The Symbolism of Ophelia's Death Essay

When alone, or around Horatio, it is portrayed that Hamlet is very in control of his actions. Ophelia, on the other hand, appears to have lost all sense of self-awareness and it is inconclusive as to whether she drowned intently or by accident. Neither of them may have had serious intentions of ending their lives, but it is still true to say that neither of them did much to avoid their endings.

   Throughout Hamlet, Shakespeare makes it evident that Ophelia is very unstable. She continuously changes her mind about the way she feels. Laertes and Polonius command her to do things that she does not agree with, but she does them with no argument. Afraid to stand up for herself, she stands back and watches everyone else control her life. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia is treated as a marionette with her strings in the hands of the people around her; however, Kenneth Branagh portrays her as independent and innocent, ignoring Shakespeare's representation of her as feeble-minded through complete male dominance in her thoughts and actions, her indecisiveness, and digression into madness.

Ophelia is gentle, loving and beautiful. She is also obedient to her father and loyal to her family and it is this which draws her into the circle of disaster and leads to her "untimely death". She is deeply in love with Hamlet and believes his "tenders" to be sincere, but her obedience to both her father and her brother must come first. Laertes tells her to beware of Hamlet's interest as it is driven by lust, not love. He also points out the difference in their background and rightly concludes that Hamlet is not in a position, as heir to the throne to choose freely who he will marry.

Ophelia before her father’s death was a very sane girl. Even after Hamlets brutal treatment of her: “Hamlet: You should have not believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish it. I loved you not Ophelia: I was the more deceived” (hamlet 3.1.131). Hamlet told her to forget about him. That must have been an unbearable pain, the love of your life to tell you to forget about him god knows how painful that must have truly felt for her. She did not burst into tears or

In Hamlet, Ophelia’s drowning is made romantic and sympathetic by Gertrude’s description of it: “Her clothes spread wide; and, mermaid-like… she chanted snatches of old tunes; as one incapable of her own distress…  her garments, heavy with their drink, pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death.” Gertrude’s image-laden language reminds the audience of Ophelia’s pre-established beauty and innocence, yet it also uncovers many new character traits. The fact that Ophelia dies by drowning is significant: Ophelia, like water, can be easily molded by the will of those around her — specifically, by the will of men. She spends the entire play bidding the wishes of her father, brother, and Hamlet himself. When all three of these men desert her, it creates a power vacuum. She is unguided and crazed, like the current of the brook, and it ultimately proves to be her

Ophelia, wholly at the mercy of the male figures throughout her life, is certainly a victim figure. In Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia, Hamlet fluctuates between undying love and cruelty as reflected in his cold and accusing speech in the 'nunnery scene'. To examine this guilt more deeply, it could be proposed that Gertrude's behaviour has prompted Hamlet's intolerable treatment of Ophelia. She challenges the patriarchal limits of femininity in marrying so soon after her husband's death and not remaining in submissive grief and obedient commitment to his memory. This provides Hamlet with an exemplary of women's infidelity. His resentment leads him to believe that all women are undependable - 'Frailty thy name is woman'. With regard to Ophelia’s father and brother, the two direct ruling male forces in her life, Ophelia is very much a victim. Unquestioningly obeying their protest against pursuing a relationship with Hamlet, she rejects his advances which of course she believes to be genuine and thus when he pretends to be mad she believes it to be her fault. Her speech reflects her deep and genuine sorrow “And I of ladies, most deject and wretched That sucked honey of his music vows O woe is me”. Ophelia's feeling of guilt is

In the story of Hamlet, Ophelia was a young lady who was good person and has lost her loved one as Hamlet did when he lost his father. She was a beautiful young girl who had a father, Polonius, who worked for the king. Her personality wasn’t strong, like other characters in Hamlet. Since her characteristic was weak, she fell and died, not able to be strong during the session of her father’s death. Ophelia was a character who was obedient, naïve, and unstable throughout the play.

Ophelia is an attractive and amiable young girl who, after being deeply insulted by Hamlet, feeling as though she cannot live up to her family’s expectations, and her father’s death, drowns herself in the river. Prince Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude of Denmark, is a cowardly woman who acts out of self-preservation and is easily tempted by her reliance on receiving affection.

Hamlet is praised as one of the greatest literary works ever written but unlike the title, many characters play key roles in the development of the story and his progression towards revenge induced madness. One such character is Hamlet’s lover Ophelia. She is a pivotal character in the effectiveness as well as execution of the plot for revenge. One fact that is commonly short sited is the relationship Ophelia has with Hamlet and how that ultimately affects his road towards revenge. Without Ophelia there is no Hamlet. Ophelia’s innocence, lack of knowledge and ignorance, and weakness of the mind all play a key role in not only her own but also Hamlet’s demise.

To continue, Ophelia is the princess stereotype of this play; she has no power, is controlled by men, and listens to as well as obeying what she is told. For example, she is constantly yielding to the men in her life; “I shall obey, my lord.” (Act I, scene III, 136) In this scene it is shown how her father and brother succeed in controlling her love life. Additionally, it shows the society and values of the time period. She is truly a victim of circumstance, as she lives in a time when women are prevented from possessing the power. This fact alone paints the picture of a pathetic character to which the audience is sympathetic. Throughout the play, Ophelia’s situation goes from bad to worse. Despite her compliance and overall good behaviour, she is often the one who is forced to suffer. Such as, the scene of Hamlet where she obeys her father’s wishes and spies on Hamlet; “Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” (Act III, scene i, 123-124) Furthermore, Ophelia does exactly as she is instructed yet becomes the object of Hamlet’s rage once he figures out she is working with her father and Claudius. Thus, her nemeses are the society and her fate which is spawned from that society. Ophelia may not be the most evident example of a tragic hero in Hamlet, but one cannot overlook the tragedy that is

Additionally, the cover of the Folger Library edition of Hamlet used in class portrays Ophelia in the background a pale and fragile with light blonde hair, thus confirming the assumption of her fragility. But the physical characteristics of Ophelia are more important because of their symbolism of her mental fragility. More specifically, Ophelia and her lack of self-confidence is accurately portrayed by her physical traits as someone who can be easily controlled, persuaded and manipulated. Ophelia is seen as someone who potentially has a very soft heart but is unable to deal with traumatic experiences. When her father falls to his tragic death due to the stabbing from Hamlet, her insanity drives her to drown herself in a river to cope with the pain.

Ophelia might have reasoned through her dilemma, but was caused by her father’s instructions and Hamlet’s staggering demands and confusion. She felt trapped, cornered and felt she had no other option but to drown herself. Although Queen Gertrude denies her suicidal action, she substitutes it with Ophelia being swept by the current of the river, but the church refuses to give her a Christian burial on terms of her killing herself. The scene with the gravedigger digging her grave, he argues if she should even get a grave, questioning if it was self-defence or self-offence. “It must be se offendendo. It cannot be else” (Act Five, Scene One). Arguing with the other that it was an act, and an act has three steps, to do, to act, and to preform. Therefore she must have known she was drowning

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia is one of the most elusive characters of the play and her importance is very hard to pinpoint and has raised eyebrows for centuries. For example, the scene of her death is one that artists have depicted over and over, yet that iconic moment is merely alluded to and happens off stage. This reflects Ophelia’s character very well considering that she is often at the periphery of the action; more talked about then talked to. There are many questions surrounding Ophelia and many interpretations to her character. Is she as virtuous as her father and brother want her to be? Does her madness really drive her to suicide or is her drowning actually an accident? Is she more than a pawn? All of those are at the back of the reader’s mind when Hamlet is concerned and her importance can easily be questioned considering how little is known about her. Yet, despite the lack of information about her and her past, and despite how very small her actual presence in the play is Ophelia remains essential if not to the audience, then at least to the characters surrounding her. She serves as a conversation-enabler in relation to many of the chore themes of the play. Ophelia might be a very passive character, but by her mere presence she allows themes of suicide, madness, and grief to be pushed further by the protagonists that surround her. Both because of what happens to her and because of the way people around her react to those events, Ophelia

After Ophelia loses Hamlet’s love and Polonius she does not care for the anything else and her loneliness gets her from a “melodious lay To muddy death” (4.7.3331-3332). Ophelia decides to follow in Hamlet’s and Polonius’s footsteps, by terminating her life. Ophelia shows she cannot handle emotional pain because she acts out of despair and drowns herself while important people like Laertes still remains. Ophelia shows desperation to terminate her life because drowning herself must have taken confidence in order to succeed. Ophelia experiences one of the worst possible ways to die since Gertrude expressed Ophelia’s death as the “muddy death”, which uses a negative adjective to describe something terrible (4.7.3332). Ophelia acts from depression, which causes a terrible outcome for her because her decision causes her to lose her life. Ophelia turns into someone “deprived of the opportunity to mourn over the body within the sanction of the liturgy for the dead” (Goodland). Ophelia did not have much time to mourn over the loss of Polonius, and right after her first tragedy, she suffers another tragedy, losing the only love of her life. Ophelia’s losses trigger her depression to take over her mind to make rash and brainless decisions rather than wise, intelligent decisions. Ophelia expresses the dangers that loss can bring to an individual, but interestingly, Laertes, her brother, allows emptiness

William Shakespeare's Hamlet is an intense play of physiological warfare between Hamlet and everyone else he deems an enemy, going as far to make an enemy of himself. Hamlet then takes action on his deranged thoughts leading to a chain of events that keeps the play moving forward and the audience engaged, however, the audience seems to shine the lights around Hamlet and focus on him and his story alone, rightfully so, after all the play is named Hamlet and it centers around his families issues. Yet, there is far more to be known and understood from the meanings hidden within the words by Shakespeare. One neglected character whose suffering runs far deeper than Hamlets is Ophelia's.