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Ophelia the Victim

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the character of Ophelia is being portrayed quite like a victim. This simple, innocent young woman falls victim to many things. She is the victim of Hamlet's harassment, the victim of manipulation by many, the victim of her own flaws of being obedient, indecisive, and weak both mentally and eventually physically. Ophelia is unfortunately not very strong willed and is placed in the crossfire between many things and is unable to escape them. Gerald Chapman similarly agrees in the below quote taken from his book Essays on Shakespeare.
The only character who is presented almost entirely as a victim is Ophelia, a victim of the King's fear and curiosity, her father's servility and fundamental indifference to her, Hamlet's misunderstanding of the situation and brutal treatment of her, and finally his fatal thrust through the arras in the closet scene (123).
Ophelia is the number one victim of Hamlet's harassment. As Harold......

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Approximate Word Count: 1552
Approximate Pages: 7 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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