At last, a little shaking of mine arm, And thrice his head thus waving up and down, He raised a sigh so piteous and profound As it did seem to shatter all his bulk And end his being. That done, he lets me go, And, with his head over his shoulder turned, He seem'd to find his way without his eyes, For out o' doors he went without their helps And to the last bended their light on me” (2.1.99—112). Later in the same conversation with Claudius, the reader sees that Hamlet begins to act even stranger. When he grabs Ophelia by the wrist and begins to brush her face with the other hand, we can tell that Ophelia begins to get uncomfortable. She also states that he stays for a great deal of time without speaking a word. To the reader, this seems like what a madman would do. This instance, only furthers the

Shakespeare places many interesting characters in his plays. Claudius, Polonius, Marcellus, and Reynaldo are a few from his play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. However, Ophelia appears to be the most innocent all throughout the play. This character has either indirectly or directly affected the lives of every main characters in the script. Ophelia’s character is portrayed as obedient, maidenly, and a mad young girl.

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.

Hamlet’s sanity has made many people question him. “Hamlet certainly displays a high degree of mania and instability throughout much of the play, but his “madness” is perhaps too purposeful and pointed

Throughout the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, the main character is given the overwhelming responsibility of avenging his father’s "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.iv.36). Such a burden can slowly drive a man off the deep end psychologically. Because of this, Hamlet’s disposition is extremely inconsistent and erratic throughout the play. At times he shows signs of uncontrollable insanity. Whenever he interacts with the characters he is wild, crazy, and plays a fool. At other times, he exemplifies intelligence and method in his madness. In instances when he is alone or with Horatio, he is civilized and sane. Hamlet goes through different stages of insanity throughout the story, but his neurotic and skeptical personality amplifies his

Hamlet’s insanity can be thought of as a tragedy or misconception of reality. The death of his father had shaped the first few impressions of his own persona as well as a new experience with his new aunt. As  a result of his genius insanity prince Hamlet has devised a plan to make things more clear to the audience. “Hamlet’s behavior strikes the audience as abnormal on  several occasions. For example, Hamlet seems to be really mad when he is in front of Ophelia in disordered clothes. He behaves as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of the horror”.  As the progress of the play foreshadows a significant end to his insanity that he acts upon.  As the play progresses throughout, Hamlet finds ways in order to give others the impression that he has lost his sanity from his “love” of Polonius’s daughter Ophelia. “(Ophelia)He grabbed me by the wrist and held me hard, then backed away an arm’s length and just looked at me, staring at me like an artist about to paint my

Great authors can develop the same idea in different ways. Shakespeare introduces the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia to mental illness throughout “Hamlet”. Hamlet a, Depressed and Monomaniacal Psychopath, runs off of the vengeance of his father to kill his uncle, King Claudius. Ophelia A victim of, hysteria and depression, cannot function without the support of her father and lover without this support she can loses the will to live. Shakespeare uses metaphors, gender, tone, and word choice to develop the progression of mental illness in his characters throughout “Hamlet”.

There were various ‘treatments’ used in the span of history to treat those who were affected by anything regarding mental health. Psychology, despite being one of the youngest sectors of science has a very undeveloped, horrific history when it comes to participants. “Madness is a generic term that includes behaviors considered deviant. Deviance is always culturally defined, and varies markedly from society to society.” ("Madness and Culture."). In the play, both Hamlet and Ophelia are affected mental health disorders deriving from the deaths of loved ones yet they both dealt with it differently. Arguments regarding Hamlet’s mental state are made based off his encounter with his father's ghost as well as his general behaviour. Hamlet’s friends often worry that when Hamlet and his father meet “there [King Hamlet] assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason And draw you into madness?” (1.4.71-73). Nonetheless, this worry was often disproved throughout the play. Being described as having a ‘crafty madness’ by Rosencrantz disproves his madness theory. Moreover, there are various instances where Hamlet confesses to faking his apparent decent. With statements such as “I am but mad north-northwest” (Shakespeare 2.2.386) or “...am not in madness, / but mad in craft” (Shakespeare 3.4.188-189) show that Hamlet is fully aware of himself and how others think of him, showing that his acts are done on purpose and he is, in

Hamlet can be said to be truly mentally ill in some cases. At the same time, he resents and hates his mother for killing his