Tragic Tragedy Of Ophelia

In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, he portrays a young Ophelia, who battles with her desire to please her father and Hamlet, eventually driving her to her own demise. The way Ophelia is perceived by the other characters in the book is not how the reader perceives her. Her love for Hamlet is strong, and very apparent throughout the play. The other characters, however, view her in the opposite manner. Her own father, Polonius, labeled her as a whore, casting her aside as useless. Ophelia’s pain consumes her as she fails to please her family and the man she loves dearly. Literature claimed Ophelia as the “tragic heroine” of Hamlet. “To overcome the adversities inflicted upon her -- but she instead crumbles into insanity, becoming merely tragic.” (Mabillard) How did such a delicate a maiden as Ophelia become so tragic? One student’s published analysis claims Ophelia’s situation is much like the one in John Tucker Must Die: A girl falls for a boy at the worst possible moment. Ophelia’s feelings for Hamlet grew without control. It was the wrong time but she did not know it. (Robins)

Ophelia is introduced as young and naïve in the beginning of the play. She is a lady for all intents and purposes, but her father

But because of Hamlet’s drive to avenge his father’s death, and Ophelia’s will to obey her father, the two died in grief, along with the rest of Hamlet’s family. This play portrays the tragedy of death and how revenge does not end well. In fact it shows how revenge can lead to insanity and disturbance in the natural order. It causes anger and hate, something that is uncontrollable. Ophelia’s death shows how cruel revenge is and how one cannot realize whom their actions affect. Ophelia’s innocence gave a clear relationship to the theme of the play: mortality. Her death signifies how even the most naïve and delicate of situations can be affected by the horrors of death, revenge, and