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Ophelia
fictional character
Know about the character of Ophelia in William Shakespeare's “Hamlet”The madness of Ophelia, as analyzed by the cast and crew of a Folger Shakespeare Library production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
See all videos for this articleOphelia, daughter of Polonius, sister to Laertes, and rejected lover of Hamlet in William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. Ophelia’s mad scene (Act IV, scene 5) is one of the best known in Western literature, and her tragic figure, that of innocence gone mad, has often been portrayed in art.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Robert Lewis.
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