Ophelia's Mother And Hamlet's Father example essay topic

Hamlet, A Boy In The World of Men 'Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. ' Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas recited his struggle in letting his father go so that he could continue on in life to become a whole person. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet a young prince is devastated by the death of his father, and he experiences the same dilemma.

He lingers in the midst of his world before the tragic loss. He is a child who has been sheltered from life, lacking the experiences that are necessary in order for a boy to become a man. He loves Ophelia, his sweetheart who has also been sheltered, and remains a child who is incapable of thinking for herself. Hamlet and Ophelia have been robbed of their role-models; Ophelia's mother and Hamlet's father; who were needed to teach these children the ways of life, and they are forced by fate to grow up and perform as adults before they are given the chance to make mistakes as children do and to learn form these life lessons.

Hamlet and Ophelia want fulfillment from each-other, but they were never given the tools they would need to become mature human beings. They toy with each-other, because they do not have the capacity to communicate as adults. Hamlet Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometimes a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once. Ophelia Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.

Hamlet You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not. Hamlet is angry with his mother, who has married his uncle Claudius, his father's brother. Prince Hamlet is led by his friends to his father's ghost, who tells him that he was murdered by his own brother, Claudius.

The ghost asks Hamlet to kill Claudius. Young Hamlet must decide whether to avenge his father's death, by murdering his uncle, thus inheriting his rightful place as king; or to allow God to take the actions to determine the fate of evil. This decision is one that Hamlet questions as a child, who has been abandoned by his father, before he was able to inherit his birthright; his father's wisdom. Hamlet remembers his innocence: Yes, from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial, fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, That youth and observations copied there, And thy commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volumes of my brain, Unmixed with baser matter. Yes, by heaven! His beloved Ophelia becomes enmeshed in the dilemma, also incapable of translating life's unhappiness into knowledge and understanding.

Ophelia is ordered by her father, to spy on Hamlet, with whom she has played out romantic fantasies. Ophelia is incapable of protesting her father's demands. She behaves as a child who is not capable of making her own decisions. She is not able to commit to love with Hamlet.

Her father tells her to stay away from Hamlet and Ophelia is all too compliant for a woman in love. She tattles on Hamlet, because he has approached her after Polonius forbade her to see him. Polonius asks her if she did anything to provoke Hamlet's attention. Ophelia responds: No, my good lord, but as you did command I did repel his letters and denied His access to me [Act 1, Scene 2, line 120-123] Later Polonius asks her to prostitute herself as a spy, so that the king can find out more intimately about Hamlet. Polonius tells Ophelia what she should think and feel: Ophelia I do not know, my lord, what I should think. PoloniusMarry, I will teach you.

Think yourself a baby That you have ta " en these tenders for true pay... [Act 1, Scene 3, line 113-115] As the tragedy of life storms over them, Hamlet and Ophelia do not have the capacity to act as adults. Just as Hamlet was deprived of his father's teaching, Ophelia has had no guidance from her mother. She becomes overwhelmed with confusion, unable to decipher life's messages. She is torn apart when Hamlet kills her father. She know that Polonius has been a party to the destruction of Hamlet, but she has no foundation, and cannot understand how one is to endure the devastation of life itself.

She expresses her grief with the language of flowers, wearing wreaths of daisies (symbol of dissembling) and 'dead man's fingers'. She falls in the river, floating down into surrender, and drowns, consumed by life... Hamlet turns to his mother Gertrude, wanting answers to his questions and confusion. She has taken Claudius as her husband to fill the position of king, and as his father, which, since her first husband Hamlet's death, has become her responsibility. Gertrude feels that she has relieved the young prince Hamlet of the need to grow up.

She can see that he is not a man, and is incapable of filling his father's shoes. Hamlet is enraged in her inability to answer his questions and give him the life lessons that he desperately needs, so -that he may enter manhood. Hamlet cannot accept Claudius. He has always believed that he is of a different substance, until the Ghost shows him the evil side of his father. His father's ghost is vengeful and hateful. He has directed Hamlet, his own son, to murder his uncle in order to soothe his own selfish pride and spite.

Young Hamlet is confused by his father's image as a ghost, because he learns from the ghost, that his father was a man more like Claudius than Hamlet has ever known him to be. Hamlet's father has been his childhood definition of what is right. He questions the validity of the ghost, and grieves for the loss of his dreams of being like the father he had always kept on a pedestal. Finally, he rages against everything and everyone in his life, unable to find anything redeeming in his world.

Hamlets love has been betrayed by everyone close to him. This royal family slaughters itself with it's secrets and illusions of self righteousness. Both Hamlet, and Ophelia are children who have been deprived of the luxury of experiencing life's lessons of childhood and are required by fate to ask questions of themselves that they do not have the resources to answer. They are driven mad because these empty crevices must be filled in order to enable both characters to continue in their lives as human beings. The lack of love and guidance from a parent or communication with God, drives both Ophelia And Hamlet to their moral, spiritual and finally mortal death.

Such simple needs, life complicates..