Ophelia Character Analysis (Hamlet)

Significance/ Role

 Noblewomen of Denmark
 Daughter of Polonius
 Sister of Laertes
 Hamlet’s love

Character Traits and General Facts

 Ophelia demonstrates purity, the innocence and virtue of women

 She is childlike and naïve in nature
 She is unaware of the harsh realities of life
 Although she truly loves Hamlet, she is very loyal and obedient to her brother and
father and avoids Hamlet upon their orders
o “No, my good lord, but, as you did command, I did repel his letters, and denied
access to me” (II.2.107-109).
o She defends Hamlet and loves him, despite his brutality
o She is incapable of defending herself, and through her timid responses, it is
evident that she is suffering inside
 “I do not know, my lord, what I should think” (I. 3. 104).
 This quote describes how Polonius easily manipulates Ophelia and it is evident
that Polonius brings his daughter up under his control
 She is unable to cope with the unfolding of one traumatic event after another and
as a result she becomes insane after hearing about her father’s death and
eventually drowns

Her Relationship in Accordance With Other Characters

 Through Ophelia, we witness Hamlet’s evolution and de-evolution into a man that
has a firm belief that all women are ignorant and deceitful
o “I have heard of your paintings well enough; God hath given you one face, and
you make yourselves another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, you nickname
God’s creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance” (III. 1. 144-148).
o Polonius makes arrangements to use the alluring Ophelia to discover why Hamlet
is acting mad
 “Ophelia, walk you here. Gracious, so please you, we will bestow ourselves.
Read on this book, that show of such an exercise may colour your loneliness” (III.
1. 43-46).
 Hamlet causes all her emotional pain throughout the play
 Laertes and Polonius both warn Ophelia about Hamlet and forbid her to come
near his presence as they think he is just using her for his sexual pleasure
 Laertes and Polonius are both so ignorant of Ophelia’s true feelings towards
Hamlet
Hamlet

The son of Old Hamlet and Gertrude, thus Prince of Denmark. The ghost of Old
Hamlet charges him with the task of killing his uncle, Claudius, for killing him and
usurping the throne of Denmark. Hamlet is a moody, theatrical, witty, brilliant young
man, perpetually fascinated and tormented by doubts and introspection. It is
famously difficult to pin down his true thoughts and feelings -- does he love Ophelia,
and does he really intend to kill Claudius? In fact, it often seems as though Hamlet
pursues lines of thought and emotion merely for their experimental value, testing this
or that idea without any interest in applying his resolutions in the practical world. The
variety of his moods, from manic to somber, seems to cover much of the range of
human possibility.

Old Hamlet

The former King of Denmark. Old Hamlet appears as a ghost and exhorts his son to
kill Claudius, whom he claims has killed him in order to secure the throne and the
queen of Denmark. Hamlet fears (or at least says he fears) that the ghost is an
imposter, an evil spirit sent to lure him to hell. Old Hamlet's ghost reappears in Act
Three of the play when Hamlet goes too far in berating his mother. After this second
appearance, we hear and see no more of him.

Claudius

Old Hamlet's brother, Hamlet's uncle, and Gertrude's newlywed husband. He

murdered his brother in order to seize the throne and subsequently married
Gertrude, his erstwhile sister-in-law. Claudius appears to be a rather dull man who is
fond of the pleasures of the flesh, sex and drinking. Only as the play goes on do we
become certain that he is indeed guilty of murder and usurpation. Claudius is the
only character aside from Hamlet to have a soliloquy in the play. When he is
convinced that Hamlet has found him out, Claudius eventually schemes to have his
nephew-cum-son murdered.

Gertrude

Old Hamlet's widow and Claudius' wife. She seems unaware that Claudius killed her
former husband. Gertrude loves Hamlet tremendously, while Hamlet has very mixed
feelings about her for marrying the (in his eyes) inferior Claudius after her first
husband's death. Hamlet attributes this need for a husband to her lustiness.
Gertrude figures prominently in many of the major scenes in the play, including the
killing of Polonius and the death of Ophelia.

Horatio

Hamlet's closest friend. They know each other from the University of Wittenberg,
where they are both students. Horatio is presented as a studious, skeptical young
man, perhaps more serious and less ingenious than Hamlet but more than capable
of trading witticisms with his good friend. In a moving tribute just before the play-
within-the-play begins, in Act Two scene two, Hamlet praises Horatio as his soul's
choice and declares that he loves Horatio because he is "not passion's slave" but is
rather good-humored and philosophical through all of life's buffets. At the end of the
play, Hamlet charges Horatio with the task of explaining the pile of bodies to the
confused onlookers in court.

Polonius

The father of Ophelia and Laertes and the chief adviser to the throne of Denmark.
Polonius is a windy, pedantic, interfering, suspicious, silly old man, a "rash, intruding
fool," in Hamlet's phrase. Polonius is forever fomenting intrigue and hiding behind
tapestries to spy. He hatches the theory that Ophelia caused Hamlet to go mad by
rejecting him. Polonius' demise is fitting to his flaws. Hamlet accidentally kills the old
man while he eavesdrops behind an arras in Gertrude's bedroom. Polonius' death
causes his daughter to go mad.

Ophelia

The daughter of Polonius and sister of Laertes. Ophelia has received several
tributes of love from Hamlet but rejects him after her father orders her to do so. In
general, Ophelia is controlled by the men in her life, moved around like a pawn in
their scheme to discover Hamlet's distemper. Moreover, Ophelia is regularly mocked
by Hamlet and lectured by her father and brother about her sexuality. She goes mad
after Hamlet murders Polonius. She later drowns.

Laertes

Polonius' son and Ophelia's brother. Laertes is an impetuous young man who lives
primarily in Paris, France. We see him at the beginning of the play at the celebration
of Claudius and Gertrude's wedding. He then returns to Paris, only to return in Act
Four with an angry entourage after his father's death at Hamlet's hands. He and
Claudius conspire to kill Hamlet in the course of a duel between Laertes and the
prince.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Friends of Hamlet's from the University of Wittenberg. Claudius invites them to court
in order to spy on Hamlet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are often treated as comic
relief; they are sycophantic, vaguely absurd fellows. After Hamlet kills Polonius,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are assigned to accompany Hamlet to England. They
carry a letter from Claudius asking the English king to kill Hamlet upon his arrival.
Hamlet discovers this plot and alters the letter so that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
are put to death instead. We learn that they have indeed been executed at the very
close of the play.
Fortinbras

The Prince of Norway. In many ways his story is parallel to Hamlet's: he too has lost
his father by violence (Old Hamlet killed Old Fortinbras in single combat); he too is
impeded from ascending the throne by an interfering uncle. But despite their
biographical similarities, Fortinbras and Hamlet are constitutional opposites. Where
Hamlet is pensive and mercurial, Fortinbras is all action. He leads an army through
Denmark in order to attack disputed territory in Poland. At the end of the play, and
with Hamlet's dying assent, Fortinbras assumes the crown of Denmark.

Osric

The ludicrous, flowery, stupid courtier who invites Hamlet to fence with Laertes, then
serves as referee during the contest.

The gravediggers

Two "clowns" (roles played by comic actors), a principal gravedigger and his
assistant. They figure only in one scene -- Act Five scene one -- yet never fail to
make a big impression on readers and audience members. The primary gravedigger
is a very witty man, macabre and intelligent, who is the only character in the play
capable of trading barbs with Hamlet. They are the only speaking representatives of
the lower classes in the play and their perspective is a remarkable contrast to that of
the nobles.

The players

A group of (presumably English) actors who arrive in Denmark. Hamlet knows this
company well and listens, enraptured, while the chief player recites a long speech
about the death of Priam and the wrath of Hecuba. Hamlet uses the players to stage
an adaptation of "The Death of Gonzago" which he calls "The Mousetrap" -- a play
that reprises almost perfectly the account of Old Hamlet's death as told by the ghost
-- in order to be sure of Claudius' guilt.

A Priest

Charged with performing the rites at Ophelia's funeral. Because of the doubtful
circumstances of Ophelia's death, the priest refuses to do more than the bare
minimum as she is interred.

Reynaldo

Polonius' servant, sent to check on Laertes in Paris. He receives absurdly detailed

instructions in espionage from his master.

Bernardo

A soldier who is among the first to see the ghost of Old Hamlet.
Marcellus

A soldier who is among the first to see the ghost of Old Hamlet.

Francisco

A soldier.

Voltemand

A courtier.

Cornelius

A courtier.

A Captain

A captain in Fortinbras' army who speaks briefly with Hamlet.

Ambassadors

Ambassadors from England who arrive at the play's close to announce that
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.

Short Summary
Hamlet starts with soldiers changing the guard outside of Elsinore Castle in
Denmark. The new
guards have brought along a scholar named Horatio because they claim to have
seen a ghost. Horatio is
s
keptical of their story until the ghost actually appears. He then tries to speak to it, but
the ghost remains
silent until it stalks away.
Horatio tells the guards that the ghost was dressed the same way Old Hamlet (the
former King of
Denmark and Hamlet'
s father) was dressed when he defeated King Fortinbras of Norway. He further tells
them that young Fortinbras, the son, has gathered together an army to attack
Denmark. At this point the
ghost reappears and Horatio again begs it to speak to him. The ghost
seems about to say something but at
that moment a cock crows and the ghost vanishes. The guards and Horatio decide
to tell Hamlet what they
have seen.
King Claudius, who is Hamlet's uncle and who assumed the throne after Hamlet's
father died, is in
the c
astle. He has recently married Queen Gertrude, who is Hamlet's mother and the
widow to Old Hamlet.
Claudius is worried about the fact that young Fortinbras has raised an army against
Denmark, and so he
sends out messengers to the uncle of young Fortinbras
asking him to stop his nephew. Claudius then turns
to Laertes, the son of Polonius, and asks him why he requested an audience.
Laertes asks the king for
permission to return to France, which he is granted.
Claudius finally turns his attention to Hamlet,
who is standing in black robes of mourning for his
father. He tells Hamlet that it is unnatural for a man to mourn for such a long period
of time. Queen
Gertrude agrees, and asks Hamlet to wear normal clothes again. Both the king and
queen then beg Hamlet
to stay with them at the castle rather than return to his studies in Wittenberg. Hamlet
agrees to stay, and
both his mother and uncle rush out of the palace to celebrate their new wedding.
Horatio arrives with the guards and tells Hamlet that they have s
een his father's ghost. Hamlet is
extremely interested in this, and informs them that he will join them for the watch
that night.
Laertes is finishing his packing and is also giving his sister Ophelia some brotherly
advice before
he leaves. He warns her
to watch out for Hamlet whom he has seen wooing her. Laertes tells Ophelia to
ignore Hamlet's overtures towards her until he is made king, at which point if he still
wants to marry her
then she should consent. Polonius arrives and orders his son to hurry u
p and get to the ship. Polonius then
gives Laertes some fatherly advice, telling him to behave himself in France. Laertes
departs, leaving
Ophelia with Polonius. Polonius then turns to her and asks what has been going on
between her and
Hamlet. She tells h
im that Hamlet has professed his love to her, but Polonius only laughs and calls her
ignorant. He then orders her to avoid Hamlet and to not believe his protestations of
love. Ophelia promises
to obey her father.
Hamlet, Horatio and a guard meet outside
to see whether the ghost will appear. It soon arrives and
silently beckons Hamlet to follow it. Hamlet pushes away Horatio, who is trying to
hold him back, and runs
after the ghost. The guard tells Horatio that they had better follow Hamlet and make
sure h
e is alright.
The ghost finally stops and turns to Hamlet. He tells Hamlet that he is the ghost of
Old Hamlet,
who has come to tell his son the truth about how he died. He tells Hamlet that he
was sitting in the garden
one day, asleep in his chair, when
Claudius came up to him and poured poison into his ear. He was killed
immediately, and because he was not allowed to confess his sins, he is now
suffering in Purgatory. The
ghost of Old Hamlet then orders his son to seek revenge for this foul crime before
departing.
Hamlet is confused about whether to believe the ghost or not, but he makes Horatio
and the guard
swear to never reveal what they have seen. He decides that he will pretend to be
mad in order to fool
Claudius and Gertrude until he is able to kn
ow whether Claudius really killed his father or not.
Polonius sends his servant Reynaldo to France in order to spy on Laertes. He order
Reynaldo to
ask the other Danes what sort of reputation Laertes has in order to make sure his
son is behaving. Reynald
o
promises to do this and leaves for France. Ophelia enters looking extremely
frightened and informs her
father that Hamlet has gone mad. She tells him that Hamlet entered the room where
she was sewing and
took her wrist. After staring into her eyes for a
long while he walked out of the room without ever taking
his eyes off of her. Polonius concludes that Hamlet must have gone mad because
he ordered Ophelia to
reject Hamlet's affections.
Claudius and Gertrude have invited two friends of Hamlet to come and
spy on Hamlet. They are
aware that Hamlet is acting strangely and want the friends to figure out what the
problem is. Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern, eager to please King Claudius, agree to try and find out what is
wrong with Hamlet. They
leave, and Polonius
enters with news that the messengers are back from Norway. Claudius tells him to
bring the messengers in.
The messengers inform Claudius that after they arrived, the uncle of Fortinbras sent
his nephew a
summons. Young Fortinbras obeyed, and the uncle c
hastised him for attempting to attack Denmark.
Fortinbras apologized for his behavior and received an annual allowance from his
uncle as a token of
goodwill. Further, the uncle gave Fortinbras permission to attack Poland. Since
Fortinbras would have to
mar
ch through Denmark in order to reach Poland, the uncle sent Claudius a letter
asking for safe passage.
Claudius, overjoyed by this news, assents to give permission.
Polonius then tells him that he knows the reason for Hamlet's madness. He reads
Claudius
and
Gertrude one of the letters Hamlet sent to Ophelia in which Hamlet professes his
love for her. Claudius is
not entirely convinced, and so he and Polonius agree to set up a meeting between
Hamlet and Ophelia that
they will be able to spy on.
Hamlet en
ters the room and cuts their plotting short. Polonius asks the king and queen to
leave
him alone with their son, to which they assent. Polonius then tries to talk to Hamlet,
who, feigning
madness, calls him a fishmonger and asks him if he has a daughter. H
amlet continues to insult Polonius
until Polonius finally gives up in frustration.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive and Hamlet recognizes them. He greets them
warmly and
asks what brings them to Denmark. They only give an ambiguous answer, from
which
Hamlet infers that
Claudius asked them to come. Hamlet then reveals to them that he has been very
melancholic lately, and
gives that as the reason he has been acting mad. They try to cheer him up by telling
him some actors
arrived with them on their ship.
Hamlet is overjoyed to hear this news, and he immediately goes to find the
actors.
He succeeds in finding the players and asks them to perform a speech from Dido
and Aeneas for
him. One of them agrees and performs the part where Priam, the father of Aene
as, is killed. He then
continues with the part where Hecuba, Priam's wife, sees her husband being
murdered and lets out a cry
that rouses even the gods. Hamlet tells him it is enough when Polonius begs the
actor to stop. He then asks
the actors if they can
perform the murder of Gonzago as well some extra lines that he will write for them.
They agree and leave to rehearse their parts. Hamlet meanwhile has compared the
murder of Priam to his
own father's murder and has become outraged with Claudius, whom he h
opes to reveal as the murderer
through the play that he asked the actors to perform that night.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell Claudius and Gertrude that they really do not
know what the
matter with Hamlet is. They can only say that he seems distracte
d, but that the arrival of the actors made
him happier. Polonius then tells Claudius that Hamlet is putting on a play that night
and requested that they
attend. Claudius agrees to go.
Polonius hears Hamlet coming and he and Claudius quickly made Ophelia
stand in clear view
while they hide themselves. Hamlet enters and gives his "To be or not to be; that is
the question" (3.1.58)
speech. He stops when he sees Ophelia and goes over to speak with her. Hamlet
rudely tells her that he
never loved her and order
s her to go to a nunnery. After he leaves, Claudius tells Polonius that Hamlet does
not seem to be mad because of Ophelia, but Polonius still believes that she is the
real reason for his
melancholic madness.
Hamlet puts on a play called The Mousetrap for
Claudius and Gertrude, as well as other attendants
in the castle. The play involves a king who is murdered by his nephew while
sleeping in the garden. As the
nephew pours poison into the king's ears, King Claudius becomes so outraged that
he stands up, th
ereby
forcing the play to end. He orders light to be shone on him and stalks angrily out of
the room.
Hamlet is delighted by this and is convinced that the ghost was telling the truth.
Horatio agrees
with him. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern then arrive and
tell Hamlet that his mother wants to see him in her
private chambers immediately. Polonius soon arrives with the same news. Hamlet
sends them all away and
plans to reveal what he knows to his mother in order to see if she was part of the
plot to kill his
father.
Claudius, overcome with emotion, prays to heaven to forgive him his sin. He admits
to
committing the murder of his brother. Hamlet enters silently with his sword and is
about to kill Claudius
when he realizes that Claudius is praying. Since that w
ould mean that Claudius would be absolved of his
sins if he died right then, Hamlet stops and decides to wait until he can kill Claudius
when his "soul may be
as damned and black as hell" (3.3.94
-
95).
Hamlet then goes to see his mother. He immediately in
sults her for having married Claudius so
soon after his father's death. She gets scared and calls for help, causing Polonius
(who is hidden behind a
curtain spying on them) to make a sound. Hamlet pulls out his dagger and kills
Polonius through the
curtain
, but he is disappointed when her realizes it is not the king. Hamlet then shows his
mother two
pictures of both Claudius and Old Hamlet, comparing them for her. She is almost at
the point where she
believes him when the ghost appears and Hamlet starts to
speak to it. Gertrude, unable to see the ghost,
concludes that Hamlet must be truly mad and starts to agree with everything he
says in order to get him out
of her room.
Claudius, once Gertrude tells him what has happened, orders Rosencrantz and
Guildenst
ern to
prepare to take Hamlet with them to England. He then orders the body of Polonius
to be found since
Hamlet has hidden it. Hamlet eventually reveals the location of the body and then
leaves the castle that
night.
While traveling away from Elsinore,
Hamlet encounters Fortinbras' army. Fortinbras has just send
Claudius a message telling him that the Norwegian army is there and requesting
safe passage. Hamlet asks
one of the captains what part of Poland they are attacking. The captain refuses to
reveal
the exact location,
and there remains the possibility that Denmark is the true target, although this is not
revealed in the play.
Ophelia has meanwhile gone mad at the death of her father. Horatio tries to take
care of her, but
finally asks Gertrude to h
elp him. Claudius and Gertrude order Horatio to keep an eye on her. Soon
thereafter Laertes arrives with a mob. He has returned from France once he learned
of Polonius' death and
is intent on killing the murderer of his father. Claudius calms him down and
tells him that Hamlet is the
murderer, and since Hamlet has been sent to England there is no one there to kill.
Laertes then sees
Ophelia, who fails to recognize him and instead gives him a flower.
Hamlet sends letters back to Denmark. He tells Horatio t
hat the ship was attacked by pirates and
that he managed to escape in the process by joining the pirates for a short while as
their prisoner. He also
tells Horatio that he sent Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on to England, but that he
will be returning short
ly.
Claudius also receives a letter from Hamlet informing him that Hamlet will soon
return home.
Claudius immediately plots a way to kill Hamlet by having Laertes fight him in a
fencing match. Laertes
decides to put poison on the tip of his rapier so tha
t any small scratch will kill Hamlet, and Claudius tells
him he will also poison a cup of wine and give it to Hamlet as a backup measure. At
that moment Gertrude
enters and tells the men that Ophelia has drowned herself in a brook. She and
Claudius follow
Laertes, who
is once more grief
-
stricken.
Hamlet and Horatio come across two gravediggers who are digging a fresh grave.
They are
engaged in wordplay until one of the men sends the other away to fetch him some
liquor. Hamlet watches
as the remaining man
tosses up skulls and sings while he works. He finally approaches the man and asks
who the one skull belonged to. The gravedigger tells him it was Yorick's, a court fool
whom Hamlet knew
from his youth. Hamlet is shaken by the skull and ponders the fact tha
t all of them return to the earth. He
and Horatio are forced to run and hide when Laertes, Claudius and Gertrude arrive
with the coffin.
They place the coffin into the ground, but the priest refuses to say any prayers for
the dead
because Ophelia committ
ed suicide rather then die a natural death. Laertes argues with him, but finally
gives up and jumps into the grave in grief. Hamlet, when he realizes who is dead,
comes out of hiding and
also jumps into the grave. Laertes grabs him by the throat and Claudi
us is forced to order the other men to
intervene and separate them.
Back in the castle Hamlet tells Horatio that before he got off the ship he stole the
letters Claudius
had given to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The letters asked the English king to kil
l Hamlet. Hamlet,
furious at this betrayal, wrote new letters in which he asked the king to kill the
messengers, namely
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
A lord named Osric enters the room and informs Hamlet that Laertes has challenged
him to a
fencing match.
Claudius has bet Laertes that he cannot defeat Hamlet by more than three hits
during twelve
engagements. Hamlet agrees to the dual even though Horatio tells him he cannot
win. They enter the match
room, and Claudius announces that if Hamlet scores a hit d
uring the first, second, or third bout, then he will
drop a valuable pearl into a cup of wine and give it to Hamlet.
Laertes and Hamlet choose their foils and proceed to fight. Hamlet scores a hit
which Osric
upholds, and Claudius drops his pearl into so
me wine which he offers to Hamlet. Hamlet, excited by the
match, refuses to drink it and asks for the next round. They fight again, and Hamlet
wins the next hit as
well. Gertrude, thrilled at how well her son is fighting, takes the cup of wine from
Claudiu
s and drinks it to
celebrate Hamlet's hit. Claudius turns pale when he realizes that she has drunk the
poisoned wine, but he
says nothing.
They fight again, and Laertes slashes Hamlet out of turn with his poisoned foil,
causing Hamlet to
bleed. Hamlet is
infuriated and attacks him viciously, causing him to drop the foil. Hamlet gets both
rapiers
and accidentally tosses his rapier over to Laertes. He then slashes Laertes with the
poisoned foil, drawing
blood as well. They stop fighting when they realize th
at Queen Gertrude is lying on the ground.
Gertrude realizes that she has been poisoned and tells Hamlet that it was the drink.
She dies, and
Laertes tells Hamlet that he too is going to die from the poisoned tip. Hamlet, even
more furious than
before, sl
ashes Claudius with the poisoned tip. He then takes the wine chalice and forces the
poison into
Claudius' mouth until Claudius falls dead onto the ground. Laertes is also on the
ground at this point and he
forgives Hamlet for killing Polonius before he too
dies.
Hamlet sees Horatio about to drink the remaining poisoned wine and orders him to
stop. He tells
Horatio that only he can tell the people what really happened and thus reveal the
truth. Osric comes in at
that moment and informs them that Fortinbras
and some ambassadors from England have arrived. Hamlet's
final words are to give Fortinbras his vote to become the next King of Denmark.
Fortinbras arrives and looks over the scene of dead bodies. The ambassadors also
enter the room
and inform Horatio t
hat Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been put to death. Horatio asks Fortinbras
to
order the bodies placed in the public view so that he can tell the people what
happened. Fortinbras' final act
is to order his soldiers to give Hamlet a military salute by
firing their guns.