Ophelia's situation in Shakespeare's Hamlet not only invokes pity in the reader, but also provides an example of the nature of men and women and accentuates Hamlet's tragic flaws. Shakespeare so beautifully connects woman with liquidity, madness and fragility through this character that we often fail to realize the underlying message he intended for us. Ophelia's mistreatment at the hands of the various men in her life drove her to madness and ultimately to her symbolic death. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Ophelia had little self-esteem at first. When Laertes confronts her about her affair with Prince Hamlet, she simply complies. He is not trying to be sensitive when he tells Ophelia that Hamlet's love is "a fashion and a toy in the blood, a violet in... nature, direct, not permanent, sweet, [and] not lasting" (1.3.7 -9). . Laertes, however, is the least of the harmful influences that the male sex exerts on Ophelia. Ophelia's father, Polonius, is incredibly rude, insensitive, and disrespectful towards his daughter. Polonius does not credit Ophelia with sufficient common sense to be able to judge anything on her own. He cruelly twists her words and tells her that she should consider herself a child. Her daughter's mistreatment permanently creates an emotional barrier between Ophelia and the male sex. Ophelia's fragility makes her vulnerable to exploitation, for the sake of deception on the part of her father, and for the sake of lust on the part of Hamlet. In what literary scholars know as the “nunnery scene,” Polonius uses Ophelia to spy on Hamlet and discover the reason for his “madness.” Hamlet tests Ophelia's loyalty when he asks her, "Where is your father?" (3.1.141). When Ophelia openly lies to him, he loses his temper. Hamlet tells Ophelia that he never loved her, probably in an attempt to make himself forget him because he knows they can never have a relationship while he still has this revenge to take. Of course, Ophelia doesn't notice, so she is silently but effectively hurt. When he tells her to “take you to a convent” (3.1.148-149), he may be referring to a convent, or he may be doing the first of many cruel manipulations of words and referring to a brothel. Hamlet notices some feminine characteristics in himself that he does not like, such as excessive mourning for his father and reluctance to kill Claudius. As the critic Showalter states, “Hamlet's disgust with female passivity in himself translates into a violent revulsion against women and his brutal behavior towards Ophelia.” Showalter also eloquently notes that “Water is the profound and organic symbol of the liquid woman whose eyes are so easily drowned in tears.” Ophelia cries because she really thinks her lover has gone mad. This situation is not unlike that of Gertrude when Hamlet confronts her about her hasty remarriage. Hamlet warns Gertrude not to flatter herself: “Give not that anointing to your soul that it is not your fault but my madness that speaks” (3.4.166-167). Gertrude attempts to console herself and justify her sin by attributing the accusations to Hamlet's madness, just as Ophelia tries to excuse Hamlet's cruelty. Ophelia's effort is a little more noble than Gertrude's, but this scene is symbolic for the blame-shifting nature of a woman in general. Hamlet appears much happier and more tolerant later in the play, when things start to go right. As he sits and watches the “show within a show” with Ophelia, he makes crude, manipulative, conflicting comments. In what at first glance appears to be an allusion.