Why Is Hamlet A Loss Of Identity In Hamlet

     Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, is a complex play, filled with layers of meaning. These are often revealed through the madness of the characters and the theme of madness throughout the play. Although Hamlet and Ophelia are the only characters thought to be so afflicted, the reactions of other characters to this madness mirrors their own preoccupations.

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.

Ophelia is also put forth as a foil to Lord Hamlet. Before the events of the play unravel Ophelia, whom is the daughter of Polonius and sister of Laertes, gives us traits of Hamlet She reveals that he was a model courtier and scholar, “The glass of fashion and the mould of form, Th’ observed of all observers.” Ophelia also offers another dimension to the story, the love interest. They both love each other, even though it may seem that this love is not a legitimate one too many seeing as how Hamlet was going crazy. Or so it seemed, yet again she brings out information to us, that Hamlet was not nuts but just enraged.

The story of Hamlet is a morbid tale of tragedy, commitment, and manipulation; this is especially evident within the character of Ophelia. Throughout the play, Ophelia is torn between obeying and following the different commitments that she has to men in her life. She is constantly torn between the choice of obeying the decisions and wishes of her family or that of Hamlet. She is a constant subject of manipulation and brain washing from both her father and brother. Ophelia is not only subject to the torture of others using her for their intentions but she is also susceptible to abuse from Hamlet. Both her father and her brother believe that Hamlet is using her to achieve his own personal goals.

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.

In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare developed the story of prince Hamlet, and the murder of his father by the king's brother, Claudius. Hamlet reacted to this event with an internal battle that harmed everyone around him. Ophelia was the character most greatly impacted by Hamlet's feigned and real madness - she first lost her father, her sanity, and then her life. Ophelia, obedient, weak-willed, and no feminist role model, deserves the most pity of any character in the play.

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia is the most static character in the play. Instead of changing through the course of the play, she remains suffering in the misfortunes perpetrated upon her. She falls into insanity and dies a tragic death. Ophelia has issues surviving without a male influence, and her downfall is when all the men in her life abandon her. Hamlet’s Ophelia, is a tragic, insane character that cannot exist on her own.

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, a kind of madness ultimately infects everyone, leading to an ending in which almost every major character is dead. Two of these maddened characters are Hamlet and Ophelia, who also share a love for each other. But though their irrational behavior is often similar and their fates alike, one is truly mad while the other is not.

The character of Ophelia is an excellent element of drama used to develop interpretations of Shakespeare’s text. At the beginning of the play, she is happy and in love with Hamlet, who first notices her beauty and then falls in love with her. The development of Ophelia’s madness and the many factors that contributed to her suicide are significant parts of the plot. “Her madness was attributed to the extremity of her emotions, which in such a frail person led to melancholy and eventual breakdown” (Teker, par. 3). The character of Ophelia in Zieffirelli’s version is the personification of a young innocent girl. “Her innocence is mixed with intelligence, keen perception, and erotic awareness” (Teker, par. 13). This Ophelia is a victim

Ophelia experiences alienation throughout Hamlet, although she ends her life with suicide, unlike Hamlet. The queen places blame on Ophelia for Hamlet's madness and states: "...for your part, Ophelia, I do wish that your good beauties be the happy cause for Hamlet's madness..." (Shakespeare 140). The queen lightens her feelings of guilt for the murder and places the guilt upon Ophelia. Gertrude, the queen, knows that she has committed something wrong with the plot of killing Old Hamlet and therefore finds an outlet through Ophelia. Also, to try to discover Hamlet's cause of insanity, Claudius and Polonius use Ophelia to get closer to him and find out that perhaps they could conclude that his

Likening himself to a sinner, Hamlet tells this to Ophelia to further prove his warning of becoming a sin-breeder. After lying to her about his true love, Hamlet is able to force Ophelia in the only option to take is to head to a nunnery. Hamlet not only silences Ophelia’s voice, but also informs the idea that Ophelia can only be defined in terms of how Hamlet see her. As a result of this metaphorical silencing, Ophelia is able to understand her role in Denmark only in terms of the instructions provided to her by the men in her life. Since she is typically regarded as melancholic or mad throughout the play by the men that dictate her life, Ophelia’s representation is often consumed by her madness and insanity.

     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.

Never being able to speak her true thoughts, Ophelia’s “perfection” turns her into someone who never defends herself. As seen later on in the play, these qualities lead to her death, which results in a deep influence on the most important characters in the play, especially Hamlet. Ophelia’s madness symbolizes her true feelings and reactions to every event that has affected her such as her father’s death, and her lover’s as well as brother’s abandonment. One of the most interesting things about the role of Ophelia is that her death is what deepens Laertes’ and Hamlet’s need for revenge. She is the common element that provides a reason for the several deaths that occur at the end of the play.

Ophelia was such an innocent character. She was young and naïve. Ophelia was faced with many dilemmas. She was in a relationship with Prince Hamlet, who was very distracted and eventually went mad himself. Ophelia’s madness started with an overbearing, over protective father. He controlled Ophelia and used her with out thinking of her feelings, “I must tell you, you do not understand yourself so clearly…What is

Midway through Hamlet, Ophelia is well under the control of Polonius and Hamlet. They are both manipulating and using her as a pawn as to get what they want and she has little to no say about it. Act 2, scene 1 serves as a turning point, as it is when Ophelia begins to realize the manipulation she faces at the hands of both her father and Hamlet, and that she can only truly gain her freedom when she herself descends into madness. Polonius’ manipulation, Hamlet’s control and Ophelia’s own thoughts and actions demonstrate her descent, and the aftermath.