How does Shakespeare present Ophelia Essay

In â€Å"Hamlet† Shakespeare presents Ophelia as a helpless girl, who is continually manipulated by the men around her for their own gain. In many of his other plays the women are presented as strong and admirable people who play major roles in the live of the protagonist, such as Lady Macbeth in â€Å"Macbeth. † In Hamlet, however, Ophelia becomes a very different role-she is conveyed as a lesser to the men around her. She is continually manipulated by her father, Polonius, her brother, Larertes and Hamlet, the supposed love of her life. Her sweet and innocent nature results in her becoming dependent on the man in her life to tell her how to behave. Hamlet shows a very different style in Shakespeare writing, no longer is the women controversially given respect by the male character, but is instead shown in a more traditional mere pawn for their fathers, brothers and lovers. Ophelia’s relationship with her father is less then the traditional intimate one expected. Instead it shows a controlling man, obsessed with what others think, and a daughter respectful of her fathers wises. Polonius becomes convinced that Ophelia’s relationship with Hamlet will result in the diminish of his families honour, and to him, the respect others have for his families reputation is very important. He thus begins to pressurise Ophelia into breaking off any understanding between herself and Hamlet. Shakespeare uses these characters and their interaction to present a more traditional view of how a woman should act toward the men in their lives during this time period. I personally do not see her as a week character, but instead see her as a women with no other choice than to respect and obey the man who has looked after her all her life. Their relationship is a cold one, with little compassion between the two, but apparent respect on Ophelia’s behalf. Her brother too becomes set against her love for Hamlet, believing that she will ruin herself for Hamlet, yet he will never actually marry her, due to her lower social standing. During the actual play, Larertes is the only man who conveys to her that he actually cares for her, but we can see clearly that he believes her continuous open regard for Hamlet will reduce their family’s nobility. He too adds to the pressure put on her to distance herself from Hamlet. Hamlets strategic plans towards Ophelia are probably the most conniving and vicious. He not only manipulates her constant love for him, but also toys with her emotions throughout, making her play exactly how he wants. He uses the courts knowledge of his relationship with Ophelia to get deeper involved in his plot to avenge his father and kill the king. He evolves Polonius’ theory that Hamlet is mad with love for Ophelia. When she returns Hamlets love letters and other tokens of his affections in act III scene I, Hamlet seizes this moment to cement the beginning of her descend into madness in both Ophelia’s eyes and in Polonius’ and Claudius’ as Hamlet is aware they are watching this encounter between the two ex-lovers. He appears troubled and hysterical as he denies giving her anything and laments the dishonesty of beauty. Confusingly, he claims to both have loved, and never loved her. As he leaves she mourns the â€Å"noble mind† that has now lapsed into apparent madness. Hamlet believes that by hearing this fight between Ophelia and himself, Polonius and Claudius will think he is now crazy and thus not fear him, making Claudius more vulnerable. Hamlet, Polonius and Larertes all put pressure on her to do what they want, they all use her to gain themselves and they all have little regard for her genuine love for Hamlet. Her heart begins to dictate over her head and as a result of being caught in the crossfire of all the men in her life; Ophelia goes crazy, unable to cope with the stress and contradiction. Finally, she kills herself finding no place in the situation for her own feelings. Hamlet is the least idealistic of Shakespeare’s plays, with women being presented in a more realistic view, rather than an idealistic outlook on society where women have more control over their lives and aren’t controlled by the men around them. Ophelia is presented in a more traditional feminine way, relying on men around her. This fits into Hamlet, and makes the play appear more legitimate, due to the emotion involved in the twisted love story. Still, I do not believe she is weak, but instead love struck and susceptible to manipulation by the men closely involved in her life. Many critics have argued that she is a dismal character, which no one can admire, but I see her as instead, a woman who is young, weak and naive to the world around her.