Ophelia as a Foil to Shakespeares Hamlet Essay - 875 Words

Ophelia as a Foil to Hamlet In Shakespeares tragedy, Hamlet, the audience finds a docile, manipulated, scolded, victimized young lady named Ophelia. Ophelia is a foil to Hamlet. Plays have foils to help the audience better understand the more important characters in the play. The character of Ophelia is necessary so that the audience will give Hamlet a chance to get over his madness and follow his heart. Similarities are an important part of being a foil. One similarity that Hamlet and Ophelia share are that they both are children of controlling parents. [SV - 1] Hamlets father, who is murdered, comes back as a ghost to tell him who his murderer is. This news is his fathers way of controlling him from†¦show more content†¦When Hamlet learns that his father was murdered and that his stepfather is the killer, it is more than he can handle. This news drives him mad as Ophelias news of her fathers death does to her. It is how the two characters deal with their madness that leads to the differences between them. Hamlets madness drove him to seek revenge on anyone who seemed to be trying to trick him or get in his way. His madness and need for revenge led Hamlet to the accidental killing of Ophelias [sic] father. He also wanted to make his stepfather pay for killing his father and convince his mother that she should be mourning her first husbands death. Ophelias madness was directed at herself. Without her father she was left with nothing. She felt that her chances with Hamlet were gone. A women without a man did not have many options to find fulfillment and satisfaction in life - as a result, Ophelia fell into a brook and drowned. Again, that they both took a life to rid themselves of the madness is another similarity. The final way a character can be a foil for another character is that they are there to talk to the important character. This helps the character show his or her feelings about conflicts in the play. In Act 3, Scene 1 (p. 672-677) [Citation] Ophelia is used by the king, Gertrude, and Polonius to set up Hamlet to see if his madness is because of Ophelias rejection of his love. [Nice point! They use Ophelia precisely as a foil to see whatShow MoreRelatedThe Characters Of Foils In William Shakespeares Hamlet860 Words   |  4 Pages Foils In Hamlet   Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In fiction, a foil is a character whom contrasts with another character in the story, typically the protagonist. The foil is able to highlight certain aspects of their opposing character. A foil can differ dramatically or be extremely similar but tends to have key qualities that distinguish the two apart from each other. 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