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.
Unlike the death of her father and brother Ophelia’s death is described as almost beautiful and angelic by Gertrude “Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide, And, mermaid-like… Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death.” (IV.vii.189-198). Ophelia accepted her death without any fight and made no attempt to protect her own life. She in no way fought for her life and simply gave into the eternal sleep. She gave up to the point where it could be argued that Ophelia committed suicide. Unlike Hamlet, the amount that Ophelia fights for her own self-preservation changes very little over the course of the play. From the beginning to end she is willing to let other people dictate her actions despite the emotional consequences that they have on her. And finally, her death is very fitting to the character, simply letting nature take control of her life and not fighting to even preserve her own life when she falls into the river. This creates a foil to Hamlet's character who died fighting for what he believed in and refused to let people go against what he thought was morally right. It also makes Hamlet’s death seem heroic and noble in comparison because he died fighting for what he believed
Ophelia is an important character in the text Hamlet. She has three relatives in her family: her father Polonius, brother Laertes and herself. Ophelia’s first appearance was in Act 1 Scene 3, when she and Polonius was saying goodbye to Laertes. Polonius and Laertes told Ophelia that she needs to stop keep in touch with Hamlet furthermore and Ophelia agreed to do so. Her second appearance was when Hamlet pretends to be insane. After he ran into Ophelia’s room with strange manners, she immediately report to Polonius about what was going on. Then Polonius assumed that Ophelia is the cause of Hamlet’s unusual acts and used her as a bait to spy on Hamlet for King Claudius and Queen Gertrude. At last, Polonius payed for his own debt, he resulted
We see Ophelia torn between her desire to be near Hamlet or pleasing her father and her brother. This clearly represents a massive internal conflict to Ophelia. Especially when she has been ordered by her father to stay away from Hamlet. Then, He ordered again to be the bait for Cladius who 's want to snoop on her conversation with Hamlet. Hence, Ophelia placed for the second time in a difficult choice, She must choose between her loyalty to her father or her loyalty to her lover
Ophelia seems to be the most genuinely hurt Hamlet’s theatrical “madness.” When Polonius uses her as a pawn to spy on Hamlet, she remarks “Oh woe is me, ‘T; have seen what I have seen, see what I see.”(3.3.162). Even though Ophelia is but a pawn she is still off put by Hamlet’s rejection and pitties herself for having witnessed him change. This is also self serving as she thinking of how Hamlet’’s madness will affect her rather than him, revealingly once more that Ophelia’s own emotional well being is dependent on people. This is detrimental, however, for Ophelia's as her one sided feelings for Hamlet allow her to be used as a pawn by both Claudius and Polonius as well as Hamlet. It is not clear whether Ophelia understand if she is pawn or not, however, this does not stop her from fulfilling the wishes of both
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a revenge calamity which concentrates on his wish and effort to solve his father’s murder. Throughout the course of the play, the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia could be described as a rollercoaster. Although Ophelia is not in every single scene in Hamlet, her impact on the play is highly noted. One way a reader could interpret her presence is because of how tragic her experiences in life is. She experiences the misfortune of love and security, but in order for her death to be truly tragic, she has to come to terms with the realization of her powerlessness without the men in her life. In her madness, Ophelia eventually does make this realization and because of her lack of alternatives, she accepts death.
When comparing and contrasting William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Disney’s The Lion King the characters have similiar levels of comparison. Both Hamlet and the Lion King are stories centered around the following elements; truth, deception, revenge, romance, and the circle of life. The characters in both of the stories are constantly working to find their place in the circle of life throughout the story. Two characters of similiar roles, Hamlet’s Polonius and The Lion King’s Zazu are similiar in their loyalty and vanity, however, Zazu is not manipulative.
Ophelia’s character went through quite a large transformation. In the play her father tells her that she is to stay away from Hamlet and she readily agrees. In the movie Ophelia doesn’t disagree with her father but she also doesn’t agree just to please him. This shows that Ophelia isn’t easily persuaded, even by her own father. Despite her father’s warning about Hamlet, Ophelia met with him in secret at her apartment until her father found out. 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. After Polonius finishes reading the letter Claudius, Gertrude and himself decide to use Ophelia as a spy. While her father was putting a wire on her, Ophelia had tears rolling down her face. Once the wire was in place
Second, I don’t think Ophelia actions are justified either. According Doc C: Ophelia’s father Polonius was killed which really affected her and she became crazy. Then Hamlet lies to her saying he never really loved her which made her situation worse. And she was set up to see why hamlet is acting crazy and is spied on by Claudius to see where hamlet is week. So, as you can see Ophelia is put
Polonius orders Ophelia to distract Hamlet even though he knows the emotional distress it will cause her. He is the reason Ophelia breaks ties with Hamlet, yet he is willing to throw her at him for his own gain. Polonius cannot rationalize that spying on Hamlet is less important than his daughter’s mental stability. His utter selfishness makes him incapable of making rational decisions that are beneficial to both himself, and his children.
In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, we constantly see Hamlet’s negative view of women and harsh treatment towards them. Hamlet’s relationship with his mother, Queen Gertrude, is rocky after she marries her dead husband’s killer and brother, causing tension between her and Hamlet. Hamlet’s view of women is changed at this point in time because of his mother’s actions. This affects the way he treats Ophelia, the woman that he is in love with and that also reciprocates his love towards her. While he wants to continue his relationship with her, he knows it is not best and is afraid of the outcome. He puts his own wants and needs above his mother’s and Ophelia’s because he does not trust them and he wants to be selfish.
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. He is disappointed to see that Ophelia is displaying irrational behavior when she begins to sing “They bore him barefac’d on the bier; Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny; And on his grave rains many a tear.” She is so mentally ill that she must be locked in a padded room during the day. At other times, she is in a straight jacket to prevent her from hurting herself. It seems as if nothing can help her mental madness. Unfortunately, her madness ultimately leads to her
"When a man gives his opinion he is a man. When a woman gives her opinion she is a bitch."- Bette Davis Throughout time society has used woman as a scapegoat for societal issues that have occurred. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare uses character and rhetoric to display how ones hatred and anger are impulsively taken out upon woman, from this the reader learns how misogyny is difficult to acknowledge, but rather easy to practice.
In great works of literature throughout history and time, there has always been a general understanding of what a happy ending is. Happy endings - as perceived by scholars of times past and by society today - are joyful sessions where a heroine or hero saves a damsel in distress, true love is found through the toughest of circumstances, or a moral lesson is learned through acts of kindness, loyalty, or bravery. However; in Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, the protagonist of the play is facing death and has, finally, after a protracted and tedious journey, avenged his father’s death and has sated himself to realize and accept his own personal peace. Even as Hamlet is dying, his true love and what is left of his family dead, his kingdom being invaded
Hamlet’s dislike of women is shown through his behavior and language toward his mother, Ophelia, and women in general. In the play it is very obvious that he is heartless towards the opposite sex by the actions that he takes and the words that he speaks. During the time that this play was written women were viewed as insignificant human beings. Hamlet found himself having feelings for a woman and he does not know how to portray these feelings because he holds his mother responsible for his inability to love Ophelia.