Directions:
1) Read the following essay prompt: In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a FOIL CHARACTER, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast and/or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of a minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses and/or strengths of the main character. William Shakespeare's Hamlet offers fascinating comparisons in which a minor character serves as a foil for the main character, Hamlet. Choose a foil character to compare and contrast with Hamlet, our main character. Compose an essay in which you analyze how the relationship between the minor character and Hamlet illuminates the meaning of the work on the whole. In other words, show us the development of these two characters from Act I through Act V. Possible foil characters: Fortinbras, Laetres, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, or Polonius. You may also choose two foil characters, if you wish (For example, Using Laertes AND Fortinbras to compare to Hamlet).
2) Return to the text. Share your first discoveries. After you have made your selection, go through the play and find examples to show their similarities and differences. Start from the beginning. (For example, if you choose Hamlet and Fortinbras, find a passage to show how Fortinbras reacted to this father's death, and one where Hamlet reacts to his father).
3) In this blog space, share FOUR direct quotations (two for Hamlet and two for the foil character) and explain, IN DETAIL, how the foil characters are similar and different. This will provide the early work for your formal essay. I should see four quotations and at least two solid paragraphs.
Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais, completed in 1851 and 1852
John Marshall
ReplyDelete“King: How long hath she been thus
Oph: I hope all will be well. We must be patient. But I cannot choose but weep, to think they
Should lay him i’ the cold ground.”
“Ham: I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, That
Youth and observation copied there; And thy commandment all alone shall live within the
Book and volume of my brain”
Differences can also be attributed to their similarities in ways they do the achieve the same result in a different fashion. The two turn wicked at very different points of the play and for different reasons. Hamlet is told by the ghost of his father to kill his brother Claudius and before he does so, he plans to act as if he’s gone insane to throw all parties off his trail. Unbeknownst to Hamlet, he actually begins to turn mad as a result of his attempted trickery of the rest of the characters. In contrast to Hamlet, Ophelia is driven mad after the death of her father at the hands of Hamlet. She feels as if she is betrayed by the one she thought she loved and I think anyone would be heartbroken after their father passes. The difference between the two is that Hamlet tries to act insane while Ophelia develops a mental disorder as a result of the hardship with her father’s death.
We are not able to see the effect Hamlet’s father has on him but we are close to certain that it is a very stern one, similar to how Polonius treats Ophelia.
“Ham: Rest, rest, perturbed spirit… With all my love I do commend me to you.”
Hamlet does what his father says for him to do and we can only assume that he grew up as a very matter a fact man who didn’t take no for an answer. Ophelia and women, in general, played a lesser, more submissive role in a lot of Shakespeare plays. Ophelia, in particular, is very submissive to her brother and her father Polonius
“Oph: No, my good lord [Polonius], but, as you did command, I did repel his letters and denied
His access to me.
She allows her father to control her love life even though this is not actually what she wants.
Kate Lyons
ReplyDeleteOne similarity that Hamlet and Ophelia share are that they both are children of controlling parents. Hamlet's father, who is murdered comes back as a ghost to tell him who his murderer is. This news is his father's way of controlling him from the grave. Ophelia is controlled by her father also. She tells him how Hamlet has tried many times to express his affections for her. Ophelia's father does not believe Hamlet is sincere and orders her to stay away from him. Ophelia obeys her father’s wishes. Women were expected to do as they were told and believed what they were told to be true.
"I shall obey my Lord" scene 2 act 2
Another similarity between Hamlet and Ophelia is their feelings they have for each other. In the beginning of the play we are lead to believe that Hamlet loves Ophelia. This frightens Ophelia, but that does not mean she does not have feelings for him also. It is her father who discourages her to suppress any feelings she may have then.
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me. Act 1 scene 1
Later in the play Ophelia confesses her love for Hamlet and he then hides his feelings and denies that he loved her. He suggests that she goes to a nunnery.
O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers, quite, quite down! Act 3 scene 1
This makes Ophelia feel worthless and not wanted. Finally the reactions that the characters have to their fathers' deaths are also similar. When Hamlet learns that his father was murdered and that his stepfather is the killer it is more than he can handle.
By Gis and by Saint Charity,
Alack, and fie for shame!
Young men will do't, if they come to't;
By cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed.
So would I ha' done, by yonder sun,
An thou hadst not come to my bed. Scene 5 act 1
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAfter my completion of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, I observed a distinct similarities between both Hamlet and King Claudius as they both have an enlarged desire to seek revenge towards others in the form of death. In spite of this, they seem to be driven by separate goals as Claudius craves to keep his power and continuously works hard at that and Hamlet devotes his revenge for his father and his dreadful death. In these two quotes given below, they display the differences between the two men. Claudius is pursing his act revenge towards Hamlet as he is the only one who knows he killed his father. Claudius finds this instance where Hamlet killed Polonius as an excuse to seek his revenge on Hamlet now through Laertes tragedies. Hamlet is pursing his act revenge towards Claudius as he is the one who killed his father. He is presented with the ghost of his father’s spirit and is told to seek revenge on the king. Hamlet’s revenge is solely in honor of his father’s wrongful death induced by his uncle.
ReplyDeleteClaudius:
“To thine own peace. If he be now returned,
As checking at his voyage, and that he means
No more to undertake it, I will work him
To an exploit, now ripe in my devise,
Under the which he shall not choose but fall.
And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,
But even his mother shall uncharge the practice
And call it accident.”
Hamlet:
“That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter. Yes, by heaven!
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!
My tables!—Meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
At least I’m sure it may be so in Denmark.
So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word.”
The similarities between the two characters is that their revenge is solely for themselves and their benefits. Hamlet’s desire to seek revenge on the king is in honor of his father’s wishes, however, the main factor driving him to this decision is for his own peace. He feels that his duties to his mother and father would not be complete without seeking revenge on the king as his father was killed by him and he did so in order to gain power as king. In this quote, Hamlet believes that the man behind the curtain is Claudius in hope to end his conquest for revenge. However, it turns out to be Polonius which means Hamlet has made a huge mistake. Claudius desire to seek revenge towards Hamlet is solely so his secret doesn’t get out. Claudius’s main desire to kill Hamlet’s father is so he could gain power over the kingdom. When he discovers that Hamlet knows his secret he gains the desire to end his life too so he can keep his power.
Ham: “How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!”
(stabs his sword through the arras and kills POLONIUS)
Pol: (from behind the arras) “Oh, I am slain.”
Ger: “O me, what hast thou done?”
Ham: “Nay, I know not. Is it the king?”
Ger: “Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this!”
Ham: “A bloody deed? Almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king and marry with his brother”
Ghost: “Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forgèd process of my death
Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father’s life
Now wears his crown.”
Adriana DeSantis
A great foil character in this play is Ophelia, the ex girlfriend of the main character Hamlet. They both share similar emotions and tragic events in this play which makes these two characters great to compare to each other. In the beginning of the play Hamlet's father is murdered by his uncle and watches his mother marry his uncle two hours after the funeral, very abnormal and tough to deal with. He also is dumped by Ophelia due to her father being strict about their reputation, also due to the way Hamlet acts reacts to his father's death we can figure that it was the same situation for Hamlet and his father. On top of being depressed because of the split in the relationship, Hamlet is visited by his father in the form of a ghost and is told to kill his own uncle which in result triggers Hamlet to act insane so no one catches on with his plan. At the same time Ophelia goes through the same tragedies and shares very similar feelings as Hamlet does through all her drama. In the beginning of the play her father demands her to break up with Hamlet so she doesn't associate herself with royalty and from the looks of it she was affected by it almost or just as much as Hamlet was. Hamlet also rips madness on her after she is sent by her father and the king to return all of Hamlet's love letters that were given to her. That definitely made Ophelia feel a lot worse and trapped in everything.
ReplyDeleteLater on when Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, Ophelia actually turns insane and is kept in some special room as we saw in the movie. She starts saying random phrases and makes weird noises and sings from out of the blue. This shows she too grieved for her lost father and it probably made her go even more crazy due to the fact that her ex boyfriend killed her father. After scaring the King, queen, and her brother Laertus with her insanity she ends up drowning herself.
Act 1
Hamlet-"Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know not 'seems'. 'Tis not alone my inky cloack, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath, No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected haviour if the visage, Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief, That can denote me truly; these indeed seem For they are actions that a man might play."
Hamlet-"O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew."
Ophelia-"My lord, he hath importun'd me with love In honourable fashion."
Ophelia-"By Gis and by Saint Charity,
Alack and fie for shame,
Young men will do 't, if they come to 't;
By Cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, 'Before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed.'
So would I 'a done, by yonder sun,
An thou hadst not come to my bed."
In the play of Hamlet, Hamlet and fortinbras share some similarities throughout the play. One similarity both hamlet and fortinbras has is that they both lost their fathers and they are trying to avenge their father's death in some way. Another similarity is that they both play roles as prince but one is the prince of denmark which is hamlet and the other one fortinbras is the prince of norway. The first is when Hamlet sees fortinbras army he goes on to say on how dominant of a prince he is because of his large army. He says, “Witness this army of such mass and charge, Led by a delicate and tender prince, Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed, Makes mouths at the invisible event, Exposing what is mortal and unsure To all that fortune, death, and danger dare, Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great Is not to stir without great argument, But greatly to find quarrel in a straw When honor’s at the stake”. Another quote is when Hamlet is trying to avenge his fathers death by seeking revenge. He says, “Does it not, think'st thee, stand me now upon--He that hath kill'd my king and whored my mother, Popp'd in between the election and my hopes, Thrown out his angle for my proper life, And with such cozenage—is't not perfect conscience, To quit him with this arm? and is't not to be damn'd, To let this canker of our nature come. In further evil?”. In this quote it explains how eager Hamlet is eager to avenge his father's death because of the treason that Claudius committed to Hamlet's father but also wants to take the throne by killing Claudius in honor of his father. These are some similarities between these characters both hold.
ReplyDeleteBut there are also some differences between Hamlet and fortinbras. As you know, they both try to avenge their father's death, but they both have different approaches to seeking revenge. Fortinbras is very aggressive as he sends his army to take over a piece of land they don't need to avenge his father's death. But Hamlet's approach, is very quiet and he puts time into thinking about what he is going to do. For example, this quote shows how aggressive fortinbras in the part of the play when him and his soldiers march to norway to avenge his father's death. The quote says “Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Of unimproved mettle hot and full, Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there, Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes”. Because fortinbras's approach is so aggressive, he beats hamlet to the throne because hamlet took was taking his time on coming up with a plan to avenge. Hamlet ended up killing Claudius, but it was cut short due to getting jabbed by Laetres. When Hamlet was on his deathbed, he said that Fortinbras can have Denmark since his brother :aertes just recently died in the play. On his deathbed, Hamlet says “On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice: So tell him, with occurrents, more or less, Which have solicited”. These are some differences between these characters both hold.
A great foil characters that compares to Hamlet is the one who takes it all in the end, Fortinbras. Starting with comparisons, both Hamlet and Fortinbras are princes, heirs to the crowns of their respective countries. The need to avenge their father’s deaths are also the forces that drive them. Hamlet uses it to try and seek revenge against his uncle who was the one who murdered King Hamlet, Fortinbras too wants revenge on his father’s killer. His dad’s killer just so happens to be King Hamlet, and since he is already been killed, the way Fortinbras sees fitting to avenge the crown is to win back the land taken from Norway. Horatio mentions him and his passion for revenge,
ReplyDelete“Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Of unimproved metal, hot and full, Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there. Shark’d up a list of lawless resolutes, For food and diet, to some enterprise That hath a stomach in’t: which is no other, And it doth well appear unto our state. But to recover of us, by strong hand And terms compulsatory, those ‘foresaid lands.” (act 1, scene 1)
Although they’re incredibly similar in nature, the similarity comes in the drive and execution. After the play that Hamlet put on, he berated himself,
“O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit. That from her working all his visage wanned, Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit—and all for nothing!” (Act 2, scene 2)
He is wondering why he can’t get himself to pursue Claudius, and feels kind of hopeless in that he’ll never avenge his father. Fortinbras on the other hand is quick in justice and immediately planned the takeover for Norway. The total opposite of Hamlet who is all thought and no action. He assembles an army and hastily goes to kill the leaders of Denmark,
“Go, Captain, from me greet the Danish king. Tell him that by his license Fortinbras Craves the conveyance of a promis'd march Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. If that his Majesty would aught with us, We shall express our duty in his eye; And let him know so.” (Act 4, scene 4)
The last difference is almost a similarity. Hamlet and Fortinbras have the same past with the same motivation and both of them know this. However, Fortinbras is basically Hamlet, but better in every way. In the end, both succeed in their trials, except one of them ends up dead with his mother while the other is now the King of Denmark. Fortinbras was quick to his avenegess and smarter than Hamlet was about his ways of triumph. Hamlet is almost inspired by him in his endeavours of murdering King Claudius,
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me: Witness this army of such mass and charge
Led by a delicate and tender prince, Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd Makes mouths at the invisible event.
Overall, Fortinbras is the perfect foil character in comparison to Hamlet as the have similar pasts, with Fortinbras highlighting all of Hamlet’s weaknesses through his successes in taking over the throne.
The two characters In my opinion that are by far the most similar with different paths are Hamlet and Fortinbras. They both have had Fathers who have passed and are seeking revenge. Although Hamlet has yet to find out who killed his father as Fortinbras knows it is King Hamlet, but he is dead and we find out by Horatio what he plans to do,” Fortinbras of Norway thereto prick’d on by a most emulate pride… Hath in the skirts of Norway Shark’d up a list of lawless resolutes for food and diet to some enterprise that hath a stomach in’t which is no other as it doth will appear unto our state.”(4) Essentially this means Fortinbras is coming to take the land in revenge of his father whether with the law or against it, As for the revenge for Hamlet at this time he is seeking the ghost of his father and it tells him that his own brother the new King poisoned him while he was asleep. Hamlet at first has his own kind of revenge,”we’ll ha’ tomorrow night. You could for a need to study a speech of some dozen or sixteen lines, which I would st down and insert int could you not?”(49) Hamlet plans to put on a play and have a scene he made up one that shows King Hamlet getting poisoned by his brother, he does this to prove the guilt to make sure there is no question the King poisoned his own brother for the crown, sure enough it is proven and he goes a little more crazy than before. All while this going on Voltimand tells Fortinbras he can not invade Denmark, then Fortinbras says asls if he can invade Poland Voltimand says he can”He sent out to suppress his nephews love which to him appears to be a preparation against the Polack but better look'd into it he truly found it was against your highness”(35) Voltimand realizes it's an attack against the Pollack and he sends out arrest for him. As for Hamlet he ended up stabbing Polonius for since he was behind a curtain spying on him and his mother, which got him sent to England to be killed. He was sent their with Rosencratz and Guildenstern but he found the letter that said to kill him and changed it to kill the two men he left and escaped back to Poland.
ReplyDeleteA great example of a foil character in the play, "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare would be Claudius, the king. The king contributes to the downfall of Hamlet tremendously and is the reason the mayhem started. There is a lot to happen to this poor empire, which ultimately leads to a new leader and the people so confused. When Hamlet's uncle, King Claudius, had done the deed of killing off his own brother in Act 1, that's when we start to look at the king and Hamlet as separate and opposite. They had once been close (we can guess based on Hamlet's reaction), and now he had just done the worst possible thing. To top it all off, he is the new king and is married to Hamlet's mother. This highly contributes as to why people would think he is insane, talking to his dead father and just around town being a maniac. It is not hard to see why Hamlet's emotions would be as so, given all the circumstances, and all of the actions done by King Claudius. As the story goes on, it becomes more prevalent as to which person is affecting Hamlet the most and causing him to act such a way.
ReplyDeleteHam:
HAMLET
Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that mattering unction to your soul
That not your trespass but my madness speaks.
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven,
Repent what's past, avoid what is to come,
And do not spread the compost on the weeds
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue,
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain!
GHOST
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts—
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine.
But virtue, as it never will be moved,
Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven,
So, lust, though to a radiant angel linked,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage.
Claudius:
KING CLAUDIUS
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
LAERTES
It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain;
No medicine in the world can do thee good;
In thee there is not half an hour of life; 300
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenom'd: the foul practise
Hath turn'd itself on me lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again: thy mother's poison'd:
I can no more: the king, the king's to blame.
Sean Healey
ReplyDelete10/25/19
Block A
HAMLET VS FORTINBRAS
Hamlet and Fortinbras find themselves in parallel situations throughout the play, “Hamlet” by Shakespeare. In act I we learn both characters fathers have recently past away yet both of them respond in a similar way seeking a way to avenge their father. Fortinbras seeks vengeance through raising an army to take back land from Denmark that was “stolen” from his father and country years ago, “"The lists, and full proportions are all made out of his subject" (I. ii. 32) Fortinbras raises a whole country to avenge his father to bring him peace/justice. Although Hamlet is much more secretive in avenging his father's death he has this same perseverance and risk it all mentality as Fortnibras when going mad to kill Claudius. After Hamlet is confronted by the apparition he has no contemplation, “ So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word.
It is “adieu, adieu, remember me.” When going after his uncle he has no problem taking the word of a ghost to go mad and even risk his own life just to avenge his father. By having similar situations and goals you can get an insight on what is going through not only Hamlets head but also Fortinbras as the characters parallel each other throughout the play.
Another comparison of the two that is overlooked is the respect between two soldiers, upon entering Elsinore castle Fortinbras sees the bloody scene yet his words are, “and for his passage, the soldier’s music…”(5.2, 444-445) as a reader Hamlet is made out to be a scholar thinking critically on all of his moves which is much different from Fortinbras style of taking action, yet it is revealed to us that Hamlet was once a great soldier himself when Fortinbras orders Hamlet to have a soldier's burial. The similar goals contrasting with their different styles of taking action which allows you to get some insight on what they're feeling before they make these drastic actions, in a way it feels as though Fortinbras feels for Hamlet.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading the book and watching the play, something I noticed is that Fortinbras is a perfect foil to Hamlet. They are very similar characters, just in very different settings. Fortinbras lost his father and is seeking revenge, just like Hamlet. To get revenge, Fortinbras builds an army to reclaim the land that his father lost and will do anything to get the land back. Hamlet wants to kill Claudius but struggles to decide what is the right thing to do.
As Hamlet is going to England, he runs into Fortinbras and sees his massive army. He finds out that the huge army was made only to get a small piece of land, which is for Fortinbra’s deceased father. In shock at the size of the army, Hamlet says, “Witness this army of such mass and charge, Led by a delicate and tender prince, Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed, Makes mouths at the invisible event, Exposing what is mortal and unsure To all that fortune, death, and danger dare, Even for an eggshell. Rightly to be great Is not to stir without great argument, But greatly to find quarrel in a straw When honor’s at the stake.” Hamlet (IV.iv)
- Nolan Brezinski
Jacob
ReplyDeleteHamlet and Ophelia are both children of controlling parents. Hamlet's father, who is murdered comes back as a ghost to tell him who his murderer is. This news is his father's way of controlling him from the grave.
Ophelia is controlled by her father also. She tells him how Hamlet has tried many times to express his affections for her. Ophelia's father does not believe Hamlet is sincere and orders her to stay away from him.
Ophelia obeys her father’s wishes. Women were expected to do as they were told and believed what they were told to be true.
"I shall obey my Lord" scene 2 act 2
Another similarity between Hamlet and Ophelia is their feelings they have for each other. In the beginning of the play we are lead to believe that Hamlet loves Ophelia.
* This then frightens Ophelia, but that does not mean she does not have feelings for him. It is her father who discourages her to suppress any feelings she may have then.
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me. Act 1 scene 1
Later in the play Ophelia confesses her love for Hamlet and he then hides his feelings and denies that he loved her. He suggests that she goes to a nunnery.
O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers, quite, quite down! Act 3 scene 1
This makes Ophelia feel worthless and not wanted. Finally the reactions that the characters have to their fathers' deaths are also similar. When Hamlet learns that his father was murdered and that his stepfather is the killer it is more than he can handle.
Hamlet changed from a peaceful man in grief dragging his feet around to a person will great determination to get revenge on Claudius. He thinks about how he wants to kill him, when and know if its even real that his uncle killed his father. Once he puts on his act of acting mad he gets the courage to kill him but then sees Claudius praying. Then he thinks about what would happen if he killed himself. Unlike Laertes hamlet doesn't follow through with his plan and he overthinks everything. When Laertes found out who killed his father, he immediately thought of a plan with Claudius and acted upon it almost right away and had the dual.
ReplyDeleteHamlet
“to be or not to be”
“Hast me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift as meditation or the thought of love, May sweep to my revenge”
Laertes
“To cut his throat i’th’ church”
"To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil! Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation: to this point I stand, that both worlds I give to negligence, let come what comes; only I'll be revenged most thoroughly for my father."
Paige
DeleteHamlet and Ophelia
ReplyDeleteOne outstanding foil character to Hamlet in the play is Ophelia. She is Hamlet's ex girlfriend. They both share many similarities of emotions and hardships. Hamlet and Ophelia both lost their fathers. It seems as though Hamlet mourning over his father's death is an over reaction until Ophelia's father dies. The death of Ophelia's father leads her to go insane and later die. Hamlet and Ophelia are a great example of foil characters because of the way they reacted to the same tragedy. Later in the play Ophelia confesses her love for Hamlet but he disregards the fact that they were once in love.
O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers, quite, quite down! Act 3 scene 1
This makes Ophelia feel worthless and not wanted. Finally the reactions that the characters have to their fathers' deaths are also similar. When Hamlet learns that his father was murdered and that his stepfather is the killer it is more than he can handle.
By Gis and by Saint Charity,
Alack, and fie for shame!
Young men will do't, if they come to't;
By cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed.
So would I ha' done, by yonder sun,
An thou hadst not come to my bed. Scene 5 act 1
Hamlet and Ophelia both have very controlling parents although they were still both devastated by the death of their fathers.
-Natalie Brennen