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Significance Of Ophelia In Hamlet

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In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character Hamlet was out for revenge against the man who killed his father. In addition to his path of revenge Hamlet also deals with conflicting emotions towards a woman named Ophelia. During the play Hamlet’s love, desirability, and dismissal towards Ophelia made me wonder if he was really in love with Ophelia, and it shows that her significance was that she was his last piece of sanity and love. Hamlet’s true feelings for Ophelia come out when he hears about her death. He confessed that, “forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum(Act 5, Scene 1, Pg.12),” meaning if you could add the love of forty brothers it still wouldn’t match his love for her. He also questioned Laertes asking him what could he possibly do for her that he couldn’t. He then went on to say that we would go as far as eating a crocodile for her, showing his madness starting to deepen. Ophelia’s significance in play is revealed after this scene showing that she was his last piece of sanity and love. …show more content…

When they are aware of Hamlet’s feelings towards Ophelia they are convinced that he would just use her for her virginity then break her heart. Ophelia is torn because she is sure in her heart that Hamlet loves her, even though she could never be his wife. Being raised with just men in her life she has no idea how to go about dealing with Hamlet and his mixed feelings. Ophelia starts to go mad dealing with the problem of choosing between her father’s wishes and her true

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