As a virgin, Ophelia is a poor wretch manipulated by her father to serve his political ends; otherwise, she is a schemer manipulating the good prince in hopes of gaining a crown herself.
Analyzes how ophelia's confession that she has lost her virginity comes in her state of madness. she is talking about the promises hamlet made to her before she had sex with him. Analyzes how ophelia's father, polonius, claudius, and gertrude question her character. hamlet knows the truth and speaks of it bluntly.
By this point, Ophelia would be well aware of her pregnancy, and well aware that she would soon begin to show outward signs of it.
Perhaps the most descriptive sexualization of Ophelia is when Gertrude describes her dead body as “mermaid-like” (4.7. 201) with “her clothes spread wide” (4.7. 200). Describing her clothes as “spread-wide” is especially suggestive, as to reference the act of removing clothing before sex.
Ellen Terry played her as a victim of sexual intimidation. 20th-century Freudian interpretations emphasised Ophelia's own neurotic sexual desires, and hinted at her unconscious incestuous attractions to Polonius or Laertes.
Ophelia's diagnosis with PTSD humanizes a character that audiences have pitied for centuries, but with whom they could not empathize. Unlike many psychological ailments, this disorder does not connote “insanity,” to which many viewers cannot relate.
Background: Ophelia's syndrome is the association of Hodgkin's Lymphoma and memory loss, coined by Dr. Carr in 1982, while it's most remembered for the eponym in reminiscence of Shakespeare's character, Dr.
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.
Ophelia's character is important in the story because she represents femininity, and Hamlet is able to act out his aggression towards his mother on Ophelia. Although she is really a naïve and innocent girl, Hamlet believes all women are manipulative and use their feminine nature to take advantage of men.
She is often portrayed as being 19 years old (like Kate Winslet in the 1996 Kenneth Branagh movie). She is certainly of an age where her father is probably beginning to think about marrying her off, which I think would probably be in the 16–19 range.
Bidding his sister, Ophelia, farewell, he cautions her against falling in love with Hamlet, who is, according to Laertes, too far above her by birth to be able to love her honorably. Since Hamlet is responsible not only for his own feelings but for his position in the state, it may be impossible for him to marry her.
Hamlet really did love Ophelia, and tells Laertes, “Be buried quick with her, and so will I” (V.i.296). Hamlet expresses how sad he is over losing her, and that he is just as sad as Laertes. Hamlet feels that he has nothing to live for no that Ophelia is gone.
Hamlet is distraught and suspicious. He professes his undying love to Ophelia, and they are secretly married. Soon afterward, he tells Ophelia that he plans to murder Claudius.
Ophelia is Polonius' daughter and Laertes' sister. Hamlet has been in love with her for a while before the play starts and has given her several gifts during their courtship until her father warns her away from him and tells her not to see him anymore.
Hamlet Act 3 Scene 1 | Shakespeare Learning Zone.
Ophelia's drowning is the consummate representation of an eternal retreat into the feminine, trading an individual voice for eternal silence in union with feminine essence. In turn, her death expresses the danger of reducing an individual to his or her gender and disregarding the voice of the marginalized.
Ophelia's final words are addressed to either Hamlet, or her father, or even herself and her lost innocence: “And will a not come again? / No, no, he is dead, / Go to thy death-bed, / He never will come again. / … / God a mercy on his soul. And of all Christian souls. God buy you.” Next, she drowns herself.
Carlisle's essay, “Hamlet's “Cruelty” in the Nunnery Scene: The Actors' Views, “Hamlet, whose mind is absorbed with a master passion (grief for his father and desire to avenge his death), feels that he must give up Ophelia in order to fulfill his vow to his father's spirt” (132).
Ophelia gained the character of an invalid as a result of her insanity, and the intrinsic passivity of her death intensifies her sensuality. She lay still in the water like a mermaid, wearing a flowy white gown, entirely at the mercy of the onlooker's gaze.
However, the sexual references in Ophelia's songs account for her obsession with the now mad Hamlet, as in “promising his love” to her earlier in the play and then being scorned, she is doubly heartbroken by his absence alongside the death of her father.
As Laertes's mock-daughter, Ophelia is objectified as a play-thing for Laertes to act out his future patriarchal duties. For Polonius, objectifying his daughter as a pawn for his political pursuits is just another casualty in his bid to improve his social station.
The interpretation which best fits the evidence best is that Hamlet was suffering from an acute depressive illness, with some obsessional features. He could not make a firm resolve to act. In Shakespeare's time there was no concept of acute depressive illness, although melancholy was well known.
Hamlet and Laertes both have feelings for Ophelia. Being her brother Laertes openly expresses throughout the whole play. He warns her to be wary of Hamlet's love. He warns her that Hamlet is only using her.
After Polonius' death, Ophelia finds herself lacking a strong accessible support network. She has an excellent relationship with her brother and could thus go to him, but he has unfortunately already left to study in France. This separation becomes a risk factor for PTSD.
ii.). Hamlet's most mad-seeming outburst, against Ophelia, may be explained by the fact that Claudius and Polonius are spying on the conversation: if Hamlet suspects that he's being spied on, he may be acting more deranged than he really is for the benefit of his listeners.