Essay on Ophelia - The Innocent Victim in Shakespeares Hamlet

Ophelia - The Innocent Victim in Shakespeares Hamlet Poor Ophelia, she incapacitated her lover, her father, her mind, and, posthumously, her brother. Ophelia is the only truly innocent dupe in Hamlet. This es regularize leave alone examine Ophelias downward spiral from a chaste maiden to awkward wreck. From the beginning of the play, in Act I Scene iii, Laertes and Polonius are move to convince her that Hamlet does not love her and only is interested in her so he can sleep with her. Laertes says Perhaps he loves you now, ...... His splendour weighed, his will is not his own. He is telling Ophelia that she is likely to stool her embrace broken because of Hamlets high birth. He may not be sufficient to choose who he marries, so although he may love Ophelia, he can never marry her because of the difference in their social classes. This cannot have a easily effect on Ophelia, her brother telling her that the her affinity with the one she loves is doomed from the start Polon ius tells her Affection pooh You speak like a green girl, / Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. / Do you believe his tenders, as you call them? He means that although Lord Hamlet has been showing umteen signs of affection to Ophelia, it cannot be real. He is saying that Ophelia is blinded by Hamlets overtake and is inexperienced (Unsifted) in this sort of situation. He goes on later to say that these affections are merely ...springes to catch the woodcocks (traps to catch stupid little birds.) wherefore does Ophelias family find it necessary to bring down her spirits about her human relationship with Hamlet? Cant they let her figure it out for herself? This, in my opinion, is a good example of how Ophelia is victimized in this play. Later in the play, when Hamle... ... shows how Ophelia is the real victim in Hamlet. Everybody else who was killed in the play had done at least something disgust to warrant their deaths, but what did Ophelia do? Did Shakespeare intend for Op helia to be an innocent victim? Was it his way of adding to the feeling of loss or waste that one is hypothetic to have after seeing the play performed? I believe this to be true, but we may only speculate as to his reasons for doing this. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http//www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos. Showalter, Elaine. Representing Ophelia Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism. William Shakespeare Hamlet. Ed. Susanne L. Wofford. skid Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Boston St. Martins, 1994. 220-240.