In William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, the character of Ophelia undergoes a tremendous change. In the beginning she is in a very healthy state of mind but as time progresses Ophelia experiences many hurtful and confusing events that causes her to lose her 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 been brought up to be obedient that she follows through with her father's wishes. She writes a letter to Hamlet that tells him that she can no longer see him. Even though she is in love with Hamlet she decides to put her emotions aside in order to please her father and brother.
When Hamlet reads the letter that Ophelia wrote he begins to act strangely towards her. This leads her to believe that his love for her has driven him mad. She begins to feel guilty because of this. She encounters him again but Hamlet acts as if he has no feelings for her at all. He tells her that he never loved her and that she should become a nun. Ophelia is very hurt by this rejection and gets even closer to confusion and insanity.
The final occurrence that turned Ophelia from an innocent girl who just wanted to be able to love Hamlet without any objections to one overcome with madness was the murder of her father, Polonius. One would expect Ophelia to be upset with her father's death but it was upon learning who killed him that drove her mad. It was her love, Hamlet who killed Polonius. When she found out that Hamlet killed her father she lost all coherent thought and went insane. 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.
