Shakespeare presents Hamlet and old Hamlet to have a loving relationship, with elements of remembrance, obligation and obsession over revenge for old Hamlet’s unjust murder.
Hamlet love is displayed through remembrance in Act 1 Scene 2, where he wears an “inky cloak” to mourn his father’s demise. His dark clothing stand out in the crowd of lighter-coloured ones during the celebration for Claudius’ marriage and coronation. This grabs the audience’s attention, serving as a visual reference that Hamlet is the only one who still mourns for old Hamlet. His internal sense of loss is reflected in his solemn, griefing appearance.
Likewise, Hamlet swears to avenge old Hamlet out of love, stating “O cursèd spite /That ever I was born to set it right!”.
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He interferes in her relationship with Hamlet, regulates her sexuality, and treats her like a commodity. As a result, Ophelia, initially adamant in defending Hamlet’s intention, becomes subservient and complies to her father’s wishes.
Ophelia defends Hamlet, claiming that “[Hamlet] hath importuned me with love/ In honourable fashion”, and asserts her stance by continuing her statement, “And hath…” despite her father’s mocking and interruption of her speech, highlighting her extent of trust and love for Hamlet. This suggests she is not completely submissive, as she is not afraid to assert her viewpoint, although it increases the tension.
However, their conversation highlights Polonius’ dominance over Ophelia. Polonius repeats the word “fashion” Ophelia used, phrasing it such that she seemed naive. He cuts and brushes Ophelia off, saying “go to, go to”, dismissing her point and implying her silliness. This makes her words sound insignificant as he asserts his fixed viewpoint on the issue without consideration of her feelings, controlling even the flow of the conversation. Gradually, Ophelia succumbs to her father’s orders, agreeing to protect her chastity and stay away from
In Shakespeare's tragedy, Hamlet, the audience finds a docile, manipulated, scolded, victimized young lady named Ophelia. Ophelia is a foil to Hamlet. Plays have foils to help the audience better understand the more important characters in the play. The character of Ophelia is necessary so that the audience will give Hamlet a chance to get over his madness and follow his heart.
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
The life of Hamlet is without a doubt very interesting, he suffers from unfortunate events in his time that are often major blows to his ego. His father dies while he’s away at college, Hamlet is next in line to be king until his “uncle-father” steals it from him; but it is to be known his “uncle-father” would not have stolen it if his “aunt-mother” hadn’t allowed it. It’s very apparent from the beginning of the play that he is very well obsessed with his mother and her doings. He harasses, humiliates, and abuses her because she has done such an unforgivable act by marrying Claudius. His thoughts and feelings towards his mother are very strong and well known, he even describes the odd pair as “little more than kin and less than kind.” That’s not all with Hamlet; his mother remarrying is just the tip of the iceberg so deeply rooted in the ocean of his emotions. His relationship with Ophelia is twisted, Hamlet goes through episodes of
By not speaking anything, Hamlet at once strengthens his image as a madman, as well as shrouding his real intentions towards those around him. Just following this passage comes a place in the text where we can see how the character of Ophelia has been manipulated by Polonius. After his "hint" that he might be doing this out of frustrated love, Ophelia says that that is what she truly does fear. (87) Her feelings of pity and concern are shaped by her father in order to fit his case of madness against Hamlet.
During Hamlet, Polonius and Laertes use Ophelia for their own self-gain not taking her feelings in consideration. In the article “Jephthah's Daughter's Daughter: Ophelia,” Cameron Hunt reveals that Polonius disregards Ophelia’s wants for his ...
With her father’s word being law and with that what he says she must follow, if she refuses Polonius, she risks social exclusion and grave insult to the man who controls her future. Her real attitude is clear when she has a conversation about chastity, first with Laertes, her brother, then with Polonius, her father. After Laertes rather explicitly warns Ophelia to fear losing her virginity, she replies by telling him not to lecture her, “Whiles, a puff'd and reckless libertine, / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, / And recks not his own rede” (1.3.48-50). When polonius gives her the same lecture and tells her not to accept Hamlet’s propositions, she simply replies, “I shall obey, my lord”
Though Hamlet does not appear to love many people in this play, his feelings for his father shine true. In Act I. Scene ii, while Horatio and Hamlet were speaking of Hamlet’s father, Hamlet said, “He was a man, take him for all in all: I shall not look upon his like again.” (Act I. Scene ii.191-193.). This quote shows the affection that Hamlet has for his father by saying that no one can ever take his place, or compare to him. It shows how highly he thinks of his father and how much he meant to him. When Hamlet’s father appears as a ghost and speaks to Hamlet. He tells Hamlet of how he was murdered by his own brother. He tells him of how he was taking a nap under a tree in the orchid when Claudius put a drop of poison in his ear, with no defense or chance of a fair fight for his life his father died. After knowing this story from his father, Hamlet promised to avenge his father’s death by killing his own uncle. Most people would not kill another person for any reason, what so ever, and for him to avenge his father’s death is an act of dedication and love. Throughout the entire play, Hamlet dedicates his time to finding ways to avenge his father’s death. That shows love because Hamlet is...
1. Plays have foils to help the audience understand important characters in the play. Foils are minor characters that have similarities and differences with a more important character in the play. Sometimes the minor character is just there for the character to talk to; this is the basis for being a foil. In the play "Hamlet," [Titles] by William Shakespeare, the character Ophelia is a foil to Hamlet.
He shows his brotherly love for Ophelia when he says “For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor,/Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood,/A violet in the youth of primy nature,/Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting,/The perfume and suppliance of a minute,/No more” (Shakespeare 1.3.6-11). Meanwhile, Hamlet embarks on a mission of revenge in which he does not seek revenge on behalf of himself but rather, for someone else. Hamlet’s revenge mission begins when he is visited by his father’s ghost who commands “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (Shakespeare 1.5.31) after his father recounts the cause of his murder. From this point on, Hamlet begins to act mad in order to put his revenge mission into action.
The reader is left guessing on Hamlet’s true feelings for Ophelia through his various insults, sexual innuendos, and admitted desire. Hamlet’s claim, “God hath given you one face, and you / Make yourselves another.” (3.1.155-156) is laced with irony and hypocrisy given Hamlet’s own deception regarding true feelings. This proclamation comes at the end of a lengthy tirade against Ophelia and womankind in general for their conniving deceit leading men astray. The fact that Hamlet cannot see this duplicity in his very own actions shows the double standard he holds for females. Ophelia’s immediate reaction is one of shock and defense due to the aggressive nature of Hamlet’s attack. She calls out “O, woe is me!” (3.1.174) in distress to the ferocity of Hamlet and is unable to form a particularly coherent response akin to the ones seen against Laertes and Polonius. She does show her intelligence and rebellion from this assumption of power by Hamlet in her songs while Hamlet is gone. While many attribute her madness to the death of her father, a large portion of her instability should be attributed to Hamlet and his earlier actions. In her first introduction as insane she sings, “And I a maid at your window, / To be your Valentine. / Then up he rose and donned his clothes / And dropped the chamber door, / Let in the maid, that out a maid / Never departed more.” (4.5.55-60). Due to her references to sexuality and deceit the
Many lessons can be taken from Ophelia's fall in William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. Watching Ophelia go from a perfectly sane character to an absolutely insane, tragic one forces you to make realizations about life that affect the way that you live. Ophelia's transformation taught me couple of lessons. First it taught me that I should not become too attached to something, or put all of my eggs into one basket. Secondly Ophelia's transformation taught me that others people's remarks should be taken with a grain of salt sometimes.
In Hamlet Ophelia is controlled by her father Polonius who is trying to igain more insight into Hamlet’s behavior. Polonius uses Ophelia as a pawn in his schemes to involving his investigation Hamlet’s craziness. She has no opinions or say in his plans. Polonius uses the advantage of having a daughter to try to investigate Hamlet. He tells Claudius the king about his plan “I have a daughter- have while she is mine-Who in her duty and obedience, mark” (Scene 2 Act 2). Polonius suggests to the king that they should use her to try to learn more about Hamlet’s crazy behavior. Polonius does not consult Ophelia about his plan because he is the head of the family and it is her duty to obey her father. Polonius shows his dominance over her, she cannot argue with him about being involved because she is inferior to him. Polonius asserts himself as a dominant male figure in her life. He controls, and manipulates her for his own personal gain. Polonius formulates Ophelia’s behavior and her opinions through his manipulation and his dominance over her. She becomes a pawn in the king and his schemes and is not able to assert herself as a character with opinions ...
Melancholy, grief, and madness pervade Shakespeare's great tragedy, Hamlet. The emotional maladies presented within Hamlet, not only allow the audience to sympathize with prince Hamlet, but also with the tragic lady Ophelia as well. It is Ophelia who suffers at her lover's discretion because of decisions she was obligated to make on behalf of her weak societal position.
Two of Ophelia’s difficulties arise from her father and brother. They believe that Hamlet is using her to take her virginity and throw it away because Ophelia will never be his wife. Her heart believes that Hamlet loves her although he promises he never has (“Hamlet” 1). Hamlet: “Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but not the time gives it proof. I did love you once.” Ophelia: “Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.” Hamlet: “You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock ...
Despite Ophelia’s weak will, the male characters respond dramatically to her actions, proving that women indeed have a large impact in Hamlet. Her obedience is actually her downfall, because it allows the male characters to control and use her in their schemes. Ophelia’s betrayal ends up putting Hamlet over the edge, motivating him in his quest for revenge. Ophelia is one of the two women in the play. As the daughter of Polonius, she only speaks in the company of several men, or directly to her brother or father. Since we never see her interactions with women, she suppresses her own thoughts in order to please her superiors. Yet however weak and dependent her character is on the surface, Ophelia is a cornerstone to the play’s progression. One way that her manipulation is key to Hamlet’s plot is when Polonius orders her “in plain terms, from this time forth/ Have you so slander any moment leisure/As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet,” (1.3.131-133). She complies with his wishes, agreeing to return any tokens of Hamlet’s love to him, verify t...