The men in Ophelia’s life push her until she is no longer Ophelia anymore. She becomes something no one can recognize anymore, so she destroys it.
In her essay, "The Warrant of Womanhood, Shakespeare and Feminist Criticism," Shakespearean scholar, Ann Thompson points out that “male characters in Shakespeare have a limited perception of the female characters” (Thompson, 2). The men completely misjudge their women, and the consequences are often tragic. Such is the case in Ophelia’s situation. The men in her life are completely wrong about her. They make bold assumptions, and then they make punitive demands based on those assumptions, but there is no way Ophelia can meet these demands because the underlying assumptions are flawed. Unfortunately,
