How Is Ophelia's Madness A Turning Point In Hamlet

Hamlet’s madness is eerily similar to Ophelia’s, which may give Hamlet’s madness credibility. “Shakespeare,” according to Lidz, “carefully places Ophelia’s madness in apposition to Hamlet’s, illuminating the causes of each by making Ophelia’s plight the female counterpart of Hamlet’s dilemma.” (Lidz 88) Ophelia, throughout the play,

The actions toward Ophelia has been expressed through disrespect and degrading behavior. Hamlets only goal is to get revenge for his father, therefore his behavior to Ophelia has become harsh because Hamlet is only trying to further his insanity by showing Polonius that he has gone mad for Ophelia's love. “At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him. Be you and I behind an arras then, Mark the encounter.” (II.II.155-156) Hamlet overhearing this has given a chance to hide the fact that he is planning to kill Claudius.

People have mostly seen women inferior to men because women have been thought of as simple-minded and could not take care of themselves. Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows how men treated and thought of women during the 1500s. There was an order most did not interfere with; however, some did. In the 1500s, women were supposed to conform to men’s wishes. Throughout the play, Ophelia first obeyed her father and brother’s wishes, ignored the social norms later, and then went mad, which caused her to never gain her own identity.

      When one refers to madness in Hamlet, most would think of Hamlet's madness, or at least that that he was pretending to possess. Although Ophelia does go insane and ultimately commits suicide, the central lunacy of the play revolves around Hamlet himself. Hamlet's plan to act mad is completely unexplained. It is safe to

     Hamlet's madness drove him to seek revenge on anyone who seemed to be trying to trick him or get in his way. His madness and need for revenge led Hamlet to the accidental killing of Ophelia's [sic] father. He also wanted to make his stepfather pay for killing his father and convince his mother that she should be mourning her first husband's death. Ophelia's madness was directed at herself.  Without her father she was left with nothing. She felt that her chances with Hamlet were gone. A women without a man did not have many options to find fulfillment and satisfaction in life - as a result, Ophelia fell into a brook and drowned. Again, that they both took a life to rid themselves of the madness is another similarity.

His madness was argued to be an act to confuse Claudius. He acted crazy to cover his plans of seeking revenge on Claudius, when talking to Polonius he acted completely mad, “For in the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?”(Hamlet 2.2.95) Hamlet used much blabber, such as this, when talking to anyone close to Claudius. As the play went on his madness was more and more liable. He started becoming very irrational and distracted by his plans. When Ophelia gives Hamlets letters back he goes into a rage, yelling “Get thee to a nunnery.”(Hamlet (3.1.131) The most well known action Hamlet committed was when he stabbed Polonius in a rash decision, hoping it was Claudius, “O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!“(Hamlet 3.4.171) One thing that brought him one step closer to going mad was Ophelia’s death. Hamlet may have been acting in the beginning but by the end of his devious plan to avenge his father, he lost himself and actually caused himself to go mad.

Hamlet is the prince of Denmark, whose uncle and mother betray him. Ophelia, a pure figure in the play, loves Hamlet, but he and her mind betray her. Through conflicts between their minds, and interactions with others, the madness of Ophelia and Hamlet progressed into something more than they could handle. With a lack of support given by their families, or peers, they only spiraled deeper into themselves. In the play, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, the author uses the characterization of Hamlet and Ophelia’s insanity to further illustrate how madness is a vehicle to truth.

Psychotic behavior is prevalent in Shakespeare’s Hamlet as two of his characters, Hamlet and Ophelia, exhibit madness during the play. The play commences after Claudius killed King Hamlet, leaving him in purgatory. Hamlet, after discovering this fact, feigns madness, which he calls an “antic disposition” (1.5.192) in his plot for revenge to ultimately free his father. Ophelia, on the other hand, succumbs to madness after the death of her father Polonius and Hamlet’s rejection of her love. Both experience deaths within their families, which lead to a loss of identity because their identities are greatly shaped by their familial

After the encounter with the ghost, Hamlet makes his friends, Marcellus and Horatio, swear by the sword that, no matter what they see or hear, they will not tell a soul about it. Hamlet tells them of his ploy to pretend to act crazy. “But come, here, as before, never, so help you mercy, how strange or odd soe'er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on)” (I, v, 169-173). Hamlet has several reasons in feigning insanity.

There are two different types of madness display in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet . Hamlet's madness was the result of Claudius killing his father and then Hamlet pretended to be mad to fool Claudius. Ophelia's madness was due to Hamlet killing her father, which caused her to be driven into a depressed state later leading to her death. Although Hamlet and Ophelia's madnesses are both extremely similar by the way came about. It is how the two characters deal with their madness that leads to the differences between them.

As demonstrated throughout the play, Hamlet’s madness is evident whether real or fake. In his own words, “I am mad but north-north-west: / When the wind southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw” (II. ii. 377-78). Hamlet is claiming that he is frequently seen as crazy. However, he claims that he can choose the moments to be mad. Hamlet is speaking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern stating that Hamlet knows what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern plan to do. The reader is again asked to consider whether Hamlet is faking his madness or whether he is, in fact, mad. In a monologue, he says, “How strange or odd some’er I bear / myself / As I perchance hereafter shall think / meet / To pit an antic disposition on” (I. V. 190- 92). The death of Hamlet’s father is something Hamlet cannot

Hamlet’s depravity was caused by the sudden reemergence of his father telling him to end Claudius’ life where as Ophelia's madness was caused by the rejection of Hamlet, who actually loved her, and the accidental murder of her father. Both of these poor souls suffered as if cursed by Dionysus himself. This cruel but necessary display reveals that, while Shakespeare values the idea of madness in his play, this too isn't the main topic we should be focusing

Madness can be defined as a “mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it,” but Emily Dickinson defined it as, “divinest Sense.” In other words, madness can be the purest kind of sanity because all the facades a person has go away, and the truth comes out. Madness, the purest kind of sanity, can be seen in Shakespeare’s Hamlet as both Ophelia and Hamlet construct facades. It is not until they become mad or act mad that their own private thoughts and true intentions are revealed. Ophelia is dependent upon men and is unable to freely think for herself because of social expectations.

In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare madness is a prominent trait that many of the characters in the play come to possess. These characters go through a multitude of troubles throughout the play that makes this madness justifiable. This madness plays an immense role in the outcome of the play and events throughout it. Hamlet and Ophelia show this trait of madness in their actions throughout the play which ultimately have a detrimental effect on themselves and other characters in the play.

Ophelia may perhaps be one of the most classic examples of naivety and innocence within Shakespearean literature. Her short and tragic life was consumed by the governance and regulation from the men closest to her. This truth remains the reality of many women present in Shakespeare’s plays, including Queen Gertrude. These women merely serve as vessels for forthcoming events.