Why Is Ophelia Important In Hamlet

The first thing Offred finally works the nerve up to steal is a daffodil from one of Serena Joy's arrangements. Even Jezebel's, where the Commander takes the Offred, is decorated with flowers. Flowers are also used to disguise things that are ugly or terrifying; the narrator compares the bloody mouth of a hanged man, for example, to the red tulips in Serena Joy's garden. Flowers are often considered symbols of beauty or fertility. In The Handmaid's Tale, they're given special attention as objects that can bloom and grow at a time when few women can. From a technical standpoint, flowers are also the part of a plant that holds the reproductive organs. They're constant reminders of the fertility that most women lack. It seems the older Wives are seeking to hang onto their attractiveness and fertility by decorating themselves with flowers and tending gardens: "Many of the Wives have such gardens, it's something for them to order and maintain and care for" (12). Serena Joy takes a bizarre pleasure in mutilating flowers. Perhaps these are attacks Serena Joy would like to make on the Handmaid, who can be seen as a flower living in her

She hands out a multitude of different flowers to her brother Laertes, the King Claudius, Queen Gertrude and keeps two for her self. These flowers all represent different meanings, which Debra Mancoff, scholar and author of Victorian Studieshelps uncover. “Ophelia 's offered meanings - rosemary for remembrance, pansies for thought - by matching the other flowers she mentions with traditional symbols: fennel for memory, columbine for folly, rue for mortality, the daisy for her innocence, and the withered violets for her modesty now transformed to shame” (Mancoff). Based on Mancoff’s meaning for each of the flowers, it is clear what Ophelia is trying to portray. She gives her brother the rosemary and the pansies so he would remember and think of her after she drowns to death. Claudius receives the fennel and columbines. The fennel is for the king to remember his sin of killing his brother because Hamlet’s revenge near. Columbines represent folly and they were also given to Claudius because he is foolish for killing the king, marrying his widow and crowning himself king without having any repercussions. Gertrude receives the rue representing mortality, which foreshadows her own death due to drinking from the goblet containing poison meant to kill Claudius. Finally she keeps the daisy and withered violets for herself for she is an innocent, naive girl who is abashed for losing her father to the man who holds her heart.

Ophelia used flowers as a symbol of her deep sorrow and grief. Ophelia was very upset because Hamlet just killed her father, Polonius. She needed a way to express herself, and she did so by passing flowers out to the court in her seeming mad state of mind. Ophelia uses flowers in an indirect way to accuse the King and Queen of the guilt she wants them to feel. She chooses the flowers with the intent to say how she actually feels to the King and the Queen.

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 started acted insane when Hamlet frantically ran up to her, grabbed her arms and shook her because he had seen the ghost of King Hamlet. “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. Long stayed he so. At last, a little shaking of mine arm, And thrice his head thus waving up and down,  He raised a sigh so piteous and profound As it did seem to

In William Shakespeare’s, “Hamlet”, Hamlet’s love interest and Polonius’ daughter, Ophelia, died a passive and sudden death. While hanging wreaths from a willow tree, Ophelia fell from the tree and drowned in a brook. Although her death was claimed to be accidental, it is unknown if she committed suicide because she made no attempt to save herself. Her death represents the life she lived and the relationships she had with other people like her father and Hamlet. Ophelia’s death symbolizes her life with being controlled by her father, her honor and privilege of being buried in sacred ground, and the sudden termination of the relationship she had with Hamlet.

Ophelia can be portrayed as having little power, which is evident in her obedience to her father in 1.3. However, Ophelia's final act is of defiance in her use of flowers to mark the bad qualities of other characters. The symbolism of the flowers is a very feminine way to express that the corruption of Denmark is disguised, much like how the pretty flowers represent something deeper. Ophelia dies a tragic death, but it is unclear whether or not it was suicide, but Shakespeare's imagery depicts her death in a frail beauty, much like the flowers earlier in the act represent qualities such as innocence are

Ophelia sings, “There’s rue for you and here’s some for me,” (4.5.180-181). There are two meaning for the rue flower. One meaning is repentance and the other is sorrow. Ophelia calls it the, ‘herb-grace o’Sundays,’ referring to its connection with the church and penance. But rue, as Shakespeare’s audience would have known, is also known to have abortive qualities. In Shakespeare’s era, rue meant abortion, and abortion meant adultery. Ophelia tells Gertrude to ‘wear your rue with a difference’, indicating that she meant for the rue to represent regret and adultery rather than as the herb of sorrowful grace. She thinks that Gertrude must ask for forgiveness for her crime of incestuous marriage. Ophelia also keeps some rue for herself. This could be for her regret and grief for her father and Hamlet however, because rue symbolizes also remembrance and protection, this may mean that Ophelia wanted protection from

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.

The character Ophelia is a young attractive woman. Hamlet finds her extremely beautiful with an innocence that keeps him wanting her. Ophelia sees the relationship as young love while Hamlet sees the relationship as a physical lust. Polonius, her father and Laertes her brother, do not agree with the relationship of Hamlet and Ophelia, shown early on in the play in act 1 scene 3 Laertes says, “Perhaps he loves you now, And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch The virtue of his will, but you must fear.” She fell in love

The next herb that Ophelia distributes is fennel. While she doesn't say what this is for, in the version of Hamlet edited by Mowat and Westine, a side note adds that, "fennel symbolized flattery and deceit" (216). I believe she distributed the fennel to Claudius. Ophelia has now been deceived by Hamlet, abandoned by her father's death, and left with controlling Laertes. Needless to say, Ophelia is probably really wary of males at this point in her life.

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.

All throughout literature and poetry the use of flowers as well as references to gardens have been common for thousands of years. These flowers are so intricately used within the writings that they tend to develop their own form of communication or language. This language that the flowers have begun to establish can be referred to as floriography which can simply be defined as communication through a variety of flowers. William Shakespeare's Hamlet, is a perfect example of the immense amount of flowers that have been used by characters to indirectly communicate their thoughts. In Hamlet, Shakespeare grasped the idea of floriography, and used it to his advantage by creating a strong motif that is centered around flowers as well as  the garden. This motif can be followed throughout the play, as it is used to develop a large amount of characterization. For Shakespeare, many ideas or thoughts couldn’t be directly said character to character, instead they were indirectly addressed through the flowers and garden. This  characterization and unique communication that is established through the garden and flowers is a very crucial aspect of the characters within the play. Shakespeare uses the garden and flower motif throughout Hamlet to contribute to the characterization of Hamlet and Ophelia.

"Her whole character is that of simple unselfish affection" (Bradley). In comparing the characters in the play Hamlet, Ophelia’s purity and delicate beauty make her comparable to a flower. Ophelia signifies the nature and righteousness of the Elizabethan Era, with her willow trees and flowers visible, and epitome of a goddess. Throughout most of the play, Shakespeare uses Ophelia to enable other characters in reaching their goals. Elizabethan society created impossible expectations for women, considered to be the weaker sex, exploited, and in need of protection. With no exception to this expectation, Ophelia is mistreated, scorned and ultimately shamed by the men in her life. Ophelia is the most innocent victim of Hamlet’s revenge in Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”.

Ophelia's affection for her brother is shown in two or three delicate strokes. Her love for her father is deep, though mingled with fear. For Hamlet she has, some say, no deep love - and perhaps she is so near childhood that old affections have still the strongest hold; but certainly she has given to Hamlet all the love which her nature is yet capable. Beyond these three beloved ones she seems to have eyes and ears for no one. Her existence is wrapped up in these three.