Ophelia

Ophelia ( ) is a character in William Shakespeare's drama Hamlet (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet. Due to Hamlet's actions, Ophelia ultimately becomes mad and drowns.

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Key facts

Character.name: Ophelia
Character.series: Hamlet
Character.image: John William Waterhouse - Ophelia (1894).jpg
Character.caption: John William Waterhouse's painting Ophelia (1894)
Character.creator: William Shakespeare
Character.based_on: Amleth's foster-sister (Amleth legend)
Character.position: Noblewoman
Character.religion: Catholic
Character.significant_other: Prince Hamlet
Character.family: Polonius (father)Laertes (brother)
Character.nationality: Danish

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Wikidata facts

Given name: Ophelia
Gender: female
Citizenship: Danish Realm
Father: Polonius
Sibling: Laertes
Creator: William Shakespeare
Image: John Everett Millais - Ophelia - Google Art Project.jpg

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Commons category: Ophelia (character)
present in work: Hamlet
name in native language: Ophelia
different from: Ofelia
first appearance: Hamlet
described by source: The Nuttall Encyclopædia
manner of death: Suicide
cause of death: drowning

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Encyclopedic overview

13 sections

Contents

Name
Origins
Character
Plot
Portrayal
In ''Hamlet''
In film
In paint
Cultural references
Notes
Footnotes
References
Further reading

==Name== Like most characters in Hamlet, despite the plot taking place in Denmark, Ophelia's name is not of Danish origin. It first appeared in Jacopo Sannazaro's 1504 poem Arcadia (as Ofelia), probably derived from Ancient Greek ὠφέλεια (ōphéleia, "benefit").

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ophelia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.