“Shakespeare seems to want her lonely, going her own strange way...”

- Rosenberg, (236). 

Ophelia, on a first read or glance, may seem like a listless, powerless character who does not have many allowances to speak at all, let alone to tell us what she feels or thinks. Rosenberg describes Ophelia’s choices as ones that:

“only the reader-actor can answer…how much does she reveal of herself? What masks does she wear? When she promises Laertes to heed his advice and to obey to Polonius, is she submissive? Unwilling, even rebellious? How truly does she love Hamlet? How willingly does she decoy him in the nunnery scene? Does she hope to cure him? Why does she return his gifts? How does she endure his taunts during the Mousetrap? How much rationality, how much of her own choice, lie behind her move to madness? Are the seeds there from the start…?” – Rosenberg, 237.

Like Hamlet, Rosenberg describes Ophelia using the “sweet” and “powerful” dichotomy (238). A powerful Ophelia may not seem possible at first, but reading beneath the surface can show that it is possible that Ophelia is experienced in the ways of the court and knows how to manipulate it and obey it (Rosenberg 238).

A “rebellious” Ophelia exhibits elements of “power” within her portrayal. One example of a “rebellious” Ophelia is the 2009 performance by Mariah Gale directed by Gregory Doran. Gale openly rolls her eyes behind Laertes back as he lectures her, she argues with her father before being forced to spy on Hamlet, and she even gets snippy with Hamlet during the Mousetrap scene, not letting him make fun of her.

An “intelligent” Ophelia is one that knows her place in court and therefore, obviously, withholds her thoughts so as to not cross the line and exceed her position in the court. Frances Barber played an intelligent Ophelia in Ron Daniels 1984 production of Hamlet. She emphasized the fact that her Ophelia was highly perceptive and aware of the corruption within the court. Her Ophelia knew of Hamlet’s madness but is unable to control the situation which drives her to madness.

Finally, there is the quintessential “sweet” Ophelia. Rosenberg describes her as being “naïve and fresh. She may seem untutored in courtly manners…she may have a touch of the country still about her. She has less obvious maturity,” he adds later that she may seem unthinking and innocent as well (Rosenberg 239). Franco Zeffirelli’s 1991 Hamlet features Helena Bonham Carter as a “sweet” Ophelia. Bonham Carter’s innocence is obvious as she is extremely young in this production and wears her hair long and draped around her in braids. She obeys everything her father says without a second thought and flinches away from Mel Gibson’s powerful Hamlet. Having an Ophelia this “sweet” makes for a very dramatic change when she goes mad later on in the play.

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