In Hamlet, what's up with Ophelia? Why does everyone seem to have a say about what...

In Hamlet, what's up with Ophelia? Why does everyone seem to have a say about what happens to her body and her relationships but her? Did she actually kill herself, or is she just so passive that she won't even save herself?

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I think she a passive and obedient character who lived by her father's rules until she was married and then would live by her husband's rules eventually. Which is why, Ophelia has no control over her body, her relationships, or her choices.
And eventually, Ophelia snaps—just like a lot of people who spend their lives obeying other people without any sense of personal agency.
Girls are always taught to obey the patriach of the family,that the men in her life kind of control who they are and what they should do.Their idenities our determined first by their father's name and then by their husband's name and they should submit to the rules laid out by them,which is what exactly Ophelia was doing.
She knew her father was using her to spy on someone guy and he accuses her (and all women) of being a "breeder of sinners" and orders Ophelia to a "nunnery", i.e. a brothel. But she can't call him out on his language, because, as a good girl, she can't admit that she knows what it means.
She was kind of traumatized about constant comments on her sexuality,which ultimately lead to madness in her.When she goes mad, she sings a bawdy song about a maiden who is tricked into losing her virginity with a false promise of marriage,part of the reason why many literary critics see Ophelia's madness as a result of patriarchal pressure and abuse.
Rather than straight-up committing suicide,she accidentally falls in the water and then simply neglects to save herself from sinking. Ophelia's "garments" "pull" her down, as if they had a mind of their own. This seems to be a metaphor for the way Ophelia lives her life: doing what her father and brother and boyfriend tell her to do, rather than making decisions for herself.

Hayet Jeridi answered 1 month ago

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In Hamlet, what's up with Ophelia? Why does everyone seem to have a say about what...

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