Opelia...?

In Hamlet Ophelia clearly had on of the biggest female roles in the play. As our class found out near the end of the play, Hamlet indeed did love her though he made her believe other wise. Every reader might have a completely different/unique opinion of Ophelia, this is mine.

In my eyes Ophelia seemed vulnerable and easily persuaded. I believe this mostly because of the relationship she had with Polonius. I try to take into consideration that the time of the play is completely different then that of the present. Still i think that the way she let her father make her set Hamlet up, though she loves him, seems weak.

The biggest factor that contributed to Ophelia death,without a doubt, was Hamlet. The "change" in Hamlet's behavior in my eyes seemed to play with Ophelia emotions. I believe this along with the pressure and later death of her father could have driven her crazy.Though Ophelia was dealing with so many feeling at the time before her death, I don't think that she meant to kill herself. I believe that the branch breaking was an accident but in my head i picture her almost trying to survive, eventually realizing her fate, and then just giving up.

I do think that Hamlet's mother,Gertrude, watched her drown. I can't think of any other way that she would known Ophelia's death in that much detail. Judging by the rest of the play, an accusation like that would not be surprising or very far-fetched.