Sunday, April 3, 2011

Crazy Ophelia: Psychology in Hamlet

The young maiden Ophelia from Hamlet lost her mind!  The sexualized Ophelia began to mentally unravel after the death of her father and by giving herself sexually to Hamlet.  Did she suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder? PTSD?
In Act IV Scene v, Ophelia begins singing mindless and meaningful songs.   She sings, "Before you tumbled me, you promised me to wed."  Ophelia is singing about how she slept with Hamlet.  The song is a narrative about a maiden, but when the maiden comes out of the bedroom she is no longer a maiden.  Ophelia continues with how the man would reply, "So would I' a done, by yonder sun, An thou hadst not come to my bed.  She is referring to how if she had not gone to bed with Hamlet then he would have likely married her. Essentially, Ophelia was manipulated by Hamlet because of Hamlet's malice and resentment of his own mother.  Gertrude easily slipped into bed with Claudius right after Hamlet's dad died.  Hamlet recognizes Ophelia's quickness to jump into bed as too similar to his mother.  His essentially sexual abuse of Ophelia contributes to her possible Borderline Personality Disorder.  Borderline Personality Disorder is when a person's emotions are rapidly changing.  In Ophelia's case, she showed the symptoms of being sexually impulsive, fearing being abandoned, and feelings of emptiness.    Ophelia seems overly attached to Hamlet even though he is treating her poorly.   Furthermore, when she gives the possibly imaginary flowers this highlights how flowers serve no utility.  Symbolically, Ophelia feels like she serves no utility or purpose anymore. Borderline individuals are usually uncertain about their identity.  Ophelia is obviously questioning her identity given the present matters, since she is feeling abandoned and lost without a family.  Ophelia has no protection.  Likewise, Borderline individuals often become suicidal and self-destructive.  Ophelia falls into the brook and dies.  Her death can be deemed a suicide as Gertrude explains how she continued to sing songs, "snatches of old lauds", until the garments weigh her down enough to drown Ophelia from her "melodious lay".  Ophelia could not take her lonely life and tumultuous life any longer.  Therefore, Ophelia could be considered to have suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder or possibly even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder given the fact her dad died and she was pregnant at the time of death.  In any case, Ophelia shows another side of human nature to pushed to mental exhaustion from external pressures and chaotic events.

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