Ophelian Symbolism In Hamlet

The ability for a person to both follow the wishes of others or deal with challenges while preserving his or her own morals, mental wellbeing and overall health is a balance that is hard to achieve. Often times the only way that people can effectively deal with conflicts in their lives is to throw away their instinct of self-preservation. Although Hamlet and Ophelia are lovers who claim to love one another, the emphasis that they place on their own wellbeing while dealing with demands varies greatly. Ophelia always puts her own wellbeing last, whereas Hamlet was willing to use Ophelia’s mental wellbeing in order to protect himself. While some similarities exist between Hamlet and Ophelia’s sense of self-preservation, the differences are exceedingly

In “Hamlet” a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, the death of a character is an occurring event. William Shakespeare uses imagery and allusion to demonstrate the result of manipulation from other characters upon Ophelia, daughter of Polonius, and leading up to her death. Her death was not the consequence of disgraceful actions of her own, but rather by the involvement of others and their influence on her life. Hamlet’s apparent rejection of her love and her father’s personal vindictive leads up to her simple-minded state, entering a world of madness. She has now gone mad, singings nonsense songs and giving people flowers that she has picked from the garden. The cause of Ophelia’s death has been debated over the years, was it a suicide

According to researchers, every 16.2 minutes, at least one person attempts suicide. Suicide is never the answer, but there are multiple characters in today’s literature that show the impact of the events leading up to the ultimate decision. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia takes her life because of the actions the individuals around her did. But, that is not the argument. The argument is that the people around Ophelia are not to blame for her committing suicide, it is Ophelia’s own fault, prompted by the madness surrounding her.

Women have been dominated and manipulated by men for many years. In Hamlet, the character Ophelia was living under the demands of her father. She didn’t actually decide anything for herself. She obeyed every demand she received from her father Polonius because for her it was a form of loyalty. When Polonius was killed by Hamlet, she became vulnerable since she no longer had the person who decided everything for her. Her life in an instant became a disaster because it was Hamlet the one she loved, the person who had killed her father. Ophelia’s death is debated as an accident or a suicide, but I believe it was an accident that ended in a suicide since she lost her father and Hamlet killed him.

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character Hamlet was out for revenge against the man who killed his father. In addition to his path of revenge Hamlet also deals with conflicting emotions towards a woman named Ophelia. During the play Hamlet’s love, desirability, and dismissal towards Ophelia made me wonder if he was really in love with Ophelia, and it shows that her significance was that she was his last piece of sanity and love.

Throughout the play, Ophelia acts as a very honest person in the beginning, willing to tell Laertes and Polonius anything. She then receives mistreated love from Hamlet that leads her to drowning herself in a river. The true face and actions from Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius, Queen Gertrude, King Claudius, and particularly Hamlet lead to their deaths. The end result leads to unfortunate events, including death. The love throughout the kingdom of Denmark becomes toxic, killing all who lives

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia’s love for Hamlet ultimately leads to her madness. In order for Ophelia to build her relationship with Hamlet, she must go against her father’s orders considering he strictly prohibited her from seeing him. Hamlet then breaks up with Ophelia saying, “I did love you once,” and then tells her to go “to a nunnery,” causing Ophelia to feel a great amount of betrayal. Ophelia is already heartbroken, and now Hamlet murders her father which was too much for her to handle.

Patricia Thai Humanity English IV/CP Ms Shorey 04/01/2016 Compare Gertrude and Ophelia “Hamlet”, one of the most famous play in the world, was written by the brilliant author William Shakespeare. In this play, there are two main female characters namely Ophelia and Gertrude. Moreover, as foil characters, both of them are also similarly depicted in several ways to generate the masterpiece “Hamlet” to become a classical work. When it comes to Hamlet, the family love appears as a string that connects both Gertrude and Ophelia to the main character – Hamlet.

The story of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a story of betrayal, revenge, and intrigue. Hamlet, the title character discovers that his uncle killed his father and married his mother effectively stealing the throne. Hamlet decides he must kill his uncle Claudius as revenge for what he had done. However, as the new king, Hamlet isn't sure how to get to him, so he decides to fake madness, but his plan backfires as Claudius doesn't trust him and makes sure he is always watched. In his fumbled plan for revenge, Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, forces Polonius's son Laertes to seek revenge against him, and drives Ophelia crazy causing her to kill herself. Hamlet's insane behavior is a significant part of the story because it is supposedly part of his revenge plan, but also because of the additional problems, it creates. Some have argued that his madness was indeed an act, but rather real madness that he was trying to cover up by telling people

Helpless. The characters around Ophelia's life treat her as an infant who can't make any decisions on her own. The men in specific, look at her as a mere puppet. Her father and brother guide her to make the choices they see fit and she follows their advice even if she disagrees with it. Overall Ophelia is dehumanized and characterized as an object that is to be manipulated and taken advantage of to help others achieve their goals. Whose emotions are not taken into consideration. The entirety of Shakespeare’s Hamlet highlights and rejects the sexist treatment of Ophelia and depicts it in a negative light.

The King and Hamlet’s mother Gertrude talk about Hamlet’s depression with Hamlet’s friends. They do not know the cause yet. Hamlet’s friends convince the king and queen to watch the play that night. The king and Polonius later decide to spy on Hamlet’s conversations. They her him say the famous line “ To be, or not to be: that is the question”. Hamlet is thinking about killing himself at this point in the story. Ophelia comes into the room when Hamlet is talking about suicide. Ophelia says she wants to return his love but Hamlet goes on to criticize her and all women.

Hamlet has come to see his mother, Queen Gertrude, and ends up stabbing Lord Polonius, which ultimately leads to his death. Lord Polonius’ final words include “O, I am slain!” Even though this provides a slight amount of comic relief to the reader, it has a reverse effect on Ophelia’s mental state. Her father’s death seems to be the potent punch in this fight because she officially goes mad after this final event. This is apparent in Scene IV Act I, when Laertes has come back to visit his sister and check on her well being.

Gertrude reveals that Ophelia drowned while climbing in a willow tree above a brook, where she subsequently fell. Gertrude observed Ophelia crafting garlands “of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples” (scene vii, line 187). The tree Ophelia scaled and the flowers she plucked have symbolic meanings that characterize Ophelia. Willow trees’ drooping branches symbolize depression and mourning, which is befitting of Ophelia’s character as she fails to cope with the murder of her father and Hamlet’s rejection of her. Each of the flowers also has a meaning attached.

After their secret was discovered, Hamlet rushed out of Ophelia’s apartment and Polonius stopped Ophelia from going after him, causing her to drop the letter that Hamlet had given her. After reading the letter Polonius hurries to tell Claudius and Gertrude what he’s discovered. Polonius and Ophelia find them at their private pool, where Polonius proceeds to tell them that he thinks that Hamlet’s madness has been caused by his love for Ophelia. While her father is telling Claudius and Gertrude about his theory, Ophelia continuously tries to take the letter away from him. After finally giving up in her attempts to keep her letter private, Ophelia stands near the edge of the pool and imagines jumping in, which could point to suicidal tendencies.

Although Ophelia is not aware of Hamlet’s madness - a saddening and very dramatic piece of irony at the time - his emotional abuse slowly leads her to a downward spiral into her own blackening hole of madness. Eventually, due to her father’s death, Ophelia snaps and loses her mind, however; her madness would not have been orchestrated as drastically if