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play Hamlet is madness. Prince Hamlet acts as though he is mad to find the
true nature of his father’s death. Ophelia, on the other hand, truly becomes
mad near the end of the play. In the play Hamlet, the combination of being
manipulated by the men in her life, reflecting their needs and their wants
with no regards to her own, as well as the loss of her father by the hand of
the men in her life. There is no women figure to pose as a mother for her in
the play of Hamlet, so all that her father, brother, and Hamlet tells her to
do, she does because it is what she feels is appropriate. In act i scene iii
and keep within the rear of your affection, Out of the shot and danger of
the advise of her father and brother. Poloinus also tells her “I must tell you,
Basically telling Ophelia, she does not understand her own feelings and
emotions. Polonius then goes on to say “Affection! Pooh! You speak like a
tenders, as you call them?” When Ophelia answers Polonius, you gain an
understanding of just how much influence over her thoughts Polonius has.
the men around her, Ophelia has been shaped to conform to external
demands, to reflect others’ desires” (Dane 406). By the orders of her father
in act II scene ii lines 142-151, Ophelia tries to break the relationship with
Hamlet, but Hamlet denies her love. Polonius, in his demands, did not take
into account the affect his demand has on Ophelia. All that he is concerned
with is finding out the cause of Hamlets true madness, not taking into
her to her own madness. When carrying out her fathers orders Hamlet
rejected her, making her think that he never did love or care for her. “You
should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock
but we shall relish of it: I loved you not” (Ham.3.1.124-125). So, with this
When Ophelia’s father dies, she is left with nothing. Not only is her
brother away for school, but also her one true love is denying her his
affection. In addition to this, her one true love is also the one who killed her
perspective when he said, “Ophelia, mourns for her father, but his death, is
not sufficient reason for her to lose her sanity. She, too, is in the intolerable
predicament of having to turn away from the person she loves and idealizes
because that person is responsible for her father’s murder. Her father is
dead, and Hamlet, as his slayer, is barred to her affections. She can no
longer transfer her attachment from her father to Hamlet. Her entire
orientation to the future has suddenly been destroyed” (Lutz 91). Dane
states, “Male voices fill her head guiding her very thoughts. When the
voices’ directions become increasingly muddied, she grows more and more
confused, more sundered from any sense of personal identity, until she
with her brother in France, and her lover banished to England for the
murder of her father; the voices stop. Confronted with such a thunderous
how she felt through the songs that she sang. Ophelia sings:
Christian Thompkins
Professor Mary Chapman Cook
Enghlish 110
November 15, 2004
This allows the reader to see just how Ophelia is mourning for her father,
which she is directing towards Gertrude when she sang it. Ophelia then
sings:
Ham.4.5.48-66
Christian Thompkins
Professor Mary Chapman Cook
Enghlish 110
November 15, 2004
With these two songs, Ophelia is telling her story of her love for her father,
and her loss of a love in Hamlet. It is the only way Ophelia is able to tell her
true feelings, which are made up of the mixed emotions of anger and desire
for both her father and Hamlet. “All men merge in her mad imagination– all
the controlling voices of her life, her conscience, he psyche– all the outside
forces determined to manipulate her for their own ends. Madness releases
liberates her from the prescribed roles of daughter, sister, lover, subject”
(Dane 412).
In the end we find that Hamlet was acting as if he was mad, and
men around her. Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, is a very complex play, which
whole play, gaining a better understanding of all the characters in this play,
the character of Ophelia is a character that stood out the most, was very
interesting.