Ophelia's Obedience in Hamlet Literature Essay Example

As the daughter of Polonius and sister of Laertes, Ophelia is torn between her duty to her dad and her love for Hamlet, resulting in terrible occurrences. As a person who embodies the submissive daughter pattern, Ophelia is well portrayed. Ophelia is a classic example of the obedient daughter, a role everyone expected young women to assume during the time of this play.

In the beginning of “Hamlet” Ophelia is shown as a pure and innocent young lady who portrays a good person in real life. Ophelia is torn between her brother, father, and Hamlet. Ophelia has a passion for Hamlet, but she is obedient to her father and avoids Hamlet when told to do so. In (I.III.140-144) Polonius tells Ophelia “I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, Have you so slander any moment leisure, As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.Look to ‘t, I charge you. Come your ways.” Ophelia is requested by her father not to waste another moment of her spare time with Hamlet, despite her assertion that his behavior has been nothing but honorable so far. Ophelia feels she must follow her father's orders. Shakespeare develops Ophelia’s character to represent the good in Denmark. Ophelia signifies loyalty. She is taught by her father obedience. Therefore, she obeys her father. In (I.III.145) Ophelia responds to her fathers orders by saying “ I shall obey, my lord.” 

Hamlet by William Shakespeare contains a number of instances of characters spying on one another. Some instances of spying occur because there is an absence of trust between the characters. In the play, spying is a major theme, but none of the characters benefit from it and all of those who participate demonstrate their negative qualities. During act III, the king and Polonius arrange a meeting between Ophelia and Hamlet to find out the reason for Hamlet's behavior. Hamlet is betrayed by Ophelia who makes their meeting appear accidental when she knows they are spies for the king and Polonius. During this time in the play Ophelia is upset because of Hamlet's commentary. In (III.I.131) Hamlet tells Ophelia to “get thee to a nunnery.” This develops Ophelia's character because she was so passionate with Hamlet, and then he completely changed. This develops Ophelia's grief toward Hamlet because she believes she lost the real Hamlet. Ophelia still has feelings for hamlet but she doesn't believe that the man of her dreams would say such things. During act IV Ophelia is unstable,insane,lost,and upset. Ophelia is feeling so angry about her fathers death, that she becomes insane. Ophelia believes everything in her life is collapsing. She already has the stress from Hamlet, and now on top of that, her father died,so she is thinking about what led her to this situation and why. These events led to Ophelias suicide and develops the ending of Ophelia’s character.