Comments on Ophelia (Act IV)

I think that Ophelia is a pretty trivial character in the play. She adds to the dramatic features in the play because she is always in the background, always the innocent that gets affected by the actions of all the men in her life. No one seems to think of her feelings much. Hamlet disgregards her and doesn't trust her with his plan even after declaring his love for her. Her father makes her do his bidding even if it is against her will while her brother, being the only person that Ophelia could actually confide in, left her.

In my opinion, the play would still be the same if Shakespeare took her out. Yes, she does add to the drama because the audience is bound to feel sorry for her and her death is, in a sense, tragic because she has not done anything to deserve the pain she went through. She is merely a pawn in his father's plans with the King and Queen to spy on Hamlet. I think there is enough drama to be getting on with without her getting affected by everything on the sideline. Without her, there would have been other means of spying on Hamlet and his madness would have been blamed solely on the death of his father and the sudden marriage of his mother and his uncle. The play would still be similar if you took her out.

However, I think Shakespeare uses her role to emphasise the tragedy and the extent to which Hamlet would go to get his revenge. Yes, he didn't plan to kill Polonius but if he truly loved Ophelia he would have thought of the consequences that her father's death might bring to her. Instead, he carries on as if Polonius's death was of no real importance and Ophelia was left to go mad. She is the symbol of abandonment and solitude, the woman who took all the pain but never actually got any sympathy back. Her character is tragic in every way.

Her death was portrayed beautifully and romantically, which I think contrasts to the way her character has been seen throughout all her appearances in the play. She seemed weak and unable to make up her own mind. She was like a puppet, the victim of what she thought was Hamlet's real madness and the means in which the King and Queen could find out the real truth about their son. In her death, Shakespeare showed the real beauty within her. Shakespeare made her death very grand and picturesque as if to make the audience really imagine the scene. Even if she still died quite alone, it made her the centre of attention for once, making the audience think about the effect and the consequence of all the characters' actions in the play.