1. Ophelia

2. Who is she?
Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, the King’s advisor. She and Hamlet have been friends for a long time along with Horatio, as well as being in love with each other for a while too. Polonius and Laertes, her older brother, are her only family members.
Ophelia is a teenage girl, around 17 or 18 years old, who is the daughter of King Claudius’ advisor and close friend, Polonius. Her father has been the king’s advisor for a long time, as he was also the advisor for Hamlet’s late father, King Hamlet. Ophelia and Hamlet have been in love with each other for a while, also being close friends for even longer. Her family consists of her father, Polonius, and her older brother, Laertes.

3. Hamlet at Ophelia’s room
Key Episodes
Ophelia’s feelings towards her father are displayed when she overhears him talking to Reynaldo about her and runs to her room. There, Hamlet appears unexpectedly and begins to slowly move towards her. Ophelia becomes worried of her father, what will happen if he found out.
Hamlet at Ophelia’s room
Ophelia’s feelings towards her father are displayed when she overhears him talking to Reynaldo about her and runs to her room. There, Hamlet appears unexpectedly and Ophelia’s views towards Hamlet and her father are shown when she overhears her father talking and runs to her room where Hamlet appears unexpectedly. As her father talks to Reynaldo, Laertes’ tutor from the previous year, he talks about how irresponsible Ophelia is regarding love and Hamlet, and also how he doesn’t trust Hamlet to be with her, as he believes he will only want to have sex with her. This causes her to be both scared of and upset with her father, as she paces up and down the hallway feeling trapped by his strict instructions. Then as she is distracted looking out her bedroom window, Hamlet appears at her door with his clothes torn and his body filthy. She becomes anxious, about what will happen next, as Hamlet moves closer to her. She begins to calm after she realises Hamlet’s intentions, but becomes worried of what her father will do if he finds out. This displays how restricted she is and how the times she is able to break out of his constant view, she spends it worrying that he will discover her.

4. Key Episodes
Ophelia goes insane after her father’s passing, which makes sense considering Laertes is in England and Hamlet being the person who killed him. The first display of her insanity and it’s extremity is when she asks to talk to Gertrude one day unexpectedly. When talking, Ophelia begins to sing about her father’s death, and the effects it will have on others.
Polonius’ stabbing death by Hamlet
After her father’s death, Ophelia goes insane. No one is able to determine when she went mad, but a guess is that with her father gone, her only other family in her older brother being in England and the one she loves being the person who took her father away from her, it’s no surprise she ended up that way. A key event which displays her first sign of and the extremity of her insanity, is when she wants to talk to Gertrude one day for no apparent reason. Whilst talking, Ophelia begins to sing out of the ordinary. She sings a song that is related to her father’s death, with the lyrics presuming that her insanity makes her believe he is just away, rather than dead. But then she begins to sing about how he truly is gone and all the after effects that Polonius’ death will cause.

5. Ophelia being ‘questioned’ by her father as she is with Hamlet
Quotes
“Polonius made many demands. There were rules for everything. Be careful of boys. Don’t lend money. Don’t borrow money. Keep away from Hamlet. Dress modestly. Don’t speak out, stay in the background, don’t gossip. Don’t believe Hamlet when he flirts with you.” – page 46, Hamlet by John Marsden “I (Gertrude) thought I would be weaving flowers for your (Ophelia) wedding to my son, not throwing them in your grave.” – page 185, Hamlet by John Marsden
Ophelia being ‘questioned’ by her father as she is with Hamlet
“Polonius made many demands. There were rules for everything. Be careful of boys. Don’t lend money. Don’t borrow money. Keep away from Hamlet. Dress modestly. Don’t speak out, stay in the background, don’t gossip. Don’t believe Hamlet when he flirts with you.”
“I (Gertrude) thought I would be weaving flowers for your (Ophelia) wedding to my son, not throwing them in your grave.”
Even though Ophelia herself isn’t extremely important in the kingdom, she had a lot of expectations from others. This could have been from her father to people she wasn’t very close with, but still knew well, like Queen Gertrude. With these expectations, Ophelia also had different expectations from people on the same topic. The biggest example of this is people’s expectations of her with Hamlet. Many believe they should be together, which is helped by both of their feelings towards each other. But there is also the strict expectations of her father, who is most likely the most influential individual on Ophelia as he is her sole parent.

6. Marsden’s influence on the reader’s view
Personally, Ophelia’s character is quite confusing to the reader. But this may have been executed purposely by John Marsden, to emphasize Ophelia’s eventual madness. She starts loving and beautiful, and is explained to be a major part of Hamlet’s life. But as the events unfold, she loses these traits and becomes confusing and uncontrollable. No one knows what is happening with her, and therefore aren’t able to even help her. Then comes her extremely sudden suicide following her character’s absence from the story line for a while. This may have been a way Marsden could have used Ophelia’s character to almost make the reader understand the other characters non-understanding of Ophelia during her insanity. To make the reader feel part of the story and better experience the events that occur during this time.
The reader’s view on the character of Ophelia isn’t quite clear to me. However I believe that the way Marsden writes about her is different which means that the reader has a mixed view on her. At the start, he writes about her personality and how she feels about and views certain things. With this type of introduction to her character, I believe the reader begins to liken to her and understand her role in the story and basically in Hamlet’s life. But then as the story progresses, and the dramatic events happen around Ophelia the reader starts to lose their understanding of her. When she displays her madness, the reader becomes completely lost with what she is talking about and why she talks about it. And with her absence from the story for quite a while, when she is next brought into the story with her death, it is quite unexpected as she has no lead up to it and the way the reader finds out about it is when her death is being reflected, as she is being buried. But however, I believe Marsden has done well with how he conveys the reader to feel, as their change in feelings towards Ophelia and their confusion when she goes mad really emphasizes her character even more.

7. Portrayals of Ophelia in film
In 1990, Hamlet was brought onto the big screen as it was created into a movie. Helena Bonham-Carter was a “…well cast” choice for Ophelia, as she is described as “a small and darkly beautiful actress who is effective at seeming to respond to visions within herself”, a major part of Ophelia’s character.
Hamlet was again adapted to film in In this instalment, Kate Winslet played the role of Ophelia, and was praised for her performance to convey Ophelia’s feelings and perspective as she is “…touchingly vulnerable…” with “her (Ophelia) world crumbling around her.”
Kate Winslet
Helena Bonham Carter
In 1990, Hamlet was brought onto the big screen as it was created into a movie. Helena Bonham-Carter was a “…well cast” choice for Ophelia, as she is described as “a small and darkly beautiful actress who is effective at seeming to respond to visions within herself”, a major part of Ophelia’s character.
Hamlet was again adapted to film in In this instalment, Kate Winslet played the role of Ophelia, and was praised for her performance to convey Ophelia’s feelings and perspective as she is “…touchingly vulnerable…” with “her (Ophelia) world crumbling around her.”