Passages that explain why Ophelia goes mad

Ophelia: We must be patient, but I cannot choose but weep to think they would lay him I' th'

cold ground. (Act IV, Scene v., lines 68-70)

No, no, he is dead,

Gone to thy deathbed,

He will never come again. (Act IV, scene v., lines 190-192)

He is gone, he is gone,

And we cast away moan.

God 'a' mercy on his soul! (Act IV, scene v., lines195-197)

My lord, he hath importuned me with love

In honorable fashion. (Act I, scene iii., lines 110-111)

And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,

That sucked the honey of his musicked vows (Act III, scene i., lines 158-159)

The following passages from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, explain why Ophelia has gone mad. According to Laertes, "There's nothing more than matter," therefore he believes that even though his sister was mad, she was saying more than just blurting out random thoughts. Intermingled within her thoughts that seem to mean nothing, she expresses her grief as well as dropping subtle hints that Hamlet is the reason why she has gone insane. Ophelia has a difficult time dealing with her father's death, and ultimately ends up going mad because she can't cope with it. Unlike Laertes, Hamlet, and Fortinbras who have the option to revenge their fathers' death, Ophelia, cannot take revenge on Hamlet, because in the time period the play was written, it was improper for women to do so. Ophelia was completely devastated over her father's death, "He is dead, Gone to thy deathbed, He will never come again." When she is introduced as being mad in the play in Act IV, scene 5, she makes many references to her father's death through a song she sings. Ophelia realizes "He is gone," and that when she has a problem she will no longer be able to run to her father as she does in Acts I and II. She feels as though she can't go on without her father because she is such a weak character. It is clear that one of the reasons why she goes insane is because her father has been murdered. Ophelia's madness can also be attributed to the fact that she trusts Hamlet and falls in love with him, only to have that love unreturned. She believes early on that " he hath importuned [her] with love, in honorable fashion," and that his love is not out of madness. However, later in Act III, she realizes that his love may have been due to madness, but she loves him anyway: "And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, that sucked the honey of his musicked vows." She falls for him and all of his gestures of love. In addition to the rejection Ophelia deals with, she must also face the truth that Hamlet is the man who murders her father. It is very tragic for her to have the man she loves kill her father and act as though he could care less. Ophelia realizes that even though she loves Hamlet, she could never rely on him for emotional comfort. She is very dependant upon all of the males in her life. When the people she is reliant upon suddenly disappear, she goes mad because the thought of living without someone to depend on is unbearable for her.

It is important to know why Ophelia goes mad because it affects the plot and impacts characters in the play. Laertes returns to Denmark upon word that his father has been murdered. When he comes home to find that Ophelia has gone mad, he becomes even more enraged at the fact that Hamlet not only killed his father, but was also the cause of his sister's insanity. Hamlet caused Ophelia to go mad both directly and indirectly. First of all, he showed her that he was in love with her, which made her believe that he actually was. Then, he turns around and claims that he never loved her and that it was all out of madness. Ophelia's emotions are treated with little respect by Hamlet. Ophelia cannot deal with the stress associated with being in love with someone who doesn't really love you. Hamlet indirectly causes Ophelia's madness by killing Polonius. Ophelia goes crazy because her father has died and Hamlet being the one who killed him, it is too much for her to bear. Laertes now has two reasons for wanting to kill Hamlet and he is even more willing to plot with Claudius. Ophelia's madness leads to her death, which starts the chain reaction of deaths as the play draws to an end. Even though Polonius was the first person to be killed, his death seemed insignificant to readers because Hamlet did not seem to care much about it. Ophelia's death foreshadows the deaths of all the other main characters because it was so unexpected. When she died, more people seemed to care about it, including Hamlet, so it seems that her death was a shock and a sign to the rest of the characters in the play. Especially to Hamlet, who starts thinking about death and the value of his own life while in the cemetery when Ophelia's grave is being prepared.