Ophelia

A grieving widow is desolate. An African American slave is tortured. A concubine is mistreated. These three victims of circumstances that they could not control are pitied. So are there any foundations based on whether one should pity another? The Oxford Dictionary defines pity as the sorrow for another’s suffering or misfortune. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia rouses the pity of the audience because she is controlled, manipulated, abandoned, driven to insanity, which eventually leads to her atrocious death.

Ophelia was completely controlled, flagrantly used, and verbally abused by the dominant men in her life: Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet. Laertes was blatantly unsympathetic towards her relationship with Hamlet. He gravely advised her to protect herself and to not take Hamlet’s display of affections as a promise of marriage. Polonius took a more forceful approach. He forbid Ophelia to see Hamlet again and also told her that she was foolish for thinking that Hamlet was sincerely in love with her: “you speak like a green g

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Instead she dies without even a proper burial, is mourned by only a few, and is more or less forgotten.

As a young woman, she was robbed of her innocence, as a submissive daughter, she was mistreated, and as one of Shakespeare’s most tragic characters, she was pitied. According to Gertrude’s dialogue, “Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,/Pull’d the poor wretch from her melodious lay/To muddy death. She had no apparent enemies and therefore there was no motive.

Whether or not Ophelia commited suicide is a controversial issue. What is questionable is why nobody tried to save her and why the person who told Gertrude was very detailed in recounting the events. People of the court thought that Ophelia was mad because of Hamlet’s rejection and Polonius’ death. “Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?" (Hamlet 3. Ophelia was a tragic figure because she never lived a life of freedom. She appeared to not know that she was in danger.

Approximate Word count = 721
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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