Ophelia's Madness In Hamlet

  In Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, the audience finds a docile, manipulated, scolded, victimized young lady named Ophelia. Ophelia is a foil to Hamlet. Plays have foils to help the audience better understand the more important characters in the play.  The character of Ophelia is necessary so that the audience will give Hamlet a chance to get over his madness and follow his heart.

People have mostly seen women inferior to men because women have been thought of as simple-minded and could not take care of themselves. Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows how men treated and thought of women during the 1500s. There was an order most did not interfere with; however, some did. In the 1500s, women were supposed to conform to men’s wishes. Throughout the play, Ophelia first obeyed her father and brother’s wishes, ignored the social norms later, and then went mad, which caused her to never gain her own identity.

The story of Hamlet is a morbid tale of tragedy, commitment, and manipulation; this is especially evident within the character of Ophelia. Throughout the play, Ophelia is torn between obeying and following the different commitments that she has to men in her life. She is constantly torn between the choice of obeying the decisions and wishes of her family or that of Hamlet. She is a constant subject of manipulation and brain washing from both her father and brother. Ophelia is not only subject to the torture of others using her for their intentions but she is also susceptible to abuse from Hamlet. Both her father and her brother believe that Hamlet is using her to achieve his own personal goals.

“Behind the mask of madness, both Hamlet and Ophelia can speak freely” This is a quote often used to explore the reasons as to why the characters: Hamlet and Ophelia use the element madness. In the play, it is believed that Hamlet is both feigned and real mad. The meaning of ‘feigned madness’ is defined to be “assumption of a mental disorder for the purposes of evasion, deceit or the diversion of suspicion.” Whereas ‘real madness’ is defined to be “the state of being mentally mad; insanity”.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is one of Shakespeare’s most tragic plays. Most of the characters in this play suffered a heartbreaking death, although, all of the characters faced anger, regret, madness or distress. Madness was a reoccurring theme in this play, two characters portrayed this more than others. Ophelia and Hamlet faced similar fates, with similarities and differences along the way, all to do with their madness.

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”.

Hamlet is a young man who has become crazy from his trials and tribulations in life. He lost his father due to his uncle murdering them and then had to watch his mother marry the killer. Hamlets insanity can be demonstrated by his crude language and disregard for the well being of his mother. It can also be shown by his depression, which causes him to second guess everything including his life and finally his love, Ophelia helps to justify his absurdness by acting as a mirror. His foolish behavior worries many in the kingdom and creates a hostile and paranoid environment for those around. While some in the castle may believe that Hamlet is putting on an act, he proves that he is mad through his violet actions, his mental health and Ophelia.

After the encounter with the ghost, Hamlet makes his friends, Marcellus and Horatio, swear by the sword that, no matter what they see or hear, they will not tell a soul about it. Hamlet tells them of his ploy to pretend to act crazy. “But come, here, as before, never, so help you mercy, how strange or odd soe'er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on)” (I, v, 169-173). Hamlet has several reasons in feigning insanity.

Denmark is in a state of chaos shown by the opening death of the true

The play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, looks at the issue of madness and how it effects the characters of the play. Madness can be looked at from very different perspectives, such as strong and uncontrollable emotions, a person’s desires, and also a persons mental stability. Throughout the play, the audience is questioning the sanity of the main character, Hamlet, as he goes on his quest for revenge. The people around him also show signs of madness, such as Ophelia and Claudius, but in different forms. Existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzche says, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also some reason in madness.” What Nietzche is saying is that when you are in love with someone or something, there is always a little

Psychotic behavior is prevalent in Shakespeare’s Hamlet as two of his characters, Hamlet and Ophelia, exhibit madness during the play. The play commences after Claudius killed King Hamlet, leaving him in purgatory. Hamlet, after discovering this fact, feigns madness, which he calls an “antic disposition” (1.5.192) in his plot for revenge to ultimately free his father. Ophelia, on the other hand, succumbs to madness after the death of her father Polonius and Hamlet’s rejection of her love. Both experience deaths within their families, which lead to a loss of identity because their identities are greatly shaped by their familial

This act starts with the news of Polonius dying roaming around the castle and that it shocks King Claudius about this murder. With this news, he plans to send Hamlet to England immediately because of his madness and how scared he is about Hamlet. Along with this he send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to get information about where the body is being hidden and Hamlet says that they won’t get anything from him. But before leaving for England, he is brought to the King to hear that it’s for his own safety. Even though, we all know that he is being sent there to be killed and Hamlet knows this as well. Now, we see Ophelia and how mad she has become after this tragedy about his father. She has lost the purpose to live and is dealing with so much grief in this moment. While Laertes comes back to avenge his father’s death but King Claudius tries to calm him down and mourn his loss. Lastly, we find out that Ophelia has drowned and that’s where this act ends.

Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. In it, a young, Danish prince struggles with the death of his father and the betrayal of his mother. This struggle is so profound; it shakes its main character Hamlet to the core and brings him to the brink of sanity. Shakespeare uses madness to convey important information throughout the play especially through Hamlet and his love interest, Ophelia. Hamlet does not always appear to be mad, in fact throughout the play his sanity is questioned by the reader and other characters. Whether real or faked, Hamlet and Ophelia’s madness reveal to us more about their characters, opinions and secrets than their regular discourse.

Oh, Ophelia, Heaven Help a Fool Who Falls in Love Throughout Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Ophelia and Hamlet have an extremely complicated relationship marred by confusion and possible madness. However, Ophelia’s constant manipulation by characters around her ultimately makes her a weak character who can only occasionally show flashes of strength. From the very beginning, Ophelia is bossed around by her father and older brother. In the very first act Ophelia has been told by both her father and brother to, “be something scanter of your maiden presence,” around Hamlet.

In the nunnery scene, Ophelia speaks of her feelings for Hamlet, but his words of anger and distrust lead her to believe that he has gone insane. He turns his love for Ophelia against her, because of the pain his mother has caused him. By marrying his uncle, his mother has betrayed Hamlet and the respect that he has for his true father. The loss of trust in his mother has also changed his perception of other females, so, when he tells Ophelia, “Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” (III.i.131-132). He has little assurance in women, so, although his heart still belongs to Ophelia, he tells her to go to the nunnery so that she cannot have children and will not bear wicked men like his uncle. Hamlet thinks the nunnery