Madness. Though to most it seems like a simple betrayal of the mind, the use of madness throughout Hamlet, by William Shakespeare creates a sense of not only the breakdown of the mind, but a breakdown of society. In the play, two main characters give into madness, one is a faked, and one is all too real. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, chose to act mad in order to confuse Claudius. Ophelia on the other hand, goes insane due to an accumulation of many factors, such as isolation, distrust, and grief.
Ophelia begins the play as an innocent, trusting, and spirited young girl, full of promise and full of life. But, all too soon her view of men and the world in general is tainted. Her brother warns her that Hamlet may be toying with her affections and to, "fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister..." (1.3.33). With these simple words he implants the seeds of distrust and betrayal. These themes of distrust and betrayal are interwoven throughout much of the play, from the murder of the King, to the constant spying of Polonius.
Not long after her conversation with Laertes, Polonius decides to have a frank chat with Ophelia about her relationship with Hamlet. He has no sympathy towards her feelings, and uses her just as a source of information to better his political position. He once again talks about how you can’t trust everything that people say. He says, "even in their promise, as it is a-making, you must not take for fire" (1.3.119-120). Once again, this theme of "not everything is what is seems" pops up again. "Something is rotten in Denmark". Something is not right in Denmark. In society in general. And eventually, something will not be right in Ophelia's mind.
There are many factors that drive Ophelia's eventual madness. One of these...
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... political powers to collapse, and Fortinbras of Norway takes over.
Ophelia eventually takes her life in that haunting scene of a young girl, "fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide...chanted snatched of old lauds...garments heavy with their drink...pulled the poor wretch....to muddy death" (4.7.173-181). At this point she views the world as this awful, crazy place where she can no longer live in. She takes the step that Hamlet cannot. Her suicide marks the lowest point in her life. She has come to the realization that not all men are good, not all people are true, and the world she lives in is not what it seems. It’s not all full of sunshine and rainbows. It's full of greed, anger, sadness, and betrayal.
Ophelia’s madness represents the evilness of the society we live in. It shows the madness and darker side of the world, and the people who live in it.
Throughout the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, the unclear representation of the protagonist’s actions is present. The protagonist, Hamlet, conducts the idea that he is turning mad. Although, there are many indications which support that this so-called “madness” is part of an act that Hamlet portrays. The other characters within the play try to understand the reasoning behind Hamlet’s madness, but cannot figure out the truth behind it. The main cause of Hamlet’s madness is the realization of his father’s death and the numerous influences his father’s death has on his life. Hamlet can control his actions of madness and specifically acts differently around certain characters. The characters who are more concerned
So what is the real cause of Ophelia’s madness? It is the lack of empathy and care that all the characters in the play felt toward the poor insane girl. She was not insane until she couldn’t handle it anymore. This madness could have been stopped, maybe days before, but no one bothered to ask the simple questions to a teenage girl, ‘Ophelia, is everything ok? Is there anything you need to talk about?‘ Maybe next time these people will think twice before letting one of their own go insane.
The madness around the court dominates Ophelia's world as well as men do. But they are men who want too much and who represent too many contradictions. She can not comply with their wills, and she cannot assert her own. She can not live because her selfhood does not exist. When madness seems to take over her mind, she realizes and sees the truth much more clearly. Making Ophelia’s madness be just as sane as the others around her. Concluding, that one must put on a cape of insanity in order to reach saneness.
In this research I will discuss madness in Shakespeare's plays ; Hamlet , King Lear , and Macbeth. throughout those three tragedies we meet with kinds of madness, what the real reasons that push the heroes to be mad . Is Ophelia in Hamlet became mad because of the death of her father or Hamlet's deny of her love ?. Is Ophelia really mad or she suffered from mania mitis resulting from her social's stress?. In King Lear , he is the most dangerous type of mental disorder, the madness of Lear resulting from that he is old age. His senility led him blindly to deconstruct the justice of heaven ; he distributed his kingdom just between two daughters. He judged how his daughters loves him with their speech not with their actions, and that not acceptable
The play centered around Hamlet and him wanting to avenge his father’s death. In a way he let go of everything and lost trust of the people that he surrounded himself with. He was socially aware of the things happening around him, but he only seemed to see what he wanted to se. He wasn’t aware of Ophelia’s conflicts she was going through because of him. His plan on vengeance only backfired when he didn’t kill his father’s murderer and instead other characters and himself ended up lying. Ophelia’s struggle, pain, and misery made up her madness that caused her to put an end to her life. If only Ophelia had been a different kind of person with a stronger attitude then she could’ve spared her life. Polonius is an example of how lies and deceit can be wicked and cause harm. Polonius, Ophelia’s father somewhat tried to protect his daughter by telling her to stay away from Hamlet but with an ulterior motive. Polonius was interested in what Hamlet was behind, but while doing that he hurt his
To capture our sympathy, Ophelia goes through a transformation unlike any other character in Hamlet. She is abandoned by everyone she holds dear; her father Polonius, her brother Laertes, and Hamlet, her lover. And yet Ophelia becomes tangled in a web of madness when her loyalty is torn between Polonius and Hamlet. Most horrible of all is Ophelia's suicide-death. The emotion is evokes, coupled with the above points shows that Shakespeare's intentions was to make Ophelia, a minor character in terms of the number of lines assigned to her, into a memorable character evoking the most sympathy.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia is the most static character in the play. Instead of changing through the course of the play, she remains suffering in the misfortunes perpetrated upon her. She falls into insanity and dies a tragic death. Ophelia has issues surviving without a male influence, and her downfall is when all the men in her life abandon her. Hamlet’s Ophelia, is a tragic, insane character that cannot exist on her own.
Throughout the play, Shakespeare has uses Ophelia to bring out the feminine nature of women in the society of Europe. The men in Ophelia’s life control and use her for their own agendas. The audience is able to see Ophelia change from an innocent young girl who is loved into a woman that has lost her sanity. Losing the love of Hamlet and the death of her father push Ophelia over the edge. In the end, she even loses her life. She is associated with the main characters in the play to show the theme of love, obedience, male dominance, faithfulness, and the role of women in society.
At first glance, William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet appears to be an obvious story of a man who goes mad over the murder of his father, the king. Madness is a common theme throughout Hamlet, but often times Hamlet himself is the only character seen as mad. An explanation for this is that a first time reader does not carry the perception that any other characters are mad, simply Hamlet. When in actuality Hamlet is surrounded by people who are indeed mad. Ophelia is one main character whose madness is quite obvious. From her Valentine Song in act IV to her suicide in act V, her madness becomes more apparent as the play unfolds. Throughout Hamlet small glimpses of madness from other characters are seen, however the extent of these characters madness is not equal to that of Hamlet or Ophelia. The World Book Dictionary defines madness as " the fact or condition of being crazy; insane condition; loss of one's mind" (2: 1251). Jerome Mazzaro says that "Madness becomes, consequently, a closing off of one's self from others and from one's past..." (101). Whether or not Hamlet and Ophelia fit this definition exactly is unclear; however, this definition does describe each of them somewhat. The degree of their madness differs, but both Hamlet and Ophelia are indeed mad.
The quickest take over of madness is exhibited in Hamlet’s love interest, Ophelia. The most important example of madness is shown in Hamlet after his meeting with the Ghost and his plot for revenge upon his uncle. The most unexpected example of madness is in Laertes who in a fit of rage loses all gentleman like qualities and almost upsets the kingdom. All of these characters add up to the idea that to lose someone a person cares about dearly, ultimately ends in losing one’s composure and going mad. If we take away anything from Shakespeare’s play, it should be that each of us should think over our decisions prior to making them to insure we don’t have the same fate as the characters stated
...She had lost her father and her lover while her brother was away for school, and she was no longer useful as a puppet in a greater scheme. Ophelia was displaced, an Elizabethan woman without the men on whom she had been taught to depend. Therein lies the problem - she lacked independence so much that she could not continue living without Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet. Ophelia's aloneness led to her insanity and death. The form of her death was the only fitting end for her - she drowned in a nearby river, falling beneath the gentle waters. She finally found peace in her mad world. That is how Ophelia is so useful as a classic feminist study - she evokes imagery of the fragile beauty women are expected to become, but shows what happens to women when they submit as such.
The tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare is about Hamlet going insane and reveals his madness through his actions and dialogue. Hamlet remains one of the most discussed literary characters of all time. This is most likely due to the complex nature of Hamlet as a character. In one scene, Hamlet appears happy, and then he is angry in another and melancholy in the next. Hamlet’s madness is a result of his father’s death which was supposedly by the hands of his uncle, Claudius. He has also discovered that this same uncle is marrying his mom. It is expected that Hamlet would be suffering from some emotional issues as result of these catastrophes. Shakespeare uses vivid language, metaphors, and imagery to highlight how Hamlet’s madness influences several important aspects of his life including his relationships and the way he presents himself.
Ophelia was a pawn, nothing more, which was used by those that supposedly loved her for their own purposes. She was used by her father to drive Hamlet to madness, as he thought. Hamlet used her to convince Polonius and others that he was mad. Ophelia eventually looses both of these men, which is what drives her to insanity, possibly because the two biggest "influences" of her life have disappeared.
Another significant female character is Ophelia, Hamlet's love. Hamlet's quest for revenge interferes with his relationship with Ophelia. There is much evidence to show that Hamlet loved her a great deal, but his pretense of madness drove her to her death. Ophelia drowned not knowing what was happening to her. This can be deduced by the fact that she flowed down the river singing and happy when in truth she was heartbroken. Ophelia was very much afraid when she saw Hamlet "with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). She described him as being "loosed out of hell" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). In addition to that he scared her when he left the room with his eyes still fixed on her. She is especially hurt when Hamlet tells her that he no longer loves her and that he is opposed to marriage. He advises her to go to a nunnery and avoid marriage if she can.
Ophelia's insanity is driven by the fact that she has basically been cut out of Hamlet's life. " Like sweet bells jangled, out of time and harsh,/ That unmatched form and feature of blown youth/ Blasted with ecstasy" (III.i. 158-160).Her role as an "innocent lady" is to complete the picture of faithfulness and obedience. Without Hamlet, it is difficult for Ophelia to fulfill her role. Ophelia is completely pushed over the edge whe...