OpheliaEssay Preview: OpheliaReport this essayOphelia the VictimIn William Shakespeares Hamlet, the character of Ophelia is being portrayed quite like a victim. This simple, innocent young woman falls victim to many things. She is the victim of Hamlets harassment, the victim of manipulation by many, the victim of her own flaws of being obedient, indecisive, and weak both mentally and eventually physically. Ophelia is unfortunately not very strong willed and is placed in the crossfire between many things and is unable to escape them. Gerald Chapman similarly agrees in the below quote taken from his book Essays on Shakespeare.
The only character who is presented almost entirely as a victim is Ophelia, a victim of the Kings fear and curiosity, her fathers servility and fundamental indifference to her, Hamlets misunderstanding of the situation and brutal treatment of her, and finally his fatal thrust through the arras in the closet scene (123).
Ophelia is the number one victim of Hamlets harassment. As Harold Bloom says in his book Hamlet- Poem Unlimited, “What emerges clearly is that Hamlet is playacting and that Ophelia is the prime victim of his dissembling” (38). All though Hamlet may not mean all that he says, or perhaps he does, Ophelia most certainly believes his words and actions as truthful. He speaks harshly and insanely to her, and on occasion will physically grab at her. “He took me by the wrist, and held me hard” (2.1.84). Hamlet continuously uses Ophelia as a pawn in his game and eventually torments Ophelia first to insanity and then eventually to death. “and Hamlet is monstrous to torment her into true madness” (Bloom 42). It is in Act 3, Scene 1, when Hamlet really lashes out on Ophelia. He questions her purity and accuses her as a sinner. He continues to ramble on and on about such matters, with each word he says frightening Ophelia more.
If thou dost marry, Ill give thee this plague for thy dowry:be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt notescape calumny; get thee to a nunnery, go, farewell. Or ifthou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men knowwell enough what monsters you make of them: to a nunnerygo, and quickly too, farewell. (3.1.135-140).By the end of this tirade Hamlet has almost completely broken down Ophelia, for she starts her downward spiral to death after this point.Ophelia is also victim to her vulnerability to be manipulated by others. Ophelia does not really have a mind of her own; she does what she told to do by others. Since this is the case it lets her be very opened to be used in whatever way people see fit. “Unlike Desdemona, Ophelia is not guilty of showing a dangerously strong mind of her own” (Pitt 52). Ophelia holds back her own opinions and desires in the hope to pleasure others, especially her father. She is manipulated by her father to be used as bait to draw out the true reasons of Hamlets insanity. A perfect example of her fathers manipulation is in Act 2 Scene 2. It is here that Polonius proposes to have Ophelia meet Hamlet in one of the main hallways that Hamlet often paces, and to have the King and himself (Polonius), listen into the conversation that the two will have. Of course by Polonius doing this he is feeding into Hamlet and helping him also manipulate Ophelia. She is manipulated by Hamlet because he uses her as the main target of his false insanity; as a result she helps to make everyone else think he is in fact truly mad. With Ophelia being manipulated by so many and being pulled in so many directions she is most surely to be confused and eventually go mad herself.
Ophelias indecisiveness has a lot to do with her being obedient to the requests by others. For example, at first “we know that Ophelia has first accepted and then rejected Hamlets love addresses” (Muir 147). She loves the letters Hamlet is sending her and accepts them with opened arms, and then she denies them at the request of her father. It can also be assumed that at the start of Hamlets supposed madness that Ophelia still wants to be with him. In any case he is her beloved Hamlet and perhaps she can help him. By the end, after Hamlet has killed her father it is quite clear she wants nothing to do with him, after all he has murdered someone she truly loved. “Ophelias only prop after Act III is thus Hamlet, the man whose behaviour she now finds incomprehensible, who insults and mocks her, and who above all, has murdered her father” (Pitt 56). What goes on in the middle is a different story. She is torn between loving Hamlet and hating him. His madness and the way he treats her makes Ophelia want to hate him, but after all this is Hamlet, the man that seduced her and made her feel loved, so therefore she should love him. Ophelia is unable to make her own decisions concerning her feelings and actions. She would often be stuck in limbo if someone did not always jump in and interfere, thus pushing her in one direction or the other.
Ophelias obedience is another significant problem. Her strict obedience mostly to her father it what leads to her being manipulated so often. “It is true that she never challenges the wishes of her father, brother or Hamlet…” (Pitt 56-57). With her brother away, Polonius is the only family Ophelia has around. So it is quite natural that she would obey her father from the start, but perhaps she is even more willing to do so because Laertes is away and Polonius is the only one giving her so called advice. Besides, Ophelia believes her father to be a wise man, why shouldnt she listen to what he tells her to do, after all it is supposed to be in her best interest isnt it? However, you can even see Ophelias obedience
Ophelia seems to be far from her own ideal. But it would seem that perhaps when Ophelia becomes a mother, she is more likely to accept her father’s advice, even if she is a passive and obedient woman, at least she will see out. In response she makes an appearance in the church and in this role, she’s even very much her friend. So it would appear she was able to help the young girl get from there to what is now called ‘good’ Ophelia’s. If this is true then that might explain why she gave a daughter a boy who looked like a real man. But if things went too well for everyone, maybe she really was an ideal mother. Or could those two factors be a major factor, perhaps a strong relationship between the two? This is my best hypothesis, because if it were up to a single person it wouldn’t be long till this young girl had a more than normal relationship with her father which of course is why she is in Ophelia’s class. However we can make different choices to the best of our knowledge. For example this young girl has very normal interests, although she would rather be to a guy than a girl, and she would try her hardest to find a good man in spite of what her parents say. Her friend wouldn’t allow her to spend time with her in this class. Ophelia was able to get a good guy in person, but it was also clear that she wouldn’t be able help her unless he was a nice guy, for for instance ‘The Good Girl’ in the movie.
The other thing which you may want to know is that her father was the ruler of Ophelia’s country, and what you’ve found out here about his life is just the beginning. Maybe it’s important that you pay close attention to his family and you learn about their personality and even their behavior, then you could also try your best to get a good portrait of them. There are some exceptions. For instance, I was able to follow Ophelia about a million times and found out that she is quite strict in everything she says about her husband during the course of the class. She was also very smart and strong. I can’t imagine that she is quite like a teacher, but with a little experience of their life she would become quite an expert on some subjects. It would obviously be very helpful if you could make an educated guess on them. On the other hand if you were a young man who knows more about Ophelia than the average man she might take you to visit them. To that end, you might be able to use some of Ophelia’s experience at home in your school and get hints you could use about them. And perhaps for