... plot of the play centers around the supposed madness of its title character, Hamlet, but he is not the only character who displays irrational behavior. Hamlet, Laertes, and Ophelia are all loyal children who exhibit varying degrees of madness after their fathers" untimely deaths. Hamlet thought highly of his father, as a ... Ophelia drowns, and it is unclear whether it was an accident or suicide. This is the last straw that pushes her faithful brother Laertes to consider murder. Laertes comes back to Denmark when he hears of his father's death, and is prepared to see Polonius" murderer ...

• Word Count: 1204
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... love for her seem false and childish. "A toy in my blood"- a passion without meaning or depth. This advice seems highly hypocritical, Ophelia makes Laertes aware of this - "Do not as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles like a puffed and reckless ... less sensitive and somewhat dismissive. "Affection! Pooh!" and "Think yourself a baby." Polonious" tone is patronizing, condescending and much less thoughtful than that of Laertes. Yet Ophelia vows to obey both of their advice. ""Tis in my memory locked, and you yourself shall keep the key of it" and...

• Word Count: 1730
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... 's characteristics are seen even more. Early in the play, Ophelia's tendency to be easily controlled is seen when she interacts with her brother Laertes and her father Polonius. Laertes begins by telling her that she should avoid Hamlet because he is after one thing and one thing only. Polonius then adds to this by ... she is dependent on others. She has been controlled for so long that life as she knows it is simply relying on others, mainly Polonius and Laertes. When Ophelia confides in her father that Hamlet came to her and was "mad for thy love" (89.86), Polonius devises a plan in or...

• Word Count: 739
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... into an adult. Shakespeare doesn't describe to the audience exactly what Hamlet was like while in college, but we can piece together a picture of him. Laertes describes Hamlet's attitudes toward Ophelia as "trifling", a "toy in blood" and "primy" (1.3.12-14) suggesting that Hamlet ... in the play, once Ophelia has drowned after the death of Polonius, Hamlet regrets what he's said and done to Ophelia. As he fights with Laertes at Ophelia's funeral, Hamlet shouts out, "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/ Could not with all their quantity of love/ Make up my ... to gracefully accept t...

• Word Count: 1669
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... or anyone that mattered; Ophelia had no life at all. Ophelia, a character from the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare, is the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and lover of prince Hamlet. Even with these three people in her life, she really has no one there for her who "truly" looks out for her ... best interests. Her father, Polonius, is too busy trying to have everyone like him so he uses his daughter as a pawn. Her bother, Laertes, spends his time in other countries with various women when Ophelia needs him. Hamlet, her only love, is too involved in his father's death t...

• Word Count: 1016
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... or anyone that mattered; Ophelia had no life at all. Ophelia, a character from the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare, is the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and lover of prince Hamlet. Even with these three people in her life, she really has no one there for her who "truly" looks out for her ... best interests. Her father, Polonius, is too busy trying to have everyone like him so he uses his daughter as a pawn. Her bother, Laertes, spends his time in other countries with various women when Ophelia needs him. Hamlet, her only love, is too involved in his father's death t...

• Word Count: 1010
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... because Claudius has just killed his mother, his love and his best friend. Throughout the play, Hamlet is often times very rude towards Ophelia. Telling Laertes, "He hath, my lord, of late made tenders of his affection to me"(I.iii.104-105), Ophelia believes their love and relationship is real, ... fall ten times treble on that cursed head. Whose wicked deed they most ingenious sense deprived thee of"(V.i.244-246), Laertes gets mad when Gertrude speaks of Hamlet at Ophelia's grave, because Laertes is so inflamed with Hamlet because he thinks Hamlet killed Ophelia. As Laert! es attacks H...

• Word Count: 1273
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... because Claudius has just killed his mother, his love and his best friend. Throughout the play, Hamlet is often times very rude towards Ophelia. Telling Laertes, "He hath, my lord, of late made tenders of his affection to me"(I.iii.104-105), Ophelia believes their love and relationship is real, ... fall ten times treble on that cursed head. Whose wicked deed they most ingenious sense deprived thee of"(V.i.244-246), Laertes gets mad when Gertrude speaks of Hamlet at Ophelia's grave, because Laertes is so inflamed with Hamlet because he thinks Hamlet killed Ophelia. As Laert! es attacks H...

• Word Count: 1274
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... His bursts of emotion and changes of feeling and mood prove to be a danger to both Hamlet and the people around him such as Gertrude, Ophelia, Laertes, the King, and Polonius (110-111). In the bedroom scene with Gertrude, Hamlet kills Polonius. Because of this criminal act he now becomes an enemy of ... path to his ultimate objective finally takes shape. Claudius sends him off to England to his death, but this plan to kill his own nephew fails. Laertes returns to find his father murdered by Hamlet, and he is immediately ready to enact revenge upon his father's killer. The king proposes ...

• Word Count: 1687
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... her whereas Ophelia was deeply in love with him. This resulted in Ophelia's eventual madness and her death. "Too much water hast thou, poor Ophelia / And therefore I forbid my tears" (Laertes - IV, VII, 187-188). Ophelia had drowned, by accident or on purpose, but either was it was mostly Hamlet's fault. The downfall of a woman caused by love or not loving ... is a poison"d cup; it is too late." (V, II, 282). Then the Queen falls and dies and Claudius does not move, he is concentrating solely on the dual between Hamlet and Laertes. The fact that Claudius said that the cup was poisoned t...

• Word Count: 1154
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... ., so that upon reaching Act 2 the audience's first thought of everyone will be "are they really who they say they are?" Act 2 opens with Polonius worrying about Laertes. He is requesting that Reynaldo visit Laertes and gain his confidence in order to find out what he is up to. This shows blatant duplicity and corruption. Polonius is consumed with appearance, always trying ... to appear as a caring person, a man who loves his son, Laertes. By sending a spy to entrap his son he shows a lack of trust for everyone, even his family, which contradicts his appearance as confident father who al...

• Word Count: 948
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... being attractive. Hamlet's love for Ophelia is not as intensely displayed until he sees her laying in the grave at her funeral. When he hears Laertes voice talking about Ophelia's death he cries out, "What, the fair Ophelia!" (V.I.237). This exasperation shows that he is shocked with her ... Hamlet was, in fact, not in love with Ophelia, but pretended to love her so he could use Ophelia for personal benefit. Ophelia's brother Laertes believed this is the case. He says to Ophelia, "Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain / If with too credent ear your list ... his songs, / or lose ...

• Word Count: 1429
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... of her father and her forced refusal of Hamlet. She has no one else to turn to for a second love (remember, Laertes is still away at this point), so she simply goes insane and falls in the river. Now, Laertes experiences love lost from the deaths of both, his father and his sister. Likewise, he has no one to turn to, so ... decides to lash out at Claudius who he feels was responsible for the two deaths. You could almost call Claudius his second love, since the King wooed Laertes into joining his plot against Hamlet. Laertes then feels betrayed by this so-called second love when he reali...

• Word Count: 390
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... hint of Ophelia's personal voice is in her claims of love for Hamlet. However, even those claims are uncertain as she is easily affected by the thoughts of her brother, Laertes, and her father, Polonius. When her father asks her if she thinks Hamlet really loves her, she responds with: "I do not know, my lord, what I should think." ... fair if he despised her so much. The feelings he tried to set aside begin to rise up out of him and he rushes to her grave. He challenges Laertes by saying that his love for her was so strong that "forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity...

• Word Count: 1185
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... , It spills itself in fearing to be spilt." Act 4, scene 5, lines 22-25). Later on, even though she grieves Ophelia's death, she tries to explain it to herself and to Laertes in the least harmful way. But her sadness at Ophelia's funeral is emphasised by the madness Hamlet displays there in his unexpected return. When Hamlet shows up at the fencing ... match in such a sensible state of mind, she is delighted. Not only does Laertes appear to accept Hamlet's offer of love ("...I do receive your offered love like love and will not wrong it." Act 5, scene 2, lines 266-267), but Hamlet's own ...

• Word Count: 1861
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... and keeper of the stone"(Davies 272). Although he suffered, Dunstan goes on to become a successful schoolmaster, whereas Hamlet was less fortunate. Hamlet's final scene is a duel with Laertes, where Claudius, Laertes, Gertrude, and he all die "The potent poison quite over-crows my spirit"(5.2.372). Hamlet dies for revenge on his uncle, meanwhile killing his mother. In conclusion ... ...

• Word Count: 587
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... throughout the play. Hamlet's urge for revenge is clouding his judgment and he doesn't realize trying to destroy Claudius is actually destroying himself at the same time, same thing for Laertes, wanting to avenge his father Polonius and sister Ophelia, he ends up dying or self-destructing himself, all for nothing too because Hamlet wasn't the real enemy, he should have ... developed hatred towards women. Although, hamlet shows near the end of the play that he really did love Ophelia. When he arrived at her funeral he got into a fight with Laertes, declaring his love for her. Hamlet says...

• Word Count: 833
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... authentic and at other times it appears to be pretend. A strong argument for his madness is that he admits it himself. He does so in Act V when he says to Laertes " What I have done, that might your nature, honour, and exception roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness" (V.ii.239-42). There are those that believe his madness is calculated. He clearly ... her aside throughout the play. In the Elizabethan era in which Hamlet was written, arranged marriages were commonplace. Most did not marry out of love, but rather to social standard. Laertes even warns his sister of such when he affir...

• Word Count: 1367
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... girl that put too much trust in the men in her life. She is a very young teenager who lost her mother, possibly at birth. She has a father Polonius and a brother Laertes who have gone to great measures to shelter her from the harsh realities of life. She starts off with great potential, having the prince Hamlet as a boyfriend and the hopes ... of possibly becoming the queen one day. Tragically, the opinions and desires of Polonius and Laertes easily mold this beautiful and simple-minded woman. The willingness to obey her father and brother overrides her love for Hamlet. This causes her ...

• Word Count: 1081
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... in some of the old romantic ballads" (http://www.bga.com/~melissab/ophelia_charshakplay.html). Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, chief advisor to the Claudius and the sister of Laertes. Ophelia is generally agreed to be somewhere between the ages of sisteen and nineteen and most others agree that she is an older teenager. Hamlet, has been courting her and ... empathize with one another as members of the same sex, hence penning this section in. Primarily, while the Queen is describing her version of Ophelia's death to the latter's brother, Laertes, in Act 4, Ophelia's death is framed ...

• Word Count: 1146
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... mind and eventually her life. It is made clear from the beginning of the play that Ophelia has feelings for Hamlet and vice versa. Ophelia's father, Polonius, and her brother, Laertes, both advise her to forget about Hamlet and tell him that she can no longer see him. She does not want to do this but it is because she has ... . She did not understand why the man she loved would kill her father. Ophelia began to sing to herself and others were not able to make sense of this. When Laertes comes back to visit he finds Ophelia in this state of mind and becomes angry at Hamlet for making Ophe...

• Word Count: 495
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... in his feeble attempt to qualm his nephew. The King in turn is forced to drink from the same cup of death meant for Hamlet. Even the son of Polonious, Laertes is given his just deserts for secretly planning to best Hamlet by poisoning the tip of his sword. Although he is successful in his attempt, Hamlet lives long enough to ... ...

• Word Count: 1514
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... makes Hamlet pay. At the very end of this tragedy, Ophelia becomes suicidal. After her father died she went insane, which later turned into a suicidal death. The King then orders Laertes to talk to her to calm her down, but it didn't work because she went down by the river to sing another depressing song while picking and handing out flowers ... ...

• Word Count: 955
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... has completed this task he cannot die. Revenge is negative and it triggered an almost chain reaction of deaths because hamlets mind was so set on killing Claudius. Polonius, Ophelia, Laertes, Guildenstern Rosencrantz and Gertrude deaths are all because of hamlets revenge. Hamlet wants to kill his uncle because he killed hamlets father. Hamlets father comes to him in a form of ... ...

• Word Count: 1258
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... letting them resolve their own disputes and misunderstandings they shall become a stronger twosome. Another issue I would like to attend to is the situation in which you have situated your son Laertes. If you want to know what your children are up why not build a confidence in which they shall be able to confide in you. By spying on him you shall ... ...

• Word Count: 297
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School