Ophelia is very much an emblematic character, very similar to Lavinia in Titus Andronicus. Here Ophelia represents the "flower" in the garden of Denmark. She is directly subject to the stewards of the land that control her. These are in order of importance, Polonius, Laertes, Hamlet and Claudius. Her rational mind is supplied by these men in the play. First Laertes instructs her how to think about Hamlet. In her only real display of authority she likewise instructs her brother in return. But notice that she is simply parroting back to Laertes what he told her. Then note her parting words to her brother: "Tis in my memory lock'd/ And you yourself shall keep the key of it." Laertes controls her rational mind. We'll come back to this at the end.
Next, Polonius steps in on the 'Hamlet' issue and reinforces what Laertes said. He asks her if she believes "his tenders." Her answer is telling. "I do not know... what I should think." Add to this Hamlet's instability which affects Ophelia as well.
Now fast forward to Act 4 Scene 5. Polonius is dead and with his death a sizable portion of her rationality is gone. Claudius summarizes the condition of the garden (and Ophelia):
O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springsAll from her father's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,When sorrows come, they come not single spiesBut in battalions. First, her father slain;Next, your son gone; and he most violent authorOf his own just remove; the people muddied,Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers,For good Polonius' death; and we have done but greenly,In hugger-mugger to inter him...
Claudius then concludes, "...poor Ophelia/ Divided from herself and her fair judgment." What rationality she has left is tied to her brother who has just "in secret come from France."
Now turning to Act 4 Scene 7. Two things are happening at the same time. One, mimetic; we see Claudius in the process of corrupting the noble youth Laertes, i.e., taking control of his rational mind. The other diegetic or narrative, occurs off stage and will be conveyed to us by Gertrude after Claudius has seduced Laertes into his evil plan. Ophelia dies, completely free of any awareness of her own distress. What kills her? bad stewardship? Laertes tells us. "Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia."
Ophelia is essentially a pure and virtuous character who is driven insane by the conflicting demands of her father and brother on one hand and her former boyfriend, Hamlet, on the other. She changes from a state of innocence to one of disillusionment and despair as the play goes on.
At the beginning of the play, Laertes, her brother, tells Ophelia that Hamlet is not serious about her. He says, "For Hamlet and the trifling of his favor, / Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, / A violet in the youth of primy nature" (I.3.5-7). In other words, Laertes informs Ophelia that Hamlet's attentions are fleeting, and that they will pass because he is changeable young man. Later, her father, Polonius, tells her, "You do not understand yourself so clearly / As it behooves my daughter and your honor" (I.3.97-98). He accuses her of not acting with the modesty she should, but Ophelia is ultimately an honest and honorable person. While the people around her accuse her, she acts with rectitude and obedience.
In Act III, Scene 1, she obeys Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, and her father when they ask her to spy on Hamlet. Polonius even tells her, "Read on this book / That show of such an exercise may color / Your loneliness.—" (I.3.46-49). He asks his daughter to read from a prayer book when she is trying to deceive Hamlet, an act of hypocrisy, so that she seems innocent when Hamlet comes by. She obediently responds. During the conversation that follows, Hamlet tells her, "Get thee to a nunnery. / Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?" (I.3.23-24). He says that she should become a nun so that she won't give birth to more sinners like herself. Ophelia responds to Hamlet's hurtful words only by asking God to help him (line 135).
Throughout all of these manipulations by her father, brother, and former boyfriend, Ophelia doesn't change. She only says, "O, how miserable I am to see Hamlet now and know what he was before!" (I.3.161-162). Her essential good nature is intact.
However, by Act IV she is carried away by grief over how the men around her treat her and becomes mad. In some senses, she also seems to be more aware of the way men mistreat her. She is less innocent and more knowing, even as she is insane. She sings in verse (which, as it isn't in iambic pentameter, marks her as insane): "He is dead and gone, lady, /He is dead and gone. / At his head is a patch of green grass, / And at his feet there is a tomb stone." (IV.5.26-29). This verse signifies that she has become obsessed with death and is depressed and deranged after her father's death. When Claudius asks her how she is doing, she answers, "Well, God'ield you," which means may you get what you deserve. She then sings a song about a young man tricking a young woman into sleeping with him and then not marrying her (lines 40-50).
She has changed because she is now more aware of the way in which men mistreat women. Later, she drowns, and she seems to have done nothing to save herself. As Gertrude says, Ophelia is "As one incapable of her own distress" (IV.7.175). In other words, Ophelia shows no sign of saving herself, as she is resigned to the evil in the world but has decided she wants to pass on to another world so she doesn't have to deal with it.
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