Hamlet by William Shakespeare- About Ophelia

I wrote this for my English class. After we read Hamlet, everyone had to pick a character (Aside from Hamet) and right about them.
"When you describe the character, make it like the person reading it never read Hamlet. Afterwards, they should be able to know everything about the character," -Mrs. O, English teacher.
I just wanted to see if my paper was successful. I wrote about Ophelia:

Ophelia:

Throughout the play, Ophelia is put through many times of hardship. Ophelia is a character in the play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare. She also puts an impact on Hamlet’s life. Ophelia was always obeying towards her father. She was never able to express her true feelings about other people.
Ophelia is the sister to Lord Laertes, and daughter of Lord Polonius of Denmark. Ophelia is very meek and obedient. Her words always had some sort of kindness to them, even when they weren’t meant to be. “I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, As watchmen to my heart. But, good as my brother, Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven…” (Act I, Scene III, pg 15) This quote said by Ophelia to Laertes, who is about to go to France. She appears to be criticizing him, but keeping his spirits high. She feels locked up. Through every scene and act, something happens that affects a part of her life. Whenever it happens, she finds a way to show her emotions in an odd way. That or she’ll stay closed off to others. She feels like everything that goes on is her fault, so she tries to be as obeying as she can be and not cause the drama and trouble.
Ophelia is very much love struck once the play moves on. “…That unmatch’d form and feature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!” (Act III, Scene I, pg 47) This is the ending of a quote by Ophelia. This is something she says after Hamlet tells her he does not love her, then he leaves her alone. What happens in that scene between her and Hamlet affects her through the entire play. She never looks like she is in a happy state after this.
Ophelia is very emotional and sensitive. Whatever happens to her in the play makes her life more complicated. She never gets a clear explanation on what goes on, when everyone else does. “[Sings] Larded with sweet flowers Which bewept to the grave did go With true-love showers.” (Act IV, Scene V, pg 82) Ophelia is constantly singing over the death of her father. She takes the death of her father hardly, and doesn’t know who to go to about it. She doesn’t know how to deal with it. So she goes around singing sad little things to Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude, Laertes, and King Claudius.
Ophelia is a big part of the play. Hamlet loved her, and though he said he didn’t anymore later on, it was true he still did. Ophelia is the one Hamlet loves and cared for. He only wanted to protect her, but he only caused her harm. When Hamlet pretended to be mad, Ophelia didn’t know what was going on. Hamlet only wanted to find out if the Ghost was telling the truth about his father being killed. He was buying time to piece the whole thing together. Ophelia and Queen Gertrude are both important parts of the play. They are the only two main female characters in the whole story. Hamlet tried to please both of them, but only made things worse.
Hamlet and Ophelia are alike, but very much different. They are both young and make foolish mistakes. They get caught up in what others are doing and saying that they don’t get to do what they want. Hamlet is stronger and more confident. Ophelia comes across as a quiet and calm young girl who just wants to live a normal life. Hamlet appears to always try to be in control.
In the end of the play, Ophelia is much stressed. She was lonely; no one seemed to want to listen to her. She was picking flowers and having some time to herself by a small creek. She let herself fall in the water, and just float there. She floated in the water until her heavy dress soaked up the water, making her drown. Queen Gertrude later on says while scattering flowers on Ophelia’s grave “I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife; I thought thy bride-bed to have deck’d, sweet maid, And not have stew’d thy grave.” (Act V, Scene I, pg 101) Queen Gertrude would have loved to see Hamlet and Ophelia get married.
Ophelia may not know it, but she put an impact on Hamlet’s life. She just wanted him to love her. She lived a confusing and short life. She was never given the chance to do her own thing her own way. She lived by her father and the guidance of her brave brother. Ophelia is a soft hearted soul who deserved better than what she ended with.

Though I haven't gotten to reading or watching Hamlet, I can tell who Ophelia is. Really good[:

Yay! Thank you Moo :]

Ah man, you have no idea how much I love Hamlet, it’s my favourite Shakespearean play! I don’t really have my copy with me, so I might misquote some things, but… uhhh, I’ll try my best to help you.

Bunny wrote:

Throughout the play, Ophelia is put through many times of hardship. Ophelia is a character in the play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare. She also puts an impact on Hamlet’s life. Ophelia was always obeying towards her father. She was never able to express her true feelings about other people.

Your opening paragraph seems a bit… confusingly constructed. I’m not entirely sure if this essay is supposed to be about Ophelia’s many hardships, her impact on Hamlet’s life, her obedience to her father or her inability to express her feelings.

Bunny wrote:

Ophelia is the sister to Lord Laertes, and daughter of Lord Polonius of Denmark.

It may be a better idea to refer to Polonius as lord chamberlain of Denmark rather than as Lord of Denmark, as the phrasing leads to some mild confusion.

Bunny wrote:

Ophelia is very meek and obedient. Her words always had some sort of kindness to them. She feels locked up. Through every scene and act, something happens that affects a part of her life. Whenever it happens, she finds a way to show her emotions in an odd way. That or she’ll stay closed off to others. She feels like everything that goes on is her fault, so she tries to be as obeying as she can be and not cause the drama and trouble.

Okay, so here I’ve tried to cut down this paragraph to its main points. However, these points don’t really seem to match up, and you kind of spread them all over your essay. I think it might be a better idea to gather all your points regarding a certain topic and to arrange them into their own concentrated separate paragraphs rather than sprinkling them everywhere.

Bunny wrote:

“…That unmatch’d form and feature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!” This is the ending of a quote by Ophelia. This is something she says after Hamlet tells her he does not love her, then he leaves her alone.

I feel like you’ve misquoted the play at this point. When Ophelia says “That unmatch’d form and feature of blown youth/ Blasted with ecstasy,” she’s essentially saying that Hamlet was once a great man, but now he’s fallen into madness (follows her previous mention of how he was the glass of fashion or something like that). While she is upset that Hamlet no longer loves her, she’s more upset about his apparent loss of sanity. (Don’t forget that prior to this, Hamlet has been putting on an antic disposition in order to keep himself safe).
Not only that, but I think Hamlet’s loss of love for her is perfectly justified, as Ophelia does return his tokens of affection and essentially betrays him at this point. (Hamlet asks her where her father is, showing he’s aware of Ophelia’s deception). So really, her lamentation seems more… naïve than anything.

Bunny wrote:

“[Sings] Larded with sweet flowers Which bewept to the grave did go With true-love showers.” (Act IV, Scene V, pg 82) Ophelia is constantly singing over the death of her father. She takes the death of her father hardly, and doesn’t know who to go to about it. She doesn’t know how to deal with it. So she goes around singing sad little things to Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude, Laertes, and King Claudius.

Well, actually she goes completely insane, to the point that her own brother Laertes is hardly able to recognize her once he returns to Denmark.
But also with this quote… her entire little ditty seems to be more about Hamlet than her father. You know, the whole before you tumbled me, you promise you’d wed me business. It’s all very… not for this forum.

Bunny wrote:

Ophelia is a big part of the play. Hamlet loved her, and though he said he didn’t anymore later on, it was true he still did. Ophelia is the one Hamlet loves and cared for. He only wanted to protect her, but he only caused her harm. When Hamlet pretended to be mad, Ophelia didn’t know what was going on.

You need to support this statement with evidence. I mean, as I recall, Hamlet is actually quite rude to Ophelia afterwards. For example, during the play within a play, Hamlet makes some completely inappropriate puns in regards to her.
But either way, I think a good quote to support this idea would be during Ophelia’s funeral where he tells Laertes that the love of something hundred brothers was less than his or something along those lines.

Bunny wrote:

They are the only two main female characters in the whole story. Hamlet tried to please both of them, but only made things worse.

I kind of disagree with this statement, as Hamlet never really does anything for Ophelia during the course of the play.
And, while he does try and please Gertrude early on in the play, eventually he kind of becomes fed up to the point of having a yelling match with her.

Bunny wrote:

Hamlet and Ophelia are alike, but very much different. They are both young and make foolish mistakes.

Pssstttt. Hamlet’s thirty-something. Though it’s not really important, because he does act like an emo teenager half the time, but… Well, I thought it was a fun fact.

Bunny wrote:

In the end of the play, Ophelia is much stressed. She was lonely; no one seemed to want to listen to her. She was picking flowers and having some time to herself by a small creek. She let herself fall in the water, and just float there. She floated in the water until her heavy dress soaked up the water, making her drown.

Once again, Ophelia actually goes crazy. It’s also heavily debated that she might have actually killed herself. You might remember the discussion regarding the Christian burial?

Bunny wrote:

Ophelia may not know it, but she put an impact on Hamlet’s life.

What impact is it?

Anyway, that’s most of what I have to say about your essay in terms of small points…
Overall, I’d say you touch on a lot of ideas, but you never really follow through on them and you kind of scatter them all over the place as well. It also really seems as though you treat Ophelia too much like a person rather than as a character in a play, which is kind of distracting and at times, your grasp of the play seems kind of shaky, although it may just be alternate character interpretation more than anything else.

Sorry if anything I say may come off as harsh, but I do really want to help.

Hey, I had to say EVERYTHING about Ophelia. It was stressing & hand to find & gather everything from the play for this. I had my friend read this over like 5 times he liked it.
Oh, & they were considered young since back then they married "young" & died "young."
This is from a long time ago anyways |:

Tsk Tsk, I find it Good,

Play nicely now Inan. xD

I love you Kat.

Hey man, Hamlet is one of my favourite things in ever. I AM SERIOUS BUSINESS ABOUT IT.
Either way, I thought my critiques were still pretty valid, but that doesn't mean you have to take them. They're just one man's opinion anyway. XD

I'm not taking them because I turned this paper in two quearters ago |:

Ah, I'm sorry then.
All in all, it's a decent essay, I'm just really into Hamlet XD
So don't freak out or anything.

Now MacBeth *Clears throat* "And we're done" Pack sup and leaves.

WILL THESE HANDS EVER BE CLEAN?!