Frances Barber states that upon hearing about the role she, "had a fairly traditional image of Ophelia in [her] mind" (Barber 137). Upon delving further into a character analysis of Ophelia, Barber discovered that "she is acutely intelligent and highly perceptive," and that she must chose her words wisely because of her position at court (Barber 139). Barber also argues that Ophelia is the first to recognize Hamlet's madness, but is unable to do anything about it. Barber argues that Ophelia's intelligence and quick wittedness is ultimatley her downfall. She states, "she's the only person in the play who sees what's going on...and she's full of guilt for not having been able to prevent it" (139).