i read something so so fascinating about hamlet and particularly ophelia’s role in it a while back (when working on my ophelia & abortion paper) which is, summarily, that ophelia does not obey the “expected” behavior of a love interest as typical for early modern drama at this time, including in shakespeare’s own works. simply put? she denies her own desires and obeys her father. this was not the case for virtually every other early modern women “love interest”! (scare quotes because ophelia is far far more than a love interest, but it is one of her many roles in the play.) women in early modern drama did not obey their fathers, they chased after/worked hand in hand with their beloveds. juliet is an obvious and probably the most well-known example, but desdemona also defies her father’s preferences to marry othello, bianca defies baptisa, etc. and so it is deeply fascinating that, at least on one level, ophelia chooses to obey her father’s wishes and thus denies her own desire to be with hamlet. (and the fact that ophelia even “helps” her father investigate hamlet was even more a distortion of the aforementioned early modern theatrical trope—daughters helping their fathers against their beloveds simply was not done.)
which of course creates a fascinating parallel: ophelia does not fulfill her desire just as hamlet does not fulfill his revenge. these characters are defined by what they do not do throughout the play. from this alone, it is easy to argue that hamlet and ophelia are the most clearly defined foils in all of hamlet, but the reasons go on and on—they are the only two characters who experience madness, they both prioritize obedience to their fathers above all, ophelia is the only character to verbally match hamlet’s wit, etc.
