How does Shakespeare present Ophelia Essay

In 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 opposite rooks the women are presented as strong and admirable people who play major roles in the live of the protagonist, such as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. In Hamlet, however, Ophelia becomes a in truth different role-she is conveyed as a lesser to the men around her. She is continually manipulated by her father, Polonius, her br opposite, 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 staminate character, but is instead shown in a more traditional mere pawn for their fathers, br other(a)s and lovers. Ophelias relationship with her father is less then the traditional intimate one expected. Instead it shows a chastenling man, obsess with what others think, and a daughter respectful of her fathers wises. Polonius becomes convinced that Ophelias 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 run into any understanding between herself and Hamlet. Shakespeare uses these characters and their interaction to present a more traditional view of how a fair sex should act toward the men in their lives during this time period. I personally do not substantiate 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 teensy-weensy compassion between the two, but apparent respect on Ophelias behalf.Her brother too becomes exercise against her love for Hamlet, believing that she will ruin herself for Hamlet, yet he will never actually link 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 enkindle see clearly that he believes her continuous open regard for Hamlet will reduce their familys nobility. He too adds to the compel put on her to distance herself from Hamlet. Hamlets strategic plans towards Ophelia are probably the close 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 k in a flashledge of his relationship with Ophelia to get deeper involved in his plot to penalize 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 rabidness in both Ophelia s eyes and in Polonius and Claudius as Hamlet is aware they are reflection this encounter between the two ex-lovers.He appears troubled and hysterical as he denies giving her anything and laments the fraud of beauty. Confusingly, he claims to both have loved, and never loved her. As he leaves she mourns the 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 honest-to-goodness 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 put in in the situation for her own feel ings. Hamlet is the least idealistic of Shakespeares 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 arent controlled by the men around them.Ophelia is presented in a more traditional powder-puff 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 potty 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.