OPHELIA’S ROLE IN THE DOWNFALL OF HAMLET In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet can be viewed as a character having two very opposing personalities: there is the intellectual Hamlet, “school[ed] in Wittenberg,” gentle and loving (I.ii.117); yet, there is also the cruel Hamlet, who murders Polonius and plans to avenge Claudius, along with having “bloody thoughts” (IV.iv. 69). Many factors contribute to this character duality, ranging from the death (or, rather murder) of …showed first 75 words of 1051 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1051 total…Hamlet suffered, she is now repaid with the same tragedies. In short, there are aspects of Hamlet that fall into many themes. While feigning madness, Hamlet truly becomes insane to some degree, primarily a result of Ophelia’s reactions toward Hamlet. This greatly effects Hamlet, especially in such a way that he comes to denounce womankind, sex, and marriage. This betrayal proves to be detrimental to Hamlet and contributes to his ultimate downfall and destruction.