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The Depiction Of Ophelia's Madness

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There are two approaches to what madness is: delusion and the behaviors that arise from it, and true knowledge that is merely beyond the comprehension of others. In Hamlet, madness plays a key role in the story, and while Hamlet’s madness is, for the most part, the focus of the play – he is after all the title character – Ophelia's sudden descent into madness is an interesting event. Ophelia’s madness shows itself through the perspective of others, but through her own words, she actually shows herself and her actions to be sane. Depictions of Ophelia’s madness and mad actions come from other characters’ accounts, as well as the transcriber, the editor, and even Shakespeare himself. In act 4, a Gentleman first describes Ophelia as “importunate, …show more content…

Ophelia’s first song compares love to a devoted religious pilgrim (4.5.28-31) and later uses personification to describe the end, the “death,” of love (4.5.34-37, 41, 43-45). The song uses a melodic rhythm as well as extensive nature diction and imagery to convey a sense of innocence regarding love, and pure sorrow regarding its loss. Her second song approaches the subject more directly in response to Claudius’ misinterpretation of her words. This song uses a form of less poetic diction and structure to give the song a more personal and story-like tone, and convey a more crude aspect of love and betrayal (4.5.53-60, 63-71). The two songs may seem unrelated, but they depict similar stories of a devoted love which is later broken, a metaphor for her relationship with Hamlet, and attempt to convey her knowledge and emotions to everyone. Ophelia’s third song is much different from the other two, but it connects through their shared intention to convey her emotional state and knowledge. The song uses almost entirely death related diction and imagery and a disconnected tone to display her sorrow/depressed/apathetic? emotional state at the loss of love: “will he not come again? … No, no, he is dead. / Go to thy deathbed. / He never will come again” (4.5.213-217). These songs relay Ophelia’s reasoning for her actions and the reasonable change in her emotional state as a result. She uses different means in each song to do this, but they clearly display a rational and coherent connection and train of

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In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia’s love for Hamlet ultimately leads to her madness. In order for Ophelia to build her relationship with Hamlet, she must go against her father’s orders considering he strictly prohibited her from seeing him. Hamlet then breaks up with Ophelia saying, “I did love you once,” and then tells her to go “to a nunnery,” causing Ophelia to feel a great amount of betrayal. Ophelia is already heartbroken, and now Hamlet murders her father which was too much for her to handle.

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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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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.

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When Ophelia returns all his letters and gifts he tells her that he has never loved her and that she should “get thyself to a nunnery.” This is one example how his mood changes throughout the play. Then after all this her father, Polinous, is murdered by Hamlet. The Hamlet is sent away to England All of these actions result in her feeling such stress that she becomes insane in the end.

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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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The third and final element that can be used to analyze these scenes is through looking at the element of language and body language. In the Kate Winslet version, Ophelia speaks in a very panicky tone, and she sounds as though she is out of breath when she is singing the first song. This language is used to allow the viewer to look inside the thoughts of Ophelia, and feel her emotions. In the second part of this same scene, Ophelia is seen singing again, but this time she seems very depressed, but she is very calm. This scene is crucial in understanding this scene as it shows the viewer that Ophelia has come to terms with the fact that her father is gone forever and that she can do nothing to bring him back.

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“ My lord, I have remembrance of yours, that I longed long to re-deliver; I pray you, now receive them” (Shakespeare 2. 2. 93-95). Ophelia’s decision to relinquish her love to Hamlet for her father’s sake spurred Hamlet’s decision for his feigned madness and also made it easier for him to reject Ophelia and emotionally abuse her, which in turn, spurred her own internal disappointment and hatred in herself. However,“We see Hamlet’s nobility and realise that his flippant comments to her stemmed from his antic disposition and feigned madness” (Tuohy, 2012).

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For centuries, Hamlet has been widely regarded as one of William Shakespeare’s greatest works. The cast of diverse characters has been the subject of many discussions and has inspired many other works of art. The character of Ophelia, in particular, has touched the hearts of many artists and is featured in many pieces; one of the most interesting of these pieces being “Ophelia” by singer-songwriter Tori Amos. Her eclectic style and heartfelt lyrics are a key component of her music, making what she creates hauntingly beautiful. The song conveys a clear message-- it is imperative that women act for themselves rather than submit to a damaging male influence.

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Ophelia, who has been driven insane in this moment, performs a song with unsettling lyrics that express the disillusionment brought on by power. In the song "He is dead and gone, lady, / He is dead and gone; / At his head a grass-green turf, / At his heels a stone" (IV. V. 31–34), Ophelia laments the death of the character.

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In her soliloquy, she bemoans what she considers to be Hamlet’s descent into complete insanity. Along with William Shakespeare’s creative and meaningful plot, his way of writing and the inclusion of figurative language bring about a more interesting look to the text. For these first six lines of Ophelia’s soliloquy, Ophelia is describing Hamlet and how he has changed. She starts her soliloquy with “O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!

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Hamlet views Ophelia as a naive and ignorant girl who is nothing but Polonius and Claudius's puppet. This was revealed when Hamlet said "God has given you one face and you make yourself another. . You jig and amble, and you lisp, you nickname God's creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance." (III, i, 143-146) In this quote Hamlet knows that Ophelia is spying on him for Polonius and Claudius.

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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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