Ophelia Has confined choices as a woman in a patriarchal society and this is what separates her from Hamlet, who has the liberty to alter his own fate. Ophelia wishes to be obedient and is not allowed to precise herself and her real emotions. What occurs in her existence is dependent upon the whims of the guys who control her. She is obedient to her father and brother and in addition to the king, and even though she tries to do what's correct, she has normally pulled alongside by using these men. Unlike Hamlet, who can act according to his own will and communicate his intellect as he desires, Ophelia ought to find a replacement to precise herself. The one out that she sees is in madness and ultimately death. As a mad lady, Ophelia would not be bound via the societal restrictions of ladies; she would voice herself, even in madness she isn't free. Despite the fact that she is able to have a voice, she nonetheless has no freedom of alternative and she or he is finally viewed as nonsensical and her words are taken to be without problems mad-speak. Whereas Hamlet has the vigor and abilities to varying his fate, Ophelia does no longer and …show more content…
Very nearly, Ophelia was once the property of her father. The issue of Ophelia’s chastity considerations Polonius as a guardian and a flesh-presser a virginal Ophelia has a greater threat of attaining Hamlet’s hand in marriage”. As such, Ophelia’s emotions and wants are suppressed by using her incapability to freely voice herself in a strictly patriarchal society that views her as a sexual object for an
Ophelia is a character in Hamlet that is chronically faithful to everyone else but herself. Ophelia is deeply in love with Hamlet, and she is certain that he loves her as well. This is clear from the assertions she makes in Hamlet’s defense: “My lord, he hath importuned me with love in honest fashion. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, with almost all the holy vows of heaven” (1795). Ophelia’s downfall emerges when she doubts her own feelings and beliefs about Hamlet, upon instruction and advice from her brother and father. Ophelia, a confident and intelligent woman, begins to rely on others to tell her what to think and how to act. “I do not know, my lord, what I should think” (1795). Upon Polonius request, and going against her own hearts desires, she starts to avoid Hamlet. “No, my good lord, but, as you did command, I did repel his letters and denied his access to me” (1806). By doing what her father advises and wishes Ophelia is no longer capable of making decisions for herself. The loss of Hamlet’s love and the death of her father leave her with confusion and doubts about her future. “Well, Go...
Ophelia is portrayed as a sensitive, fragile woman. Easily overpowered and controlled by her brother and father, Ophelia is destined to be weak. Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, warns and pushes Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet and is further supported by their father Polonius. “Polonius enters and adds his warning to those of Laertes. He orders Ophelia not to spend time with Hamlet or even talk to him. Ophelia promises to obey” (“Hamlet” 95). Ophelia’s obedience to her father’s directions prove the side she
Ophelia is talking to her father Polonius about Hamlet and she mentions to her father that Hamlet has given her gifts: "He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders / Of his affection to me" (1.3.99-100). Polonius is afraid Ophelia will get pregnant by Hamlet, because he thinks Hamlet won 't marry his daughter. Polonius only worries is his reputation, and he doesn 't want his daughter to make a fool out of him. Polonius also mentions that
Ophelia is an obedient daughter who is dependent on her father, Polonius for guidance. Ophelia and Hamlet were deeply in love, until his mother, Gertrude married his uncle, Claudius, the day of his father's funeral. After seeing this, Hamlet believes that all women, including his love, Ophelia are weak and only wanted sex from men. Hamlet gets even more upset when he finds out that Ophelia is becoming her father's puppet because she starts to follow Polonius's orders without having any say in any of her own situations. For instance, her father did not want her marrying Hamlet because he wanted all the power. If Ophelia was to marry Hamlet, she then would gain more power than her father. This is exactly what he did not want, that is why Polonius, told her she could no longer see him. Without any hesitation, Ophelia agreed to his arrangement. When Ophelia goes back to her father, to ask for advice on Hamlet, he responds in his own liking by saying, “You do not understand yourself so clearly/ As it behooves my daughter and your honour" (1.3.105-6). According to Woolf, “...
Ophelia is a beautiful disaster. She is simply two faced, wearing a mask on the outside to elongate her delicateness and niceness, yet on the inside, she has a dark and twisted beauty to her showing that she has everyone fooled and is very much sane. Submissive, naive, and disturbed, seem to represent Ophelia perfectly. She stands in marked contrast to the schemings and manipulations of the Danish court. Polonius, her father, has shielded Ophelia with his love and compassion. She tells her overbearing father, "I shall obey my Lord" (1.4.10) when he tells her she can no longer see Hamlet, her lover. Ophelia has been in love with Hamlet before any of Hamlet's numerous tragedies occur, yet her father comes first. She is obedient to him because she places family above others. Since she is naive and innocent, she is frightened and disillusioned by Hamlet's inexplicable behavior and persuaded by her father's urgency in the need for her to help establish what Hamlet's condition and motives are...
Leaving her only with the response saying “I shall obey, my lord”(1.3.145 ). Why Ophelia is unable to say more than a few simple words is made clear by societal expectations of the time. During this time daughters were the property of their fathers and were obligated to do their bidding. Campbell says “if she refuses Polonius, she risks social ostracism and grave insult to the man who capriciously controls her future” (58). Ophelia fears the backlash of disobeying her father, believing there is no other choice than doing what he has asked her to do. Even though a woman's virtue is a sacred and a very personal choice, her father leaves Ophelia with one option: to do what he says. “The issue of Ophelia’s chastity concerns Polonius as a parent and a politician—a virginal Ophelia has a better chance of attaining Hamlet’s hand in marriage” (Floyd-Wilson 401). This relationship Ophelia has between her father is very one-sided and unhealthy. It is formal and proper with very few emotions attached to each other. However, because Polonius is the only parental figure Ophelia has and loves him, his death was extremely difficult for her. Her father, hasn’t left her like Laertes and hasn’t rejected her like Hamlet. Making his unexpected death the final straw to her losing her sanity. Without someone to guide her, she is lost. She is unable to blindly follow a man but is to racked with emotion to think clearly.
As well as proposing the notion of female frailty through Gertrude, Hamlet’s mistreatment of Ophelia is another way in which the play of Hamlet could be considered a strongly misogynistic one. This is seen in particular through Hamlet’s verbal taunts directed at Ophelia’s intelligence, as he sneers that she is accustomed to “jig and amble and lisp” and that she makes her “wantonness” her “ignorance.” Indeed, Ophelia is depicted as being fragile, neurotic, and generally futile, with Polonious further calling her a “baby”, and a “green girl.” Polonius seeks to hold complete control over Ophelia, and she is presented to us as being unintelligent, mute, and unable to make her own decisions; for example, when Polonious warns her to stay away from
As far as we know, up until the recent events, Ophelia has had a comfortable life. Her father counsel to King Claudius has landed the family in a high part of society, shielded from the effects of poverty. She is beautiful, rich, and has the boy, well only for a little while. During the time of the passing of King Hamlet, Polonius has forbidden his daughter Ophelia to see her one and only lover, the man she believed she was going to marry, she sings, “Quoth she, “Before you tumbled me, You promised me to wed.” He answers, So would I ha' done, by yonder sun, An thou hadst not come to my bed.”(Shakespeare IV.V) She has given herself completely to Hamlet, but on orders from her father she must sever all ties. This has her grieving, grieving over love lost, true love lost. She is still in love with Hamlet, but must obey her father despite her grief; this is putting a tremendous amount of stress on poor Ophelia. She is torn between family, ...
We know that Ophelia is torn between two conflicting extremities. Polonius and Laertes believe that Hamlet would use her, that he would take her virginity and throw it away because she could never be his wife. Her heart has convinced her that Hamlet loved her, though he swears he never did. To her father and brother, Ophelia is the eternal virgin, the vessel of morality whose purpose is to
Ophelia’s madness is because of what she encounters throughout the play by everyone around her. Her character is often looked past, people really don’t give her a second thought, and her emotions and wellbeing are almost entirely forgotten about. When her father and brother are telling her to stay away from Hamlet, she tries to speak up and tell them that she knows that Hamlet truly loves her. She tells them her feelings, but they say no, she is not to speak to Hamlet again and must obey. They didn’t take a second to try and look things over from her perspective. After Polonius and Claudius plan for Ophelia and Hamlet to meet and talk while they hid to listened, Ophelia is verbally abused by Hamlet and her father is too caught up with Hamlet’s
Ophelia trusts the advise given and her obedience is very evident in this matter as she avoids contact with Hamlet until she is told by her father, with the King and Queens approval, to meet up with him by 'accident' in the lobby. Deceit not being in her nature, believing that her father, the king and queen are right and true; that Hamlet is mad; and probably curious to know if Hamlet is "mad in love" with her the young, obedient, powerless Ophelia does her part to search out the truth. But tragically this one forced step outside of her true character begins her downfall. In a precarious predicament, loyalty to her father compelled Ophelia to lie to Hamlet when he asked about her father?s location at that moment saying he was at home instead of behind a tapestry right the...
During my reading of hamlet it be came apparent that if you observe the characters and environment, threw a psychoanalytical point of view. That the story of hamlet is actual a representation of hamlets mind, and how he viewed these events as he reviewed them in the afterlife. Each of the characters in hamlet are an aspect of hamlet. Whether It is Ophelia being a symbol of his guilt, or Claudius being a representation of his indecisiveness. The events did happen, but not in the way it is shown in the play. The whole play is hamlets perception and afterthoughts on the matter. And as he goes threw the events the actions of the others represent his thoughts on how it turned out. The death of characters is symbolic of when he was no longer able
Shakespeare’s Hamlet assesses the consequences of losing self-hood, morality and integrity. Ophelia’s repressed desires never allow her to find her essence. Instead, she loses her integrity once she obeys Polonius and Laertes who emotionally and mentally repress her. In the play, Ophelia is warned by Laertes of Hamlet and later told by Polonius that she cannot be with Hamlet because he thinks the cause of his madness is their love and “From this time / be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence. / Set your entreatments at a higher rate / than a command to parley.” Act 1, sc 3 She has to give less time for him and she replies to her father "I shall obey, my lord" Act 1, sc 3, she remains as an obedient daughter although it risks her own selfhood and the chance to genuinely express herself. Her inability to display either her emotional or sexual desires for Hamlet causes her to be hysterical and be in a melancholic state.
Act 1: Ophelia has been plotting for the throne for a long time. Her father, Polonius is the king’s trusted advisor and her brother Laertes is a soldier. Ophelia’s mother died when she was very young. Polonius insists she is the spitting image of her mother. Laertes is often away and only receives update letters from his father in which he praises Ophelia.
In Elizabethan times, Ophelia is restricted as a woman. She is obedient to the commands of the men in her life although she often attempts to do the right thing. Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet all have a grasp on Ophelia and who she is. She does not have the freedom to change her fate as Hamlet does. Shawna Maki states, “Ophelia’s life is determined by the whims of men who control her” (1). Polonius takes advantage of his relationship with Ophelia by using her to achieve a better relationship with Claudius. Polonius and Laertes teach Ophelia how to behave, therefore, abusing their power in allowing Ophelia to become who she wants to be (Brown 2).