Critical Analysis of Dramatic Irony in Hamlet

Critical Analysis of Dramatic Irony in Hamlet

Ophelia loves Hamlet although we believe he doesn’t feel the same way towards her by the way he treats her at certain times in the play, but he truly in the end does show he loved Ophelia. This incident manipulates audience sympathies, develops character and develops the conflict of the play.

It manipulates the audience sympathies because it’s showing something that the audience has probably seen in reality. When there’s an incident like this occurring in real life, people will feel sad because of the negative things that are happening to a person. In this incident, the audience knows that she’s been falling for Hamlet, and still the audience would prefer seeing the best outcome happen to Ophelia, though the audience knows the reason for it to not happen, therefore the audience sympathies become manipulated.

This incident develops the character because by Hamlet not feeling the way she does towards him, it gives the audience an insight on how Hamlet feels about women. In this case, the audience can see that Hamlet’s disgust of his mother’s sudden marriage makes him become an antagonist towards women. He thinks they’re all alike, easy to persuade like his mother was persuaded by his uncle and in haste too.

It develops the conflict of the play because throughout the play, a new negative feeling of Hamlet’s, always becomes expressed, and follows one after another. It builds on to the play, which makes Hamlet say later on, “to be or not to be.” Each time Hamlet feels bad the more he doesn’t value his life and the more he feels like being dead.

In conclusion, this is how the incident has an affect. It does so many things to the play, like how it brings out a character, how it reaches out to an audience, and how it builds on the conflict. This incident is one of important parts of the play because without it, we may not see Hamlet the way we see it now.