Ophelia Gertrude Quotes

In the beginning of the play, Ophelia was like any other obedient young woman during the time. In Understanding Hamlet, Richard Corum shows that Ophelia is obedient. He writes, "Though Hamlet has been courting her, Ophelia willingly obeys her father when he tells her to discourage the prince's advances" (Corum 26). Ophelia obeys her father's demands because it was expected during that time of women to comply with men's wishes. In Hamlet, Ophelia disregards her own feelings towards Hamlet. Ophelia does as she is told:

Another time Ophelia was important in Hamlet's life was after not seeing Ophelia for a while Hamlet stumbles upon a grave site being dug in the middle of the woods, but at the time he doesn’t know who for. When Hamlet find out that Ophelia is the one that is being put to rest he starts to go crazy again. He says “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers, if you added all their love together, couldn’t match mine. What are you going to do for her?” ( V, I, pg.12. lines 247-249). Hamlet is basically trying to say that even if they don’t believe him he really did love Ophelia. Gertrude responded by saying, “This is pure insanity. He’ll be like this for a little while” (V, I, pg. 12 lines 247-249). When Gertrude says this she basically means that he has gone crazy before that this is normal he will calm down soon. Therefor Ophelia played a huge role in Hamlet’s life without necessarily being there all of the time.

It is quite obvious that both Gertrude and Ophelia are both motivated by love and a desire for quiet familial harmony among the members of their society in Elsinore. Out of love for her son does Gertrude advise:

[Done in] England” (4.3.66). Gertrude with no control over his decisions agrees to everything Claudius suggests about Hamlet’s exile. Gertrude trusts Claudius which allows him to control her in the actions and decisions he makes. The lack of lines Gertrude has throughout the play proves her trust for Claudius proving that she has nothing against what he decides. Similarly, Ophelia is controlled by Polonius, her father. Polonius controls Ophelia due to immaturity and her ignorance of her relationship with Hamlet. “Affection? pooh! you speak like a green girl, / Unsifted in such perilous circumstance, / Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?” (1.3.101-103). Not only Polonius but Laertes, her brother, constantly advise her to avoid Hamlet because he is just counterfeiting love and his intention is to hurt Ophelia:

She is casted as a very Intense, profound character because of her situations whose voice goes unheard and actions are controlled by her father Polonius and Hamlet. In Scene 7 act 4, Gertrude informs Claudius and Laertes that Ophelia drowned in a brook. Prior to this, Ophelia is described as a “sister driven to desperate terms” you can say that she is playing the stereotypical role of the damsel in distress. Ophelia genuinely needs Hamlet to love her. She is embedded the idea from her own tretury that without him she can't survive. We see that Ophelia becomes an emotional mess when Hamlet tells her he doesn’t love her. Her submissive, reliance on men tells us that she is weak without support, but she will obey what her father says She acts as a puppet for the people who are dominant to her. They control her and mold her to what they want her to do and be. It’s really interesting how uncaring and unsupportive Polonius is towards her. Even to her own blood, she is treated with the utter most disrespect. This clearly tells the audience how women were portrayed in the Elizabethan era.

Ophelia is a very interesting and confused character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. She has so many moments where she is hanging onto her sanity by a thread, and one small thing could set her off. Ophelia illustrates character traits leading to her tragic downfall, including innocence, ignorance, and distraught actions.

"If we could sniff or swallow something that would, for five or six hours each day, abolish our solitude as individuals, atone us with our fellows in a glowing exaltation of affection and make life in all its aspects seem not only worth living, but divinely beautiful and significant, and if this heavenly, world-transfiguring drug were of such a kind that we could wake up next morning with a clear head and an undamaged constitution - then, it seems to me, all our problems (and not merely the one small problem of discovering a novel pleasure) would be wholly solved and earth would become paradise."

This is shown when Gertrude is blindly obeys her husband by listening to his commands and orders. For example, Gertrude listens to him when Claudius brings in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on her son, when Polonius and Claudius tries to spy on Hamlet and Ophelia and lastly obeying Hamlet’s insults at her. Ophelia is also another important character in the play who is portrayed as an obedient female character in the play and this can be seen when Ophelia obeys all the men in her lives such as Polonius, Laertes and Hamlet. For example, Ophelia stays away from Hamlet since her father and brother, Laertes advised her not to, listens to her father’s commands by letting him spying on Hamlet and she obeys Hamlet even though he treats her

Ophelia, on the other hand, is quite a bit different than Gertrude, and her relative foil in the play. At times, Ophelia’s madness is misunderstood as being sexually fixated, which is incorrect if this is the only portion of her madness that is being examined. In order to truly understand Ophelia’s madness, the reader must understand fully the references Ophelia is making, and the connection between the sexuality and religion of the times. In the 1400s, sexuality was inextricably linked to religion – within the confines of

In another scene, Polonius orders Ophelia to return the gifts that Hamlet gave her, and to make her rejection of him unmistakable and absolute. Polonius believes that if she is the cause of Hamlet’s madness, this would be the proof. “That Hamlet loses his mental stability is arguable from his behavior toward Ophelia…” (Foster, par.16) In Branagh’s version, we see how terribly this tears Ophelia’s heart. When Hamlet sees her, he walks up to her, telling her how much he loves her. After Hamlet kisses her, she returns the love letters that he wrote back to him. She sees how crushed he is, which makes her feel even worse; but she also believes she has to do this because her father ordered her to. Hamlet tells her “Get thee to a nunnery” (William

Ophelia is represented in Hamlet as quite the opposite to Gertrude. She is easily led, and takes instruction from her brother and from her father. This could perhaps be due to her being of tender age. Gertrude must surely be a generation older than Ophelia. Ophelia's

Gertrude and Ophelia, why does Hamlet treat them differently? Gertrude is treated differently because of her being unfaithful to Hamlet’s father soon after his death. He treats Ophelia differently because he is in love with her, but he doesn’t know how to show it. Hamlet has done a lot of things during the course of the story which makes him an interesting person to write about. Hamlet does not like his uncle marrying his mother and he has a hard time showing his love for Ophelia, so he treats them in different ways based upon their actions.

Ophelia’s father, Polonius, wishes to keep his family’s honor in tact, and fears that Ophelia’s open regard for Hamlet will diminish his honor. Both Polonius and Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, believe that Ophelia’s preference for Hamlet will only end in disgrace for their family, as Hamlet would never marry her due to her lower social standing, therefore, they counsel her to break off any understanding with Hamlet. As a woman, Ophelia realizes her duty to her father and her brother, and therefore decides to disregard her own feelings about Hamlet and do as her father and brother wish.

Yet to Hamlet, Ophelia is no better than another Gertrude: both are tender of heart but submissive to the will of importunate men, and so are forced into uncharacteristic vices. Both would be other than what they are, and both receive Hamlet’s exhortations

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,