Similarities And Differences Between Hamlet And Much Ado About Nothing

In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, the character Ophelia is very controversial due to the fact that Shakespeare places her as the focus inside the minds of all the men in her life such as Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet. Although Ophelia may appear to just be a beautiful, weak girl, she has the ability to gain power and attention over all of the men in her life. Throughout the play, Ophelia does not have much of a voice while also being mistreated and emotionally abused by her boyfriend Hamlet. Although Ophelia does not express her opinions and emotions publicly, she propels the plot along by influencing major events. Ophelia’s weak, indecisive, and obedient personality allows her to progress the plot by Shakespeare making her the focus of the men in

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

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.

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:

The noble and innocent youth Ophelia tries her hardest to obey/impress her elders. Prince Hamlet and Ophelia have a complicated relationship in which they have on and off’s. At the beginning Ophelia’s love for Prince Hamlet is strong but she has to keep her innocence/ obedience

   Poor Ophelia, she lost her lover, her father, her mind, and, posthumously, her brother. Ophelia is the only truly innocent victim in Hamlet. This essay will examine Ophelia's downward spiral from a chaste maiden to nervous wreck.

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

William Shakespeare’s play Much Ado about Nothing traverses the complex social, and emotional trials and triumphs of romantic relationships; Shakespeare’s perspective on the subject is both very similar to ours today, and different. Although filled with sexual innuendos, and humorous trickery and shenanigans, Much Ado about Nothing also dives into the complexities of social anxieties, defense mechanisms to cope with the social pressures, and the emotions involved.

   One of the most emotional and moving scenes in William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet is in Act III, Scene I lines 90-155 in which the title character becomes somewhat abusive toward his once loved girlfriend Ophelia. It is interesting to examine the possible motives behind Hamlet's blatant harshness in this "Get the to a nunnery" scene toward the easily manipulated and mild mannered girl. While watching Kenneth Branagh and Mel Gibson's film adaptations of the play, the audience may recognize two possibilities of the many that may exist which may explain the Prince's contemptible behavior; Kenneth Branaugh seems to suggest that this display of animosity will help the troubled

at her father’s request. Ophelia exaggerates her love for Hamlet, so her father can prove to the

Ophelia, from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is an innocent young woman who lives a fairly happy life. She has a loving father and brother, as well as a strapping young prince after her heart. Unfortunately, these men are also the cause of her plunge into insanity and her eventual death. Her father and brother both forbid her from seeing or speaking to Hamlet for fear of him using her, taking her virginity, and then throwing her away. This reinforces the label of women as property instead of people and further confirms that Ophelia has no control over her body, her relationships, or her choices. It also displays her complete obedience to her father because when he forbids her to fraternize with Hamlet, she replies, “I shall obey, my lord” (1.4.136). Ophelia doesn’t have the audacity to stand up to any of the men in her life, nor the intelligence to form or voice any opinions of her own.

of a terrible waste of young life. As a result of the way in which

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

     Ophelia describes Hamlet as 'the courtier's soldier, scholar's eye, tongue and sword, Th'expectancy and rose of fair state, the glass of fashion and the mould of form, Th'observed of all observers (Act 3 Scene 1) He is the ideal man. But, after his madness and the death of her father she sees him as 'a noble mind o'er thrown!' (Act 3 Scene 1). Ophelia suffers from Hamlet's disillusionment; his attitude to her in Act 3 Scene 1 is hard to explain.  His faith in women was shattered by his mother's marriage and it is also possible that Hamlet knows that Ophelia has been ordered to seek him out- yet how strong could their love have been as there is little excuse for the

In this scene, Ophelia feels inner conflict because she is no longer sure that sleeping with Hamlet before marriage was the correct thing to do. Ophelia is having a lot of doubts about the decision that she has made, and this can be connected to her decision of whether to end her life or not. Eventually Ophelia decides that she can not live through the pain any further and drowns herself in a river. This is not the only instance in which Ophelia felt a large amount of inner conflict, another example is during Act I, Scene iii, when Laertes confronts Ophelia about her relationship with Hamlet: “Perhaps he loves you now… but you must fear, his greatness weigh’d, his will is not his own.” (I, iii, 25-28). At this point, Ophelia feels that her love towards Hamlet is reciprocated and she is not sure why Laertes is doubting her relationship so much. However, when Polonius joins the conversation and tells Ophelia to end the relationship, she responds with: “I do not know my Lord what I should think.” (I, III, 103). This shows how Ophelia is conflicted whether she should go with her own feelings, and keep seeing Hamlet, or to listen to her father as he should know what's best for her. Eventually, Ophelia decides that her feelings towards Hamlet do not matter, because Polonius wants her to end the relationship so she must do what he