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Ophelia is widely known for her psychosis and eventual death in the Shakespeare play, “Hamlet”. Her character is referenced in many forms of artwork, particularly her death. Probably the most iconic painting of her demise is the painting, “Ophelia”, by John Everett Millais. The oil on canvas painting depicts Ophelia lying in the river surrounded the flowers she had been picking before she drowned. In this project, however instead of showing Ophelia’s corpse in the water, the painting depicts the water in her corpse.
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.
Hamlet does not trust Ophelia. Hamlet gives Ophelia the option to tell him the truth and recieve his trust when he asks her, “ where is your father,” but Ophelia continues to lie, telling Hamlet he is “at home” when Polonius is actually in hiding with the King and several others, listening to the conversation. Hamlet knows this, and becomes increasingly upset at Ophelia for lying, cursing her future marriage and telling her “God hath given you one and you make yourselves another,” insinuating that she is two-faced Hamlet is unclear about what his feelings for Ophelia ever were.
People will do whatever they can to protect the ones they love, no matter the cost. Prince Hamlet in the William Shakespeare play, Hamlet, did exactly that, trying to shield Ophelia firstly from the court. Additionally, he didn’t even trust her father and wanted to remove her from Polonius’ influence as well. On top of that, Hamlet wanted to protect him from even himself. In the end, Hamlet wanted to keep Ophelia safe from the court, her father, and ultimately himself, despite what some may argue.
In conclusion, the motif of honour is reinforced through the characters in the play, specifically Gertrude, Ophelia and Hamlet. Gertrude’s hasty marriage to Claudius amidst the mourning of her deceased husband, brings her honour into question. By defying the precedent established by other royal widows of monarchs, Gertrude risks her honour as a queen. As a consequence of her actions, Gertrude also loses her honour as a mother to Hamlet. During Gertrude’s last moments, Hamlet’s farewell was of anger and madness rather than sadness and sorrow.
Hamlet’s impulsiveness also characterizes him as feminine, as the tendency to act out of emotion rather than rational thought is traditionally considered feminine. Although Hamlet thinks often, he does not often apply this thought to his actions and instead, when he does act, he does so impulsively. Hamlet’s impulsiveness “which induces him to jump into Ophelia’s open grave with Laertes, which leads him to slay Polonius the instant that he see the hangings stir, and which enables him at last to take his full revenge upon the spur of the moment and without premeditation” exemplifies his femininity in that he does all of these things without thinking before and instead acts completely on his emotions (Vining 54). In jumping into Ophelia’s grave, Hamlet acts
Sometimes in life people do not portray things how the really mean to. Sometimes people treat the people they truly love harshly. Sort of like how in the play of Hamlet, Hamlet acts like he does not really love Ophelia. But, in the tragedy of Hamlet, the protagonist, Hamlet, really did love Ophelia. This can be seen through his actions toward her before he found out about his father’s death being a murder, pretending to be crazy simply to prove to the king and Polonius, and by his actions after Ophelia 's death.
This quotation illuminates Gertrude’s act of incest which can be classified as an aspect of adultery. Hamlet’s views of marriage are potentially destroyed because of Gertrude’s remarriage and women in general as he states to Ophelia: “Of if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them” (3.1.138-140). Although Gertrude is to blame for Hamlet’s negative outlook on marriage, his misogynistic attitude comes to light as he classifies all women (including Ophelia) as cheaters and liars. Moreover, Hamlet confronts Gertrude for her incestuous and adulterous crimes and speaks: “Nay, but to live / In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed, / Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love” (3.4.91-94).
For the duration of the play, Ophelia was portrayed as a naïve and submissive woman. Her passivity and powerlessness reinforce the voicelessness of women during the Elizabethan era. For example, “I shall obey, my lord” (I.iii.134) shows that Ophelia concedes to her father’s will, even though she believes Hamlet’s love is genuine. She is willing and expected to obey her father despite the fact that she still loves Hamlet, which emphasizes her character’s submissive nature. Furthermore, in Act I Laertes warns Ophelia that it would be shameful of her to love Hamlet, and she responds with “I shall the effect of this good lesson keep as a watchman to my heart” (I.iii.45).
Does Hamlet Really Love Ophelia? Love what most people view as a physical affection or attachment towards someone. Is there really a pacific way to show someone that you're in love with them. When it comes to love most people are afraid of showing someone that they love them because they're afraid of getting hurt or for the other person getting hurt. Hamlet does indeed truly love Ophelia, It could be that Hamlet was afraid of getting hurt all along.
The way that Gertrude acted, lead to pain and trust issues when it came to other women in Hamlet’s life. “Frailty thy name is woman” (I.ii,146) is how Hamlet states his feelings towards females in his first soliloquy. Not only does Hamlet blame his mother for doing damage in his life, but he goes further to blame all women for not being as strong as men just because of Gertrude’s acts. “The mother's confusing relationship to the father is the cause of the ambiguity and confusion” (Brewer). The sole cause of Hamlet's confusion and chaotic behavior can be traced back to the death of his father and the remarriage of his mother.
Ophelia’s death results from Hamlet's madness, his telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, and Polonius's death. Hamlet telling Ophelia to go to a nunnery made Ophelia feel insecure. Especially when Hamlet told Ophelia that he would marry her just so she would sleep with him. Then, Hamlet comes back to Ophelia telling her that she needs to go to a nunnery. Which is basically calling Ophelia a whore, because a nunnery is like a whorehouse. Ophelia at this point felt very insecure about herself and she questioned her relationship with Hamlet.
In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Hamlet has a unique relationship with Ophelia. Throughout the beginning of the play you learn very little about their relationship. Their relationship was referenced however. In the beginning of the play, Laertes warns Ophelia about Hamlet, claiming he does not actually love Ophelia. Throughout the play it is implied that Hamlet and Ophelia were involved with one another, but never showed the details of their "love."
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.
This is encapsulated in Hamlet exclaims, “frailty, thy name is woman!” about his mother’s hasty marriage to her deceased husband’s brother (Shakespeare 1.2.150). In this quote, Hamlet is dismissing all women as weak-willed like he believes Gertrude to be, which affects his interactions with Ophelia also. Hamlet is cruel to her because of this anger he has towards women in general, so when pretending to be mad, he goes “full force in the misogynist rage” when telling her he used to love her, but now she should go to a nunnery (Traub 192). Ophelia can be seen as weak in this scene because she protests little against Hamlet and only hopes that his insanity will end.