Ophelias Madness

With Hamlet at one time having exposed his sincere deepest feelings for her and in turn Ophelia herself says that he had “impounded her with love in an honorable fashion,” a clear depiction of how Hamlet’s love for her had resulted to her being gradually being in love with him despite being warned by her father, Polonius, that Hamlet was not earnest about her. Her developing madness as the story proceeds is the reason behind her eventual suicide at the end of the play. One of the reasons that provoked her madness is the extremity of her emotions, which took a toll on her since she is such a frail and weak person in nature, which eventually led to her melancholy and mental breakdown.

Polonius talks to Ophelia about Hamlet. He tells Ophelia that Hamlet is not a good person for her. ”(Shakespeare. She was deeply obsessed with Hamlet since he promised his love to her sometime back. This, however, goes contrary to her expectations because Hamlet left her unceremoniously for no apparent reason, a clear indication to Ophelia of how Hamlet broke his promises and vows after telling her he would get married to her and love her. “You promise me to wed, so would I ‘a’ done, by younder sun, an thou hadst nor come to my bed. ”(Shakespeare. ”(Shakespeare Act IV scene5) Another aspect of madness found in Ophelia is whereby she begins singing songs which are basically, according to normal standards, mindless and unexplainable.

At first, it seems like Ophelia's way of rather letting out all her feelings and pain out of her system but it soon turns out she was mad after all. Her singing was random and about anything that crossed her mind. Moreover, instead of her trying to save herself from drowning, she was just very calm, singing at the top of her voice while letting the water which was very heavy build up on top of her and all her clothing. This is just an indication of how madness had taken the better part of her brain and her suicide death can simply be termed as her madness led to her demise. He was simply using madness to cover up his true intentions of killing Claudius.

The reasons for the madness of both Ophelia and Hamlet are quite different. Hamlet madness was propelled by the death of his father plus his wish to pursue revenge upon the person who maimed his father. Ophelia, on the other hand, has her madness fueled by her absence of individuality in addition to her thoughts which are a disillusionment concerning her personal life. As the demise of Hamlet's dad made Hamlet very bitter into the extent of wanting to seek revenge, Ophelia, as opposed to Hamlet, viewed and meditated upon the death of her father to the same degree of a personal identity deficit. "Ophelia's" Old Lauds": Madness and Hagiography in" Hamlet". " Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England 20 (2007): 111-135. Wagner, Linda Welshimer.