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Ophelia

I absolutely adore Ophelia in “Hamlet”. There are so many interpretations of her and her actions that she can be spun many different ways, and it is often argued whether she’s a strong, tragic heroine, or a weak plaything. Shakespeare often wrote fairly progressive women for his time, However, Ophelia, is often criticized for not being able to think for herself and her eventual decline into madness. This criticism is so intense that there’s even a condition named after her called the Ophelia Syndrome, where a person relies upon another’s thoughts and opinions to form their own action. Despite this, I believe Ophelia to generally be ambiguous and open to interpretation for the reader or director. One can argue that she truly is a strong character full of depth, and that her romance with Hamlet was real. As I said, it is said that Ophelia displays lack of thinking for herself. Twice in the text, she says that she does not know what to think. While one may take Ophelia’s lines as a display of her ignorance, the rest of the conversation displays Ophelia’s intelligence and cleverness. Ophelia’s intellect is first displayed when she thanks Laertes for his warning her about Hamlet but essentially tells him to worry about himself, clearly showing her ability to think for herself. She further displays her discretion when Polonius asks what she was talking about with Laertes, and Ophelia simply mentions it is something about Hamlet. Despite the length and detail of the conversation Ophelia just had with Laertes, Ophelia decides not to give any details to her father and when she does, she is extremely vague. While Polonius’s lines are long, Ophelia’s are only a line or two showing her ability to keep her thoughts to herself. Furthermore, she tells her father that she doesn’t know what to think, after he clearly degrades her. In his previous lines to her, Polonius calls her a “green girl unsifted” and asks, “Do you believe his ‘tenders,’ as you call them?”. Her response avoids his question, which is wrought with self-righteousness and sarcasm. Since her father obviously disapproves of her behavior, she stays quiet and withholds her thoughts and information from him. I think this is rather smart on her part since Polonius is kind of a dick of a father. Even Ophelia’s madness further acknowledges her depth and sensitivity. She’s obviously a person that feels quite deeply. I think at that point she’s been used and degraded so badly by the men who are supposed to love and protect her that she simply can’t handle it anymore. The fact that she even knows she’s been manipulated displays that she isn’t a fool and perceives what has happened. Though I see the reason that many believe Ophelia to be weak and dependent on the actions of other, I truly like to believe that her character is so much more than that, and you’ll probably get at least a few more blog posts about Ophelia

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