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About Join|Codes|Worshipers|Etc.|X About Ophelia: Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius who is a chief advisor to the new King Claudius. She is the sister of Polonius's other child, Laertes. She is extremely loyal to her family. She lacks a mother, and the subject is not touched upon in the play. Ophelia is generally agreed to be somewhere from 16-19 years of age, I lean towards the younger end of that scale, and think of Ophelia as 16 or 17. Some art depicts Ophelia as younger or older, but most others agree that she is an older teenager. The Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, has been courting her. The subject of whether or not Hamlet and Ophelia are in love has come up, but I believe (and am mostly backed up on this), that they were. It's not really in question, at least, that Ophelia did love Hamlet. Hamlet's love for her is only questionable because of his later behavior, but I believe that his outburts are almost more proof of his love for her - he is so upset at the suspicion that the girl he loves is agianst him, or spying on him, he becomes outraged and starts to lump her with his mother, whom he's already extremely angered with. Speaking of Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, many have drawn likenesses between Gertrude and Ophelia. Both are followers, easily led by the men they love, both are loyal to their families but now torn, both are sensual, confused and bothered by this whole affair. However, Ophelia is a lot more young, innocent and naive than Gertrude and is much more of a victim, because unlike Gertrude she is really completely free from purposeful wrongdoing throughout the play. Any harm she does cause is completely un-intentional and staged by her father and the king without her knowledge. Gertrude, on the other hand, is "in" on her part. Ophelia's personality and emotions are very much like a teenage girls - emotional, thoughtful, sensitive and finally, she goes mad. Why does Ophelia go mad? Imagine that you are a girl who has always been close to your family, but you are now in love with an older man who returned your affections - Hamlet. Your father (who is actually a big jerk) tells you that you can not see your love any longer (mostly because you might lose your virginity to him). You agree out of love for your father, and turn Hamlet away. Then one day he comes to you, holds you by the wrists and stares at your face, long and hard, before stomping out, leaving you a sobbing mess. Your father declares he's gone mad out of desire for you and stomps off to tell the king. Next thing you know, you're being told to talk to Hamlet, been convinced that if your love is what made him mad, your love might make him sane agian. So you try to speak with him and you're rejected coldly, and he screams "get thee to a nunnery!" (perhaps warning you agianst men, or perhaps using the slang for nunnery which meant a whorehouse). He faces you one last time to ask you where your father is (he's spying on the scene and you know it) and you, faced with the horrible choice, lie and say he's at home. Hamlet gives up on you (he actually knows or suspects about your father), enraged. The next time you see him, he sits beneath you and basically cracks nasty jokes about you for awhile. After all of this, you hear that Hamlet has killed your father. Your dearly beloved dad has been stabbed by the one you love. No wonder Ophelia goes crazy. The character of Ophelia can be interepreted many ways -- she can be interpreted as purely innocent, died because the ones she loved were gone -- a sad, pathetic little girl, basically. Or some believe that she was a highly intelligent, sexually experienced, but somewhat confused & naive (until the end) young woman who is actually a stronger character than Hamlet because she DOES what he only TALKS about (suicide, going mad). The Story of "Hamlet": The King of Denmark, Old Hamlet, has recently died and his brother, Claudius, has married his widow, Gertrude, and been elected King. Prince Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father who describes how he was secretly murdered by Claudius and swears him to remember and revenge. To escape suspicion, Hamlet feigns madness, which the elder statesman, Polonius, believes to be caused by love for his daughter, Ophelia, whom the Prince had previously courted but now cruelly discards. Hamlet's chance to verify the Ghost's story comes when a group of players arrives at court and he has them play a scene similar to his father's murder before his uncle, who stops the play and hurries out, deeply disturbed. Summoned to his mother's chamber to be scolded, Hamlet hears someone spying on them and instantly draws his sword and stabs through the curtain, killing Polonius. Hamlet is arrested and agrees to be sent to England, not knowing that his companions carry his death warrant. While Hamlet is away, Ophelia goes mad and her brother Laertes, who has returned demanding revenge for his father's death, is shocked first by her madness and then by her death, reportedly by drowning. When letters arrive from Hamlet announcing his return, Claudius persuades Laertes to kill Hamlet in an arranged fencing match using a sharp, envenomed foil while Claudius prepares a poisoned goblet, as a fallback. Hamlet returns during Ophelia's funeral and after wrestling with Laertes in her grave, accepts the challenge. The king's plot back-fires when Hamlet, though fatally wounded, turns the poisoned sword on Laertes, and, after his mother dies in agony from drinking the poisoned cup, he kills Claudius. Finally Hamlet also dies. To find out more about the play "Hamlet", click here. Credits: The "About Ophelia" text was taken from Ophelia. The "The Story of 'Hamlet'" text was taken from Hamlet. |
