Hamlet
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Who is Ophelia in Hamlet?
Why is Ophelia a tragic end in Hamlet?
Why does Polonius use Ophelia in Hamlet?
How does Ophelia reveal her choice in Hamlet?
Ophelia (/ oʊ ˈ f iː l i ə /) is a character in William Shakespeare's drama Hamlet (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends up in a state of madness that ultimately leads to her drowning.
She is a daughter, sister, lover and a member of the royal court’s entourage. In each of those roles she is either exploited or abused or both, and under that irresistible pressure, she descends into mental illness. She loses her reason and appears at court babbling and behaving incoherently.
At the start of the play, Ophelia—who has been in a relationship of undetermined seriousness with Hamlet for an unspecified amount of time—is used as a pawn in her father Polonius’s attempt to help Claudius and Gertrude ascertain the source of Hamlet’s madness.
Ophelia is used by two men in the play – her father and Hamlet – as a pawn for them to enact their deceptions. Polonius uses Ophelia to try to determine what the cause of Hamlet’s madness is (although Polonius, arrogantly, already assumes he knows that Hamlet is ‘mad for [her] love’).
Ophelia is Polonius’s daughter, Laertes’s sister, and Hamlet’s former love-interest. Throughout the play, Ophelia is described as sweet and chaste, the ideal daughter who obeys her father’s...
Jul 5, 2024 · What is Ophelia's role in Hamlet? Ophelia is Laerte's sister, Polonius' daughter, and Hamlet's love interest.
Of all the pivotal characters in Hamlet, Ophelia is the most static and one-dimensional. She has the potential to become a tragic heroine -- to overcome the adversities inflicted upon her -- but she instead crumbles into insanity, becoming merely tragic .
