Describe The Relationship Between Ophelia And Gertrude

However, it would be erroneous to assume that the nobility cannot discern that Ophelia’s death was suicide altogether. Gertrude’s admission that Ophelia appeared “As one incapable of her own distress/or like a native creature and indued/ Unto that element” (4.7.203-205) reveals her awareness of Ophelia’s despondency. Still, though,

In one of Shakespeare populars works, Hamlet, one of many characters died a seemingly peaceful death as oppose to the rather violent deaths depicted throughout the play. One of the main characters, Queen Gertrude, went into depth about how the death occurred and the imagery afterward . An artist by the name of John Millais even recreated the scene through a painting in 1852. Ophelia was one of the only characters who appeared to have a peaceful death. Gertrude describing Ophelia before her death saying “Her clothes spread wide, And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up, Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds” (lines 172-174).

Ophelia, ever since her introduction, has been introduced to be a sweet and sympathetic person, providing the play with emotional moments, but her death was used as a bait and switch by Shakespeare towards audience members who had expected her to change the play’s somber mood to more hopeful one, which in turn makes the play even more tragic. After she had been visited by an apparently crazed Hamlet, she tells Polonius about the visit, prompting him to believe that the young prince is crazy in love, and goes out to tell the king. After it was explained to Claudius, and Hamlet’s former friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern failed to find the underlying cause of his madness, Polonius makes Ophelia approach Hamlet while he and the king hide and monitor his behavior.

Hamlet responded enraged, “Get thee to a nunnery” (III. i. 130), Hamlet’s reaction shocked and appalled Ophelia so much so that she ran out of the castle hurt by Hamlet's accusations. Polonius's death by the hands of Hamlet sends Ophelia over the top. She doesn't have Hamlet to lean on anymore, since his rejection of her and feels all alone. Ophelia then begins to act out, eventually drawing attention to her. Ophelia’s promiscuous demeanor to the guards and random singing in the halls provokes an immense sign of distress in my opinion. She makes known of her anger towards the court by not performing proper social conduct to her peers, because they put Polonius in the ground without another thought, “...I would / Give you some violets, but they withered all when, my father died” (IV.v. 207-209). Ophelia's performance in King Claudius's chair became an obvious cry for attention. Distributing a bouquet of flowers to her loved ones signifies her feelings and warns those around her that she no longer has the will to live because her father

Ophelia is so despondent at the death of Polonius and the alienation of Hamlet that she slips into madness – something that would never happen to Gertrude at the loss of a man. The queen has difficulty empathizing with the masculine point of view, even with that of her own son. She sees him attending the courtly social gathering in black, and refuses to tolerate it:

Ophelia is upset when she enters the scene because of Hamlet’s behavior. She tells Polonius what happened. She tells him, “He took me by the wrist and held me hard./Then goes he to the length of all his arm,/And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,/He falls to such perusal of my face/As he would draw it.

In the end, Ophelia goes mad because she lost both her lover and her father. When Hamlet kills Polonius, it has a great impact on Ophelia. She becomes frailer, which is what she was previously described by Hamlet to be. Tynelle Olivas, who has her Masters of Arts in English, stated, “It is in her madness that Ophelia adopts this role of Shakespearean fool and in so doing, articulates the quagmire of female subjectivity in Elizabethan England.”

‘Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ continues to engage audiences through its dramatic treatment of the role of women’ through Shakespeare’s characterisation of Gertrude and Ophelia. Within my studies, I had interpreted the tragedy of Hamlet as universal and a critical discussion of women within Elizabethan England, a misogynistic time where man were deemed strong and independent in comparison to women who were deemed to be weak and dependent.

As soon as Ophelia acknowledges her father’s death at the hands of Hamlet, her sanity is killed by despair. Her most spiritual assets are gone for ever: the dear father and the love for Hamlet. Ophelia and Gertrude are very unlike; Ophelia is just a victim of conventional moral standard. She is so weak to fight for her love, and her mind is easily bendable by her father and her brother. In her madness, she sings a Valentine song about a girl appears early in the morning at the window of a man to be the man’s Valentine (All in the morning betime… To be your Valentine.). The man then takes advantage of her (Let in the maid, that out a maid), promises to marry her, and after that he pulls a trick on her. He would have married her, if (thou

In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Ophelia, Polonius’s innocent child, overwhelmed with grief drowns herself in a brook. Many instances led to her unfortunate death. The first situation was Polonius’s ploy to see if Hamlet was mad because he loved Ophelia or from other causes. Hamlet, continuing to portray himself as a madman, ruthlessly scolds Ophelia. She is confused as to why he’s fanatically yelling at her since they loved each other. As the story nears its conclusion, Hamlet is bitterly criticizing Gertrude, his mother. In the heat of their discussion, Hamlet unsheathes his rapier and fatally wounds Polonius mistaking him as King Claudius. When Ophelia discovers the fate of her father, she is depressed. In conjunction, with Hamlet’s

“Hamlet’s denunciation of his mother’s weakness is projected onto the whole gender. Thus, Ophelia is victimized as a consequence. Gertrude becomes the source for breeding Hamlet’s grudge against women as well as instigating his subsequent ‘lunacy’ and rash behavior” (Hussein Al-Ali). Hamlet hurts Ophelia with a harsh invective, as he orders her to a nunnery and claims that he no longer loves her. However, following Hamlet’s irate remarks, Hamlet speaks with Ophelia, making sexual innuendos. Gertrude’s licentious actions drive Hamlet to madness, making him confused regarding his own romantic affairs. Since Gertrude toys with Hamlet’s emotions by marrying his uncle only two months after his father’s death, Hamlet feels that he has no other method to release his anger than to toy with Ophelia’s emotions. Gertrude’s actions have a snowball effect, as her relationship with Claudius lead to Hamlet’s complications within his relationship with Ophelia, which leads Ophelia to question the value of her life. Therefore, Gertrude’s behavior employs the theme of insanity among Ophelia and

Ophelia was Hamlet's lover and the daughter of Polonius. When Ophelia found out that her father was killed, she was so devastated that she drowned herself in the river. Gertrude tells everyone about Ophelia’s death, “But it was only a matter of time before her clothes, heavy with the water they absorbed, pulled the poor thing out of her song, down into the mud at the bottom of the brook.” (4.7.175). Gertrude tells Laertes that his sister killed herself by allowing the weight of her clothes to drown her. The ripple effect of Hamlet killing Polonius has affected Ophelia. Ophelia was an indirect victim of Hamlet's

Later in the play Ophelia is broken from Hamlets words. After hearing about her father’s death she was tipped into insanity and soon after her own death. Hamlet can be found diving into Ophelia’s grave in great sorrow and regret for treating her with such disrespect. Moreover as Hamlet argues with his mother, Polonius lies behind the curtain spying on them, as he makes a noise Hamlet reacts to it, “How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!/...

Hardships and sufferings are common in an average person’s life, but enduring a certain amount can push a person past their limits. At times, one's actions can lead to other people's limits being broken resulting in unexpected consequences. Hamlet by William Shakespeare involves two characters named Ophelia and Gertrude who both suffer from Hamlet's verbal and physical abuse; of the two, Ophelia suffers to a greater extent because of her decision to commit suicide. The cruel insults Hamlet addresses Ophelia with hurts her deeply due to them being false, whereas the harsh words Hamlet uses to describe Gertrude with are mostly true. Ophelia gets traumatized from both Hamlet’s sayings and actions, causing her to suffer an incredible amount. Queen Gertrude, who is the mother of Hamlet, is humiliated with abusive language by her son, which causes a particularly large amount of emotional distress on her since these words are coming from her very own child. First, the two suffer major harm from Hamlet due to his insults that cause them to feel worthless and violated. Gertrude becomes extremely offended by everything Hamlet says to her. Ophelia is greatly saddened, but at the same time she is worried about Hamlet. The death of Ophelia’s father causes the devastated daughter to fall into a state of depression, ultimately ending with the young woman taking her own life. On the other hand, the mother of Hamlet does not suffer from her son's torment as much as Ophelia because her death is the result of an accident, not the outcome of tremendous emotional suffering which Ophelia’s death resulted from. Additionally, Ophelia and Gertrude go through emotional suffering due to Hamlet’s verbal insult.

Both Gertrude and Ophelia were influenced by love. As Hamlet is talking to Gertrude, he wants her to see how horrible she has been and make her face the facts. Gertrude pleads,