Ophelia and Hamlet
Hamlet is the creative work of William Shakespeare. The play showcases several themes that encompass the vices and good acts within society. Thus, Shakespeare employs Ophelia to portray the aggressive tendencies that Hamlet holds in his conscience. The constant interaction between these two characters creates the rising action, directs the course of the play, end eventually determines how the events unfold in Hamlet.
Ophelia is the cause of Hamlet’s change of behavior and madness. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet is happy to see Ophelia and looks love struck. He sends her letters and gifts to woe her into love. However, when her father asks her to send back Hamlet’s token of love, Hamlet gets so mad and loses his sanity. He denies sending Ophelia any love letters out of insanity and love (III, i). Eventually, he realizes that Polonius was using Ophelia to spy on him, and this makes him violent. Hamlet yells at Ophelia and pulls him all over trying to find out who is using her to spy on him.
Moreover, Hamlet might not be in love with Ophelia. Shakespeare uses Ophelia to bring out Hamlet’s rage and anger. At first, the two love birds are uncomfortable around each other. After exchanging a few words, they get comfortable around each other and Hamlet takes the moment to escape her sorrows. At that point, he was still grieving his father and used the relationship as a distraction. Consequently, the relationship triggered serious emotions that were hidden from the two. Hamlet’s response when Ophelia returns his letters shows how angry he was at his mother’s haste to remarry. He portrays women as liars and giving birth to sinners, implying that he was bitter on Gertrude (III, i). Hamlet also gets so violent when he realizes Ophelia had been spying on her and pulls her around to take out his frustrations.
The playwright gives Ophelia qualities that bring her out as a teenager. Her age has a great influence on the perception and attitude that her father gives her. The exact age of Ophelia is not given but one is likely to imagine she was eighteen years of age. From the storyline, she is most likely a teenager as she seems old enough to possess romantic feelings and capture the attention of a prince. Moreover, she is vulnerable and innocent, which makes her more of a teenager. In Polonius’ speech, one can tell that Ophelia was a young girl despite her wit. Polonius says to Ophelia, “you speak like a green girl.” He also goes ahead and says to her, “Marry, I’ll teach you: think yourself a baby” (I, iii). It shows that she was young but at the right age to marry off. The fact that she also accepted to spy on Hamlet for her father shows that she is young, naïve, and incapable of making her own decisions. It is typical of young women to obey their fathers as they do not know much about the world.
The most valuable asset for Ophelia is virginity. It is the very thing her brother and father are worried about. They warn Ophelia of her relationship with Hamlet that might take her true value (I, iii). She does not have the status to qualify as a wife to a prince who will eventually become a king. Being a commoner, the only thing prince could want from her is intimacy and most likely, he might take it away and dump her. Laertes advises Ophelia to reject Hamlet’s false love before she gets deflowered.
Ophelia’s age might be the reason Laertes and Polonius disapprove of her relationship with Hamlet. Polonius thinks Hamlet is not sincere with his intentions to Ophelia. Therefore, Polonius feels like Ophelia is too naïve to realize when Hamlet is lying to her. Since she is a resident of the community, Hamlet’s words should not influence her judgment. For this reason, Polonius tells Ophelia that it is Hamlet’s sex (boiling blood) desires that push him to declare his love for Ophelia (I, iv). It implies that Ophelia is too green in love to comprehend relationship matters. Polonius also believes that Ophelia is still a virgin and if Hamlet deflowers her, she will be sunk.
The rejection that Hamlet receives from Ophelia triggers his furry. He becomes mad and talks about the wretchedness of human beings. Ophelia believes that Hamlet has lost his mind judging from the sound of her words. She is saddened that once a noble mind has lost sanity. Hamlet accuses women of their dishonesty and turning men into brutal beings. He proceeds and asks Ophelia to join a nunnery since he perceives her as a hoe (III, i). Hamlet’s insanity escalates when he realizes Ophelia is spying on him. It is Polonius who uses Ophelia to get Hamlet’s secrets. However, Hamlet gets an inkling on Polonius’s intention and acts mad when Ophelia comes to him hoping that Polonius will believe he is sincerely mad.
Ophelia believes that Hamlet’s insanity came from the affection he had towards her. From her description of Hamlet’s behavior, after she returned her love letters, it implies that the immense love changed Hamlet’s behavior. Ophelia talks of his unbuttoned vest and dirty stockings. Also, Hamlet does not have a hat on his white face like linen as well as knocked knees (II, i). It is a perfect description of a disoriented soul. Coupled up with the look she gives her (tormented, pitiful, and very sad), it shows that Hamlet was going mad. The description in this scene gives Hamlet a different personality away from Ophelia’s knowledge.
The nature of death that engulfs Ophelia is not a suicide. In the end, Ophelia dies a horrible death. Her death comes out as an accident since she was mentally sick at the time she drowned. As Gertrude describes, she fell off a branch and drowned since she was incapacitated from her distress (IV, vii). At the time of her drowning, a lot had happened to her causing her mental illness. Losing her father and her lover is more devastating. Moreover, the realization that her lover, Hamlet, killed her father, Polonius causes her a lot of sadness. She falls off a branch trying to hang her fantastic garlands and does not struggle or try to save herself from death (IV, vii). Her mental condition had clouded her judgment to the extent that she was blind to her impending death. Several factors contributed to her death, chance, madness, and her loss of ability to act brought her to her untimely death. Her paralyzed wit and spirit also added up to cause her misery. Ophelia’s death drives Hamlet into full-blown madness. It changes him from a witty and admired man to a wretched insane human.
In conclusion, the playwright gives Ophelia a role is to drive Hamlet crazy and bring out his true feelings. Hamlet was masquerading as a noble Prince, and yet, he had killer instincts in him. Therefore, Ophelia succeeds in portraying the real identity of Hamlet. The rejection, vengeance towards the death of his father, and the desire to have Gertrude blend to showcase Hamlet’s true personality.
Work cited
Shakespeare, William. “The tragedy of Hamlet.” University Press, 1904.