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The Symbolism of Ophelia's Death Essay
Ophelia's suicide
Ophelia's death in
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More handpicked essays just for you.
The Symbolism of Ophelia's Death Essay
Ophelia's suicide
Ophelia's death in
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With ratted hair and wild eyes, and a voice that shifts rapidly between soft and biting, she is an unpredictable and truly mad Ophelia, sparing nothing from the viewers. She legitimately scares the other characters, assaulting the first guard she meets outside by ripping off his helmet and touching his armour, making the audience fear for his safety. When she is lead inside, calling loudly for the Queen, she frightens Gertrude so badly with her singing and clutching at the walls that the Queen legitimately runs from her. The audience is forced to fear for another character’s safety once more as Ophelia runs swiftly after her, nearly pinning her to the wall to continue her convoluted and sickening speech.
Ophelia’s dress is blue, yellow, and red; each of these colors has a strong symbolic meaning that can apply to Ophelia. Blue is the most prominent color on Ophelia’s dress and can be “used to represent depression, sadness and gloominess” (Jacob Olesen). This is an accurate representation of Ophelia because of the situations her character was put into, she lost everything and then fell into a mad depression. The second most obvious color on her dress is the gold/yellow lace, a very fitting color because yellow can be an “unstable color associated with cowardice and mental illness” (Jacob Olesen). The cowardice interpretation of yellow can fit the interpretation that she committed suicide, because instead of face hear madness she was a coward
Thus, Ophelia’s “madness” is determined by the extent to which she subverts female gender expectations. The more she exhibits traits traditionally associated with men, the more “mad” she becomes. In this context, Ophelia serves as both a caricature and a warning against female enlightenment as told through a patriarchal lense. She is ultimately ostracized from society, implying that women who seek freedom will receive the same fate as
Her use of scenic imagery helps to contrast Ophelia’s actions with the beauty around her while also distracting the reader from the somber events taking place. The “willow [that] grows askaunt the brook,/ That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream” portrays an almost dream-like reality, tinting everything with a touch of fantasy while minimizing the harsh pain of the real world (166-167). The willows drooping branches creates an image of demure sadness and, paired with the glassy stream, helps to create the physical embodiment of Ophelia’s sorrow. Gertrude’s use of excessive detail and imagery depicts Ophelia in a positive light despite her madness. This continues as Gertrude describes the flowers Ophelia picked for the “fantastic garlands” she made for her father’s funeral (168).
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.
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.
but wherefore I know not—lost all my mirth.” His depression over his father’s illness is very real but often rolled up in his faked madness. On the other hand, Ophelia is genuinely “mad,” sick with grief over her father’s death and unable to fit in with the court society. Her scene with her brother, who just confirmed his father’s death, is heartbreaking. She doesn’t recognize him at all.
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
The author is writing in order to persuade the readers to start thinking for themselves. The Ophelia syndrome is explained using an example from Hamlet. Ophelia, when talking to her father, Polonius, says, “I do not know, my lord, what I should think.” He says in return, “I’ll teach you. Think yourself a baby.”
Ophelia was the daughter of polonius, the love interest of hamlet who was brutally torn up mentally throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel all was well for her as well, her boyfriend was off at college and she was perfectly fine at home with her father. It was until her father took away a note from hamlet to her that things started going downhill. She was a weak person not like hamlet who when faced with injustice takes thing into his own hands to seek justice or revenge. She was a quite simple girl who had a gentler soul.
In many of William Shakespeare’s plays, women are depicted as strong-willed and powerful characters. However, Hamlet is quite the opposite. While Hamlet is depicted as a willful, intelligent hero, Ophelia is limned as compliant, silent, and is constantly manipulated by her father, brother, and fiancé. Even her brother, who is her peer, treats Ophelia as inferior and incapable of independent thought. Ophelia’s dialogue, or lack thereof, creates a monumental difference between herself and Hamlet.
Although, end rhyme isn’t evident, there are masculine and feminine rhymes within each line which fall naturally into the iambs across the lines when spoken aloud. When reading works by William Shakespeare or specifically this soliloquy of Ophelia’s, emphasizing the stressed and unstressed syllables and the vowels within the each of the words will help establish the dejected and upset emotion from Ophelia. A soliloquy was a common device that the famous playwright, William Shakespeare, used to tell his stories. He has written many famous works which with literary analysis can help open the eyes of an actor or reader to the techniques and true meaning behind the
This provokes him to say that god gives women one face, but they use make up to paint on another one. This quote suggest that Hamlet sees woman as naive and gullible creatures, as he sees Ophelia as nothing but an object that is owned by her father, as she is helping him with all of his dirty work. Hamlet believes that woman cannot be trusted as they have are deceiving. He also sees Ophelia as a grown women who is unable to make her own decisions. Hamlet is utterly disgusted by how feeble Ophelia is as she was following her father's scheme.
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.
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.