“In the Arms of the Angels”
A Character Analysis of Ophelia
from William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet
Madeline Forcier
June 14, 2010
English- Mr. Ambrose
Honors- Period 2
Hamlet, written in the beginning of the seventeenth century, is a classic Shakespearian
tragedy that engulfs all aspects of revenge and love. The play, set in Denmark, takes the reader
on the journey of young Prince Hamlet’s revenge on his Uncle Claudius for murdering his father
(King Hamlet), stealing the throne and marrying his mother, (King Hamlet’s widow) Gertrude.
At the beginning of the play we recognize that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia, a beautiful, young
woman. Ophelia, although sweet and innocent, depends on men to tell her how to behave. We
first encounter Ophelia when she is with her father, Polonius and brother, Laertes. Laertes is
departing for France and, along with his father, orders Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet and of
course she abides: “I shall obey, my lord.” It is evident when we first meet Ophelia that she is
not very independent and is easily persuaded.
Hamlet contributes primarily to Ophelia’s decline in nature and ultimately leads to her
suicide. Ophelia is recognized as a “prime victim of Hamlet’s dissembling,” when “he initially
experiments with putting an antic disposition on.” Ophelia puts into context the anomalous
nature of Hamlet:
He took me by the wrist and held me hard.
Then goes he to the length of all his arm,
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stayed he so.
At last, a little shaking of mine arm
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being. That done, he lets me go,
And, with his head over his shoulder turned,
He seemed to find his way without his eyes,
For out o' doors he went without their helps,
And to the last bended their light on me. [II.i.88-100]
This scene allows us to mark the beginning of not only Hamlet’s antic disposition, but also the
decline of sweet Ophelia. But, perhaps the most degrading and influential scene is when Hamlet
verbally assaults Ophelia, to what I believe was her “breaking point”:
Hamlet Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be
a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent
honest, but yet I could accuse me of such thing
that it were better my mother had not borne me.
I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with
more offences at my beck than I have thoughts
to put them in, imagination to give them shape,
or time to act them in. What should such fellows
as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We
are arrant knaves, all. Believe none of
us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where’s your father?
Ophelia At home, my lord.
Hamlet Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play
the fool no where but in ’s own house. Farewell.
Ophelia O help him, you sweet heavens.
Hamlet If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy
dowry. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt
not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go. Farewell.
Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know
well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go, and
quickly too. Farewell.
Ophelia Heavenly powers, restore him.
Hamlet I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God has given
you one face and you make yourselves another. You jig and amble, and
you lisp, you nickname God’s creatures and make your wantonness your
ignorance. Go to, I’ll no more on ’t. It hath made me mad. I say, we will
have no more marriages. Those that are married already, all but one,
shall live. The rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go. [III.i.121-51]
Hamlet makes references to a “nunnery,” which, in this context, has a double meaning implying
a “whorehouse.” Yet, regardless of which one it is, Hamlet both “consigns Ophelia to a life of
pious chastity,” or one without self-respect. In this scene, Hamlet proves himself to be a heartless
man that cannot love anyone, even the sweetest of girls, Ophelia. He has emotional murdered
Ophelia and all that remains is her inevitable suicide. Queen Gertrude describes Ophelia’s
suicide in a tragic, yet peaceful manner:
There is a willow grows aslant a brook
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do “dead men’s fingers” call them.
There, on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,
And mermaid-like a while they bore her up,
Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element. But long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
In this detailed description of Ophelia’s death, we are able to see the true and unique beauty of a
girl that was simply lost. Ophelia was a victim to the death of her father and also to Hamlet’s
heartless nature. Ophelia truly loved Hamlet and it killed her, emotionally, mentally, and
physically to watch him decline as a human being. Ophelia committed suicide because she was
confused; to her there was no reason to live. Ophelia was a testament to the destruction Hamlet
caused and symbolizes how greatly the absence of love can affect one’s life.