Hamlet betrays Ophelia by refusing his love for her and being the cause of her madness with words such as “I loved you not” (III. I. 119) and “get thee to a nunnery” (III.
Midway through Hamlet, Ophelia is well under the control of Polonius and Hamlet. They are both manipulating and using her as a pawn as to get what they want and she has little to no say about it.
At the top of Act Three Polonius forces Ophelia to return Hamlet's letters and renounce his affections. Ophelia obeys, but her action sends Hamlet into a fit of misogynistic rage.
In Act 4 Scene 7, Queen Gertrude reports that Ophelia had climbed into a willow tree (There is a willow grows aslant the brook), and that the branch had broken and dropped Ophelia into the brook, where she drowned. Gertrude says that Ophelia appeared "incapable of her own distress".
During his journey, Hamlet discovers Claudius has a plan to have him killed once he arrives. He returns to Denmark alone, sending his companions Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths in his place. Rejected by Hamlet, Ophelia is now desolate at the loss of her father. She goes mad and drowns.
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.
Laertes must have been clued in to Ophelia's pregnancy. Polonius inadvertently admits to such a claim. Polonius's knowledge is revealed when Hamlet discloses that he knows Ophelia, his lady love might be pregnant. Check out the words that Hamlet uses when he confronts Polonious.
The penultimate scene of the play begins with the two clowns digging a grave for the late Ophelia. They debate whether she should be allowed to have a Christian burial, because she committed suicide.
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.
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.
Hamlet betrays Ophelia by refusing his love for her and being the cause of her madness with words such as “I loved you not” (III. I. 119) and “get thee to a nunnery” (III.
Hamlet uses Ophelia for his own personal gain, he toys with her emotions by making to seem as though she is the cause of his madness. Hamlet emotionally abuses Ophelia with no regard for her psychological well-being.
Suddenly, the funeral procession for Ophelia enters the churchyard, including Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes, and many mourning courtiers. Hamlet, wondering who has died, notices that the funeral rites seem “maimed,” indicating that the dead man or woman took his or her own life (V.i.242).
Laertes has expressed his fears and commands to Ophelia by deconstructing and dismissing Hamlet's affections by stating Hamlet is subjected to the will and rule of Denmark, and therefore, his choices, like whom to marry, are not his own.
Playing dual roles as Gertrude and the witch Mechtild
Watts plays both roles, and the nature of the relationship between the two women is largely ambiguous. “That's open to interpretation,” Watts said of the part. “Is it her sister, is it her twin, is her alter ego? That's up for you as an audience to decide.”
In the play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius and the love interest of Hamlet, is depicted as a young and beautiful woman who is innocent, virtuous, and loyal. Ophelia is the innocent victim in Hamlet and the specific attributes that she has lead to her tragic death.
Why does Ophelia go mad? Ophelia goes mad because her father, Polonius, whom she deeply loved, has been killed by Hamlet. In addition, Hamlet, whom she also loved, has cruelly rejected her.
While she lives in the same patriarchal society that demands that she subjugate herself to her father and her brother until she is married, Ophelia has fallen in love with Prince Hamlet. There is strong evidence that she has even had sexual relations with him.
While she lives in the same patriarchal society that demands that she subjugate herself to her father and her brother until she is married, Ophelia has fallen in love with Prince Hamlet.
Ophelia's tragic flaw is the loyalty she affords those she loves. This loyalty renders her incapable of emotionally handling his mistreatment, in addition to the demands of her father and brother.
Turns out Ophelia's mom was killed thanks to "being close to the royal family" (Corgi attack, probably), which caused her dad to shut down emotionally.
During their argument Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, Ophelia's father. Hamlet will not tell anyone where Polonius' body is. Claudius sends him to England but he doesn't arrive. Ophelia's brother, Laertes, comes home and finds Ophelia has gone mad with grief.
In the movie, Ophelia does not die. Instead, after realizing that Hamlet's quest for revenge against King Claudius could prove hazardous to her own health — and deducing that she is pregnant with Hamlet's baby — Ophelia fakes her drowning death.
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.
Naomi Watts plays Gertrude and Mechtild, and the two characters are sisters. Mechtild was considered a witch because she had a miscarriage. The death of her baby was thought to be the work of the devil, and so she was to be burned at the stake. Interestingly, the child was Claudius'.