Ophelia's Suicide Analysis

At one point in time, Ophelia was one who Hamlet truly loved and trusted. Ophelia comes and speaks to hamlet to return his gifts from her but Hamlet immediately realizes that something is wrong and finds out that Ophelia is being used by Claudius and Polonius to spy on him to find out the real reason of Hamlet’s facade of madness. After realizing this, Hamlet is incensed and acts as if he is truly insane. Hamlet is clearly hurt because of the fact that Ophelia has been as a pawn in Claudius’ game. The effects of the matter cause him to verbally abuse Ophelia and rejects her love by saying that they will never get married and also degrades women. At this point Hamlet is raged and does not understand how harsh his words can be to a woman, especially a human being in general. In conclusion, the death of Hamlet’s father had looked like as if it has not even affected his mother which he so dearly loved and the one true love he thought he had, seems to him as deceiving and just a pawn for his enemies. These factors continue to diminish the subordinate attitude that Hamlet has towards

I thought I would be able to bottle up all of these emotions but it seems I cannot bear it any longer; I must let it all out. I must tell you, Hamlet, that living in this mad world is driving me to the brink of insanity. I am just so fed up with going about every single day persuading myself that I had ought to ignore it all and simply, sweetly smile. But why should I? Why should I sit around and let the likes of men like you order me around any longer? Yes Lord this, yes Lord that! Who do all of you men think you are? Being ordered around by my father, brother and you, my former lover, completely frustrates me every time. Am I your maid? Your slave? Your toy? You all speak to me with such

The character of Ophelia is an excellent element of drama used to develop interpretations of Shakespeare’s text. At the beginning of the play, she is happy and in love with Hamlet, who first notices her beauty and then falls in love with her. The development of Ophelia’s madness and the many factors that contributed to her suicide are significant parts of the plot. “Her madness was attributed to the extremity of her emotions, which in such a frail person led to melancholy and eventual breakdown” (Teker, par. 3). The character of Ophelia in Zieffirelli’s version is the personification of a young innocent girl. “Her innocence is mixed with intelligence, keen perception, and erotic awareness” (Teker, par. 13). This Ophelia is a victim

This is emphasized by Laertes’ and Polonius’ concern to protect Ophelia. Ophelia tells her father of Hamlet “he hath importuned me with love in honourable fashion”. Polonius insists that Hamlet will only use Ophelia for sex which Laertes supports. He describes her virginity as a ‘chaste treasure’. Ophelia is viewed by her father, brother, and consequently the audience as a virginal naïve girl.

“The observed and I, of ladies most deject and wretched, that sucked the honey of his music vows, now see that noble and most sovereign reason, like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; that unmatched form and feature of blown youth blasted with ecstasy; o woe is me, to have seen what I have seen, see what I see!” (2671-2672). The general love and relationship that was administered between Prince Hamlet and Ophelia were not only complicated but problematic. Throughout the play, the reader gains a deeper insight into their overall involvement and what lead to the total turmoil of their love. Arguably, it might be perceived by the reader if Prince Hamlet even loved Ophelia or if she was only a part of his mind games. Furthermore, the heightened debate of their relationship can be strengthened either way by numerous opinions, but I believe far in Prince Hamlet’s twisted mind he cherished and loved Ophelia.

Her father and brother believe that Hamlet will use her. According to them he only wants to take her virginity and throw it away. Through Laertes line we see that he believes Ophelia is still a maiden. He says, “Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain/If with too credent ear you list his songs/Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open” (l,iii). He also goes on to say, “The canker galls the infants of the spring/Too oft before their button be disclosed/And in the morn and liquid dew of youth/Contagious blastments are most imminent. /Be wary then; best safety lies in fear” (I.iii). In this quote Laertes compares intercourse to a worm that enters and injures a delicate flower’s unopened buds. He basically tries to scare Ophelia away from pre-marital sex. However there are many references that suggest Ophelia is no longer maidenly. For example, when she is giving away flowers after she had gone mad this might be a symbol of her “deflowering”

It is widely believed that “Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself” and this holds true for Hamlet’s Ophelia. Ophelia’s death symbolizes a life spent passively tolerating Hamlet’s manipulations and the restrictions imposed by those around her, while struggling to maintain the last shred of her dignity. Ophelia’s apathetic reaction to her drowning suggests that she never had control of her own life, as she was expected to comply with the expectations of others. Allowing the water to consume her without a fight alludes to Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia as merely a device in his personal agenda. Her apparent suicide denotes a desire to take control of her life for once. Ophelia’s death is, arguably, an honorable one,

In Act III scene i, Polonius and the King hide behind Ophelia's curtains and eavesdrop on the conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet goes on to scold Ophelia and accuse her of not being chaste "Ha, ha! Are you honest?" ... "Are you fair?" ... "Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be / a breeder of sinners?" Hamlet goes on to say "...This was sometime a paradox, but now / the time gives it proof. I did love you once." Ophelia replies with "Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so." Her heart must have torn in two when Hamlet came back with "You should not have believed me, for virtue / cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish / of it. I loved you not." Hamlet admits that he was deceiving her the whole time. This was likely a major factor in Ophelia's descent into madness and eventually, death. Again, Ophelia is the victim.

Hamlet knows that she is helping her dad, Polonius, spy on him. He accuses Ophelia, and all women, of being a “breeder of sinners” (Shmoop Editorial Team 1). Hamlet orders Ophelia to a nunnery, but she cannot call him out on it because she is not supposed to know what the word means. This is not the only criticism that Hamlet calls out to Ophelia. He says that if Ophelia is to marry a man, she will turn her husband into a monster because she will cheat on him (Shmoop Editorial Team 1). Hamlet: “If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go, and quickly too. Farewell” (3.1.130-134).

In William Shakespeare’s, “Hamlet”, Hamlet’s love interest and Polonius’ daughter, Ophelia, died a passive and sudden death. While hanging wreaths from a willow tree, Ophelia fell from the tree and drowned in a brook. Although her death was claimed to be accidental, it is unknown if she committed suicide because she made no attempt to save herself. Her death represents the life she lived and the relationships she had with other people like her father and Hamlet. Ophelia’s death symbolizes her life with being controlled by her father, her honor and privilege of being buried in sacred ground, and the sudden termination of the relationship she had with Hamlet.

Ophelia’s role in Hamlet is a very tragic one, because in all honesty, she was one of the most innocent characters of them all. She loved her father dearly, but he was taken away from her by complete accident. As Ophelia’s story progressed, her composure slowly started slipping away from her when she sang to Gertrude and Claudius about her father’s death and starts taking off her clothes (Act 4, scene v). When

Overwhelmed by outside forces and her repressed love for Hamlet, Ophelia is truly a sad and remorseful character in this play, an innocent victim with little essence or depth. An evident victimized woman, ruled by her Renaissance sense of romantic love, it can further be argued that Ophelia was extremely ambiguous. She was too incompetent to decide what she really desired in life. Because she falls in love with Hamlet at a very young age she cannot truly comprehend what love is all about, even though there is strong evidence that Ophelia had sexual relations with Hamlet. Hamlet emphasizes the hypocrisy of his words

In the beginning, of the story Hamlet makes Ophelia believe that she is the main reason for his insanity. Instead of Hamlet showing love or an emotional connection towards Ophelia, Hamlet treats Ophelia as a sexual object. We can see this clearly in the text, “ That’s a fair thought to lie between a maiden legs.” (Shakespeare 3.2.3) This shows how Hamlet sees Ophelia as a sexual object. He would rather engage in intimacy with Ophelia instead of getting to know her on a personal level. This also leads to another character in a story who treats Ophelia as an object rather than family.

“I do not know, my lord, what I should think. POL: Marry, I will teach you. Think

After a long meditation on the nature of being and death, Hamlet catches sight of Ophelia. As she attempts to return some of the remembrances that Hamlet gave when courting her, Hamlet caustically questions Ophelia’s honesty. He denies ever having given Ophelia anything and continues to erratically claim that he loved her once before declaring that he never loved her at all. The problem here is that no one knows the exact intent of Hamlet as he claims to love Ophelia amidst a number of happenings that questions how genuine his love towards Ophelia. Not only does he doubt her honesty because he knew about her plan with Polonius and Claudius to eavesdrop on him, he is unsure of her purity and her love for him and he tells her, “get thee to a nunnery” rather than give birth to sinners ( ). Increasingly agitated, Hamlet condemns marriage itself, saying that no more marriages should be allowed, before exiting the room and leaving Ophelia in shambles. Looking deeper into the behavior that Hamlet demonstrates in this scene, there is completely no love that he shares with Ophelia. In a way, Hamlet seems convinced that Ophelia is the love of her life, but yet he has the behavior of insulting her and not giving her the priority that she needs. His character portrays a man who cannot be connected to his self and this leads him to a number of problems as regards the way he treats Ophelia. It is not just the feelings that Hamlet has towards Ophelia that describes his love for her but his actions say a lot on the feeling that is in the inside. Reaching to an extent that he can