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Examples Of Ophelia's Madness In Hamlet

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Emily Dickinson once said “Much madness is divinest Sense— To a discerning Eye—“. This type of madness can be found in the play “Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Though many characters show madness throughout the play, Ophelia’s madness is the most prevalent. Ophelia has good reason for this irrational behavior because of the trauma she has gone through. First, her boyfriend dumps her, then he calls her vulgar names, and lastly, he kills her father. Just one of these traumatic events could make a character go mad, but the combination of the three justifies Ophelia’s madness. The use of these three tragic events in Ophelia’s life makes her madness reasonable. The first event to happen that changes Ophelia’s demeanor is her relationship problems with her boyfriend, Hamlet. In Act III, Scene I of the play, Ophelia says to Hamlet “My lord, I have remembrances of yours, That I have longed long …show more content…

Hamlet has come to see his mother, Queen Gertrude, and ends up stabbing Lord Polonius, which ultimately leads to his death. Lord Polonius’ final words include “O, I am slain!” Even though this provides a slight amount of comic relief to the reader, it has a reverse effect on Ophelia’s mental state. Her father’s death seems to be the potent punch in this fight because she officially goes mad after this final event. This is apparent in Scene IV Act I, when Laertes has come back to visit his sister and check on her well being. He is disappointed to see that Ophelia is displaying irrational behavior when she begins to sing “They bore him barefac’d on the bier; Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny; And on his grave rains many a tear.” She is so mentally ill that she must be locked in a padded room during the day. At other times, she is in a straight jacket to prevent her from hurting herself. It seems as if nothing can help her mental madness. Unfortunately, her madness ultimately leads to her

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I partially agree with Camden about Ophelia’s insanity is due to her father’s death because Ophelia is a “delicate-minded young girl, obedience to her father” meaning Ophelia always obeyed her father’s commands. What I question is, has she not once have the urge to do something that will disobey him? Or even thought about disobeying him? What I believe proves her sanity is mainly based on Polonius’ death is when John Draper [Camden’s source] had quoted “because that father, whom she loved so dearly, come to a sudden shocking end,” as he is her remaining parent figure she had left who is now gone (para. 1). It seems as if she was taught throughout her life to always obey her father, who is the lord of the household or because he is the king’s

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As the innocent victim of Hamlet’s feigned madness, Ophelia’s insanity is a product of her inability to cope with Hamlet and her father’s death. Her songs show hidden grief and sorrow; her flowers represent the fact that beneath the innocent exterior, there is a weakness or flaw in everyone. Hamlet was able to look past his grief for his father’s death, but he caused someone he loves to be in pain. Whether it is the frailty of women, sorrow, or death, anything, including love, can appear to be pleasant, but can be the ultimate cause of a person’s

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The Tragedy of Hamlet is written as substantial, yet subtle. Shakespeare creates this drama with twists and turns in each scene, which spikes some readers to sit on edge of one’s seat. Shakespeare uses soliloquies, dramatic dialogues, and revenge tragedy to unfold a tremendous amount of details of Hamlet, thus causing a dramatic irony approach. Hamlet and Ophelia’s love for one another is played quite differently in Laurence Oliver than Franco Zeffirelli’s version of this tragic play. Ophelia and Hamlet’s love for one another was separated due to Ophelia’s oppression in the play.

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She gave up to the point where it could be argued that Ophelia committed suicide. Unlike Hamlet, the amount that Ophelia fights for her own self-preservation changes very little over the course of the play. From the beginning to end she is willing to let other people dictate her actions despite the emotional consequences that they have on her. And finally, her death is very fitting to the character, simply letting nature take control of her life and not fighting to even preserve her own life when she falls into the river. This creates a foil to Hamlet's character who died fighting for what he believed in and refused to let people go against what he thought was morally right.

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Her absorption of this pain and inability to express her feelings in a male supremacist society ultimately drives her mad. Fischer explains, Ophelia's utterances are never allowed free, natural flow; her truncated responses, her uncertain assertions, her conflicting loyalties irrevocably tied to a self-image that tries to accommodate her closest males' expectations - all are determined by external pressures. (3) As a woman living in the Middle Ages, Ophelia is expected to be obedient, acting mannerly and sophisticated to appeal to her male patriarchs. She accepts unauthorized advice from her father and brother, promising to keep their “good lessons” close to “her heart” (Shakespeare 1.3. 45-46).

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Madness was a reoccurring theme throughout the play and these were the two characters which portrayed it more than others. In Act 3 Scene 1 Hamlet encounters Ophelia and calls her “fair”, creating a calm atmosphere. Later Hamlet rapidly changes his attitude, raging towards Ophelia and telling her “Get thee to a nunnery” implying he loved her once but now denies her love. Hamlet was acting mad in front of her in an aggressive manner and says “God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another”, Hamlet is suggesting that all women are two faced. Hamlet finds out that this was a setup of Claudius and Polonius to spy on him, so they can find out if he is truly mad.

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One definition of madness is “mental delusion of the eccentric behavior arising from it.” However, as Emily Dickinson once wrote, “Much madness is divinest Sense/ To a discerning Eye.” In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the main character, Prince Hamlet, shows apparent madness which proves to serve an important role throughout the story. This erratic behavior consists of his seemingly senseless dialogues, his loss of care for Ophelia, and his increasingly aggressive nature. Such behavior often proves justified by the play’s audience due to its convincing nature despite Hamlet’s predisposition towards insanity.

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Ophelia’s madness is caused by the actions of others in the story. “Madness becomes Ophelia’s last resort, her unconscious revolt. Indeed what else is left for her to do? Offering her an escape, madness provides her with the ability to finally speak her anger and desire” (Dane,412).Her father tells her to stay away from Hamlet, who she has fallen in love with. Hamlet has warned her earlier that whatever he tells her in the future will not be true but, when he tells her he does not intent to be with her it starts the beginning of her madness.

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Ophelia goes mad throughout the story. She is overwhelmed by the loss of her father and the rejection of Hamlet. Her character is seen spiraling down a dark path that also ends in death. Ophelia is depicted as not having control over her actions; speaking and acting erratically. While Hamlet is speaking erratically and behaving oddly, he still maintains control over his actions and movement throughout the story.

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Ophelia was also represented as crazy later in the movie. Yes, Ophelia did go crazy after the death of her father, but from reading the play, I did not picture her going to that extreme. I noticed the craziness especially when she was singing in the movie. There were also many

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This is where we first see Ophelia deteriorating a person. The next thing that drove her off a cliff was her father being murdered. Claudius said “O, this is the poison of deep grief;

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Hamlet has not only become distraught from his conniving and lying stepfather but also his mother, Queen Gertrude as well. The unfaithfulness that Gertrude shows to Hamlet’s father and Hamlet has a toll on him and plays a part in his insanity. The facade that Hamlet displays slowly leads to his insanity, causing him to show mistreated love towards Ophelia. In the beginning of the play, Ophelia displays a very honest

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Ophelia is grieving the loss of her father after Hamlet kills him. Ophelia doesn't know that Hamlet killed her father. But Ophelia has gone mad from learning about her father's death. Also, after Hamlet telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, Ophelia is a little bit discouraged. She is discouraged because Hamlet had told her before that if Ophelia would sleep with him that they would get married.

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In “Hamlet” a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, the death of a character is an occurring event. William Shakespeare uses imagery and allusion to demonstrate the result of manipulation from other characters upon Ophelia, daughter of Polonius, and leading up to her death. Her death was not the consequence of disgraceful actions of her own, but rather by the involvement of others and their influence on her life. Hamlet’s apparent rejection of her love and her father’s personal vindictive leads up to her simple-minded state, entering a world of madness. She has now gone mad, singings nonsense songs and giving people flowers that she has picked from the garden.

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In the “nunnery scene” which is played in Hamlet, Ophelia (as per her father’s and King Claudius’ instruction) attempts to push Hamlet away. As Hamlet realizes that Ophelia is trying to cut ties with him, his mood changes from sweet and loving to angry and sour. In a fit of rage Hamlet curses Ophelia’s name, ruins her name in a public setting and leaves her, upset (and crying in most adaptations) as she expresses her sorrow about having to leave Hamlet. In Ophelia’s soliloquy following her interaction with Hamlet, Ophelia mourns the loss of her ‘one true love’ and the way that Hamlet was behaving.

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