Gertrude and Ophelia are the only two leading ladies in Hamlet and have been seen as similar characters from outside impressions. Both are followers and easily led by the men they love. Also, they are both confused and not in control of their surroundings. However, perhaps Ophelia's much younger age makes her more innocent and naive than Gertrude and is hence more a victim here than anyone else. Unlike Gertrude, who performed a social boo-boo by marrying her brother-in-law, Ophelia is completely free from any conscious or subconscious wrongdoing in the play. .
Ophelia's character cannot be more aptly summed up than William Hazlitt's description: .
"Ophelia is a character almost too exquisitely touching to be dwelt upon. Oh rose of May, oh flower too soon faded! Her love, her madness, her death, are described with the truest touches of tenderness and pathos. It is a character which nobody but Shakespeare could have drawn in the way that he has done, and to the conception of which there is not even the smallest approach, except 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 there has been much debate of whether Hamlet and Ophelia were ever in love. While few doubt Ophelia's affections for the prince, Hamlet's love for her is questionable because of his later behavior. However, this could also work as proof of his love for her: Hamlet becomes upset at his belief that the lady he loves is actually spying on him. Hence, he becomes outraged and starts to associate Ophelia with Gertrude, with whom he had already condemned when the Queen married his uncle no long after his father's death. .
