The Positive Connotation Of Ophelia As Adapted From Shakespeare's Hamlet

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

In "No Fear Shakespeare Hamlet" Ophelia is just a innocent victim that acts on what people tell her to do and don’t respond to what she want. Hamlet and Ophelia's love was real and not a lust but she let people manipulate her. When you love somebody they will do whatever it takes to protect and support there loved one and Ophelia played victim of loving Hamlet.

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.

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

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

  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.

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.

   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.

Manipulative mastermind: two words that describe only the most sinister of people. When picturing a person worthy of this description, you might think of a murderer who avoided any prison time, a sociopath with control over his loved ones, or even a corrupt politician spinning his lies. All of these are possible things that come to mind, but the very last person you would picture is “a mermaid-like (...) creature {who is} native {in nature} (III. vii. 175-178).” But remember do not judge a book by its cover, even the prettiest faces can hide the most sinister of minds. Capable of scheming and twisting the minds of those around them to fit their own picture of how things should happen. You can find this cunning creature in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Never before have I heard of a person capable of controlling their own father, while holding sway over the vast majority of people surrounding them; even managing to manipulate those people after their death. No, this character is not Hamlet, Claudius, or even the dead King Hamlet, it is someone much more discrete in their control over others. Ophelia is the master manipulator. Although, many first dismiss her as a simply, naive noblewoman, she is much more capable than you think, and if the reader looks closely they can find all the ways that she dominated the Norwegian court with a sly mind and innocent front.

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be read as a feminist play given Ophelia’s experiences within the Danish society. Through Ophelia’s interactions with the men of the play, the audience can see that the male-dominated society brings inequality, distrust, and destruction. As Ophelia interacts with her brother, her father, and Hamlet, she is completely unable to assert her own independence, and her lack of personal autonomy eventually drives her to madness. These three men all deny Ophelia’s individuality and desire for self-control because they are accustomed to their male-dominated world. However, once Ophelia is driven to madness, she is regarded as an individual and finally has political and social power. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a feminist play located within a misogynistic culture that Ophelia struggles to escape.

Both Ophelia from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet along with the unnamed woman from “Anne Sexton’s Music Swims Back To Me” both face very horrendous tragedies, this proves to be the undoing of their sanity. In “Anne Sexton’s Music Swims Back To Me”. The woman in the poem is very perceptibly confused and distraught, she appears lost and there isn’t anything clear to point her towards what to do or where to go. The woman appears to be scared that is until she hears the music. It is the sole thing she has to help her cope. The music calms her, it is her helping hand to remembering her old memories. Inside the mental institution she is revealed to be in as a result of the unrevealed tragedy she is facing. What’s more she is told what to do by

   Michael Pennington in “Ophelia: Madness Her Only Safe Haven,” elucidates the character of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet:

To begin with, Ophelia is a character from the Shakespeare classic Hamlet. She is perceived as a young woman who is kind hearted and obedient towards the male characters within the story. These characteristics cause her to be seen as the victim of the male characters who revolve around the story of Hamlet.

Hardships and sufferings are common in an average person’s life, but enduring a certain amount can push a person past their limits. At times, one's actions can lead to other people's limits being broken resulting in unexpected consequences. Hamlet by William Shakespeare involves two characters named Ophelia and Gertrude who both suffer from Hamlet's verbal and physical abuse; of the two, Ophelia suffers to a greater extent because of her decision to commit suicide. The cruel insults Hamlet addresses Ophelia with hurts her deeply due to them being false, whereas the harsh words Hamlet uses to describe Gertrude with are mostly true. Ophelia gets traumatized from both Hamlet’s sayings and actions, causing her to suffer an incredible amount. Queen Gertrude, who is the mother of Hamlet, is humiliated with abusive language by her son, which causes a particularly large amount of emotional distress on her since these words are coming from her very own child. First, the two suffer major harm from Hamlet due to his insults that cause them to feel worthless and violated. Gertrude becomes extremely offended by everything Hamlet says to her. Ophelia is greatly saddened, but at the same time she is worried about Hamlet. The death of Ophelia’s father causes the devastated daughter to fall into a state of depression, ultimately ending with the young woman taking her own life. On the other hand, the mother of Hamlet does not suffer from her son's torment as much as Ophelia because her death is the result of an accident, not the outcome of tremendous emotional suffering which Ophelia’s death resulted from. Additionally, Ophelia and Gertrude go through emotional suffering due to Hamlet’s verbal insult.

Since Hippocrates first coined the term “hysteria” to describe a wandering uterus causing women to become mad, the idea of feminine insanity has captivated the literary imagination (Tasca, Rapetti, Carta, Fadda 2012). While many authors use madwomen to signify tragedy, William Shakespeare focuses specifically on the downfall of noblewomen. In Hamlet and Macbeth, Shakespeare utilizes spiritual allusions, feminine imagery, and tragic inversion to transition from a sympathetic to unsympathetic view of the downfall of women in concordance with the changing of hands of the English throne.