Why Is Ophelia Important In Hamlet

Hamlet, the world famous Shakespearean play, contains a wealth of knowledge that applies throughout the ages. Each character has strengths and weaknesses, and Shakespeare entangles these characters in such a way that it produces valuable life lessons that apply to a wide variety of people. Among the more interesting characters in this play is Ophelia, who commit suicide and is one of the main driving characters in the story, though none of the other characters seem to think so until her demise. Whether Ophelia was an innocent young woman or a crafty conspirator, she was a motivator in the plot of Hamlet with her madness and she eventually contributed to the bloodshed in the final scene of the play that withstood the test of time. There is

They were slaves to men and social norms in all but name. “Women were only taught the basics of education, expected to not work, save it for for raising children, and were required to ask husbands for permission to do most day-to-day tasks.” (Papp, par 2) Their only purposes were to raise children and to look beautiful for their husbands. They would be taken care of, so long as they married wealthily. Ophelia planned to marry Hamlet, the prince and next in line to become the king. She could achieve the highest status a woman could ever hope to achieve; being a queen. She was so close to becoming secure in life, but in just a few months, everything was lost. Her fiance murdered her father, expressing his lack of care for her at the same time. Nobody expected her to ever become anything, and it appears she had the same thought process. All security for the future lost in a few months can and does break down people, and it clearly did for Ophelia. She was destined for a life of misery, a life of looking upon the “could have been”, a life that is hell. Rather than face the inevitability of begging for food in the street, she ended her life. If she would have had a life after the bloodshed that occurred, it would not have been pretty or