Ophelia: The Forgotten Character
Ophelia is Polonius' daughter. According to M.M. Reese (108), her name is generally thought to be derived from the Greek word apheleia, meaning "innocence." This is certainly a good description of her outlook on life, every bit as ingenuous as her brother's. It may not, however, apply to her sexual activity: The intensity of her feeling for Hamlet suggests that something more than a flirtation has gone on between them, and as Evans Smith points out, the lewd "St. Valentine's Day" song that she sings in her madness must have been learned somewhere, though its words should not be taken as literally describing the state of their relations (Smith 138). Northorp Frye writes that some ...
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state he is in, and it is possible that she thinks his condition has indeed been caused by her following her father's instructions and refusing to see him. In the conflict between her love for Hamlet and her duty of obedience to her father's orders, she grants to Polonius' wishes. Hamlet, however, is less obedient to the orders of the ghost, his father.
In essence, "pretty Ophelia," as Claudius calls her, is the most innocent victim of Hamlet's revenge. Attracted by her sweet beauty after the depressing event of his father's death, Hamlet had fallen in love with her. She had "sucked the honey of his music vows" and returned his affection. But when her father had challenged the honor of Hamlet's intentions, Ophelia could only reply: "I do not know, my lord, what I should think." Used to relying upon her father's direction and brought up to be obedient, she can only accept her father's belief, seconded by that of her brother, that Hamlet's "holy vows" of love were simply ...
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of her own to understand how she has made her lover suffer. As she could not believe that her father's orders were wrong, no matter how much it pained her not to see Hamlet, so all she can see in his present behavior is the madness of which the whole court is talking about. Though her father admits that he had made a mistake in questioning the depth of Hamlet's love, she still does not dare to question his authority as he takes her love letters to the King and then orders her to meet Hamlet at a place where he and the King can observe their meeting. Her hopes for this meeting are raised, however, by the Queen's kind statement to her that she hopes Ophelia will prove to be the cause of ...
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"Ophelia: The Forgotten Character." Essayworld.com. December 10, 2006. Accessed April 16, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ophelia-The-Forgotten-Character/56877.
"Ophelia: The Forgotten Character." Essayworld.com. December 10, 2006. Accessed April 16, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ophelia-The-Forgotten-Character/56877.
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