William Shakespeare's Hamlet, there are several distinct characteristics of misery and madness that abound in both Hamlet and Ophelia. Their lunacy each stems from similar sources of grief, but the true evolution of their madness is methodically different due to their gender and their status in Elizabethan society.

Throughout Hamlet, Ophelia appears in a mere five scenes and is only one of two females present in the play and therefore stands not to pose as a prominent member of the play. Ophelia's father, Polonius, whom is the chief advisor to the new King Claudius, and a highly respected man, demands that his daughter tell Hamlet that she can no longer be with him even though she desperately is in love with him.

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth have you so slander any moment leisure as to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. Look...
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