Hamlet essay
The death of Ophelia in Shakespeare's play ‘Hamlet’ has been a matter of debate amongst the audience as to who caused Ophelia to kill herself. There are a few people who are argued by the reader to be the cause of her death, these few people are Hamlet as his poor mental health and insanity are reflecting on to Ophelia, also Laertes, and Polonius as they were too overprotective and harsh, and would not let her do the things she wants to do. Throughout the whole play, Ophelia's mental health was declining until she eventually killed herself, as the prominent people in her life are affecting her in a bad way. Ophelia being only young and not having a big social life as she only stays in the castle she has not learned how to control
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Hamlet’s father died and this affected how he acts towards everyone, especially Ophelia. Throughout the play, Hamlet has shown that he has treated Ophelia poorly and is very harsh and dismissive with her, and his rejection of Ophelia’s love left her to be confused and upset. As said by Ophelia in ACT 1 SCENE 3 ‘He has made many tenders of affection to me lately’ (Sparknotes, 2008, pg.29). This leads Ophelia to be confused about his opinion on her as one moment Hamlet loves her the other he does not love her, as he says ‘ No not I, I never gave you anything’ (Sparknotes,2008, pg 83) After all of the things Hamlet has said Ophelia’s mental health starts to decline and Ophelia ends up in a bad headspace and ends up killing herself. In the play after Hamlet rejected her Ophelia starts showing signs of her being crazy and not being normal as she starts to sing in the halls and being mad. However, while Hamlet was one of the main characters that impacted Ophelia’s mental health, it is good to note that Hamlet was not the only one who contributed to her mental …show more content…
It can be argued that Polonius is the cause of her death as he was a manipulative and controlling character. ‘Believe yourself a foolish little baby for taking these tenders for something real. “Tender” yourself some more respect’ (Sparknotes, 2008, pg.29). It says that Polonius thinks that Ophelia is stupid and Hamlet would not love her for being her and that he would only use her. This proves that Polonius does not let Ophelia do what she thinks and what she believes. Polonius prohibits Ophelia to talk to her love Hamlet and that she needs to end her relationship with Hamlet and does not think Ophelia is ever right because she is just a young girl, Polonius only thinks he is right and can not say he is wrong. Also when Hamlet killed Polonius that would of affected her as Ophelia would of relied on him even if he was very strict and did not let her do the things she wanted to, losing a family member is very sad and would of made her mental health even worse. Ophelia’s family is not the best as her brother is another person that contributed to her killing
Not only did he lose his father at a young age, he also had to see his mother marry his uncle, which would probably really mess with anyone. Even if there aren’t any laws that really make it wrong, it would still probably hurt him, and clearly affected him negatively in the play Finally, the events that happened in Ophelia’s life definitely caused her to be depressed, and not just crazy over her love for Hamlet. First, this is clearly shown when Hamlet, the man she used to love, literally killed her father.
At the same time, he resents and hates his mother for killing his father, becoming strongly attached to her. This gigantic conflict in his feelings is the main cause of his insanity and resulting in his isolation, which is intensified by the knowledge that his mother's lover Claudius is constantly spying on him. He sees his father's ghost bringing him to the horrific event of his murder, so he pours out his heart to Ophelia, even though he knows she has also been sent to spy on him. The constant pressure from her father, Polonius, and Claudius to spy on Hamlet is a major factor in the increasing madness of Ophelia. Also Hamlet's own madness and isolation is a cause in Ophelia's deteriorating mental condition.
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.
Ophelia’s character went through quite a large transformation. In the play her father tells her that she is to stay away from Hamlet and she readily agrees. In the movie Ophelia doesn’t disagree with her father but she also doesn’t agree just to please him. This shows that Ophelia isn’t easily persuaded, even by her own father. Despite her father’s warning about Hamlet, Ophelia met with him in secret at her apartment until her father found out.
Another factor is the constant psychological abusive behaviour by Hamlet towards Ophelia. An example of Hamlet’s mistreatment occurred when he insulted her by stating she is a hoar and telling her to, “…Get thee to a nunnery…"(Act 3 scene 1).Ophelia’s victimization represents the patriarchal oppression she experiences which causes her to lose her mind as Hamlets comments are, “…words like daggers …” (Shakespeare).to her mental state. Lastly, the final instance which significantly impacts her mental well-being is the sudden death of her beloved father.
Ophelia is like this because of Polonius’s manipulations. Polonius’ and Ophelia’s conversation in Act One demonstrates the results of his manipulations and shows Ophelia’s understanding of obedience to the audience. For whatever reason, Polonius does not want Ophelia to be in a relationship with Hamlet. So he stops their relationship by making Ophelia question herself and follows his orders. Polonius manipulates Ophelia by making her think that she invalidates her family’s honor, that she does not know anything, and that Hamlet is manipulating her among other things he says.
Hamlet once again fails to understand that Ophelia much like himself is only trying to stay loyal to her father, much like what he is doing himself. In addition, Hamlet blames woman for giving birth to such evil and deceiving men like Claudius and himself. When he was talking to Ophelia he told her "Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better
Ophelia is an important character in the text Hamlet. She has three relatives in her family: her father Polonius, brother Laertes and herself. Ophelia’s first appearance was in Act 1 Scene 3, when she and Polonius was saying goodbye to Laertes. Polonius and Laertes told Ophelia that she needs to stop keep in touch with Hamlet furthermore and Ophelia agreed to do so. Her second appearance was when Hamlet pretends to be insane.
Ophelia went against her father’s wishes as he forbid her from talking to Hamlet since he was a player. Polonius said “I would not, from this time forth have you so slander any moment leisure as to talk with the Lord Hamlet” (Shakespeare, 2015, p. 253). Laertes also warned Ophelia about Hamlet. Hamlet was rude and controlling towards Ophelia one minute and loving to her the next. Hamlet freaked out Ophelia once and was rough with her, “He took me by the wrist and held me hard” (Shakespeare, 2015, p.265).
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.
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.
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.
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
Saying this, Hamlet’s behavior towards Ophelia is crude, rough, and full of anger. Despite Hamlet’s harsh treatment towards Ophelia, he really did love her, but because she was not his main focus, the
Hamlet does not value Ophelia 's feelings he belittles her. In Hamlets defense this is the way he was brought up to treat women, during that time this was a common way to treat a women. Even though in today 's society it is not at all ok to treat women with such disrespect. He also likes for everything to go as planned and this may result in why he can not have a stable relationship with a woman. This also causes him to have many stumbling blocks in his life that causes some emotional pain