The Tragedy of Ophelia in HamletSweet and innocent, faithful and obedient, Ophelia is the truly tragic figure in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. “His nature invites us to pity his misfortune caused not by his own actions or strategies” (Lidz 138). Laertes convincingly tells us how young and vulnerable Ophelia is (Act I. iii.10), comparing the destruction of her burgeoning womanhood since Hamlet to a process like "the canker irritates the children of spring, / Too often before their pimples be revealed, / And the morning and the liquid dew of youth / The contagious explosions are most imminent." "He advises her to stay away and she lovingly jokes, usually like a young teenager, to him reminding her to act as he advises" (Campbell 104). We then learn more about her purity and innocence, as her father advises her (Act I.iii.90). Telling her that she is a " green girl" and that she considers herself "a baby" in this matter, he insists that she must stop seeing him. Ophélie trusts the advice given and her obedience is very evident in this matter as she avoids contact with Hamlet until his father tells him, with the approval of the king and queen, to meet him by "accident" in the hall. Deception not being in his nature, believing that his father, the king and the queen are just and true; this Hamlet is mad; and probably curious to know if Hamlet is "madly in love" with her, young Ophelia, obedient and helpless, does her part to discover the truth. But tragically, this forced exit from his true character begins his downfall. In a precarious situation, loyalty to her father forced Ophelia to lie to Hamlet when he asked her where her father was at the time, saying that he was at home instead of behind a tapestry right in the middle of a paper. ....even though the initial fall into the water was an accident, she is tragically denied a decent burial and is buried as a sinner. Poor Ophélie has lost everything. She has lost her lover and the social position and security she would have had when she became Hamlet's wife. She lost her father and an honorable burial as well as her trust and respect for her queen and king. Finally, she lost her life. The innocent destroyed with the deceivers. Perhaps Shakespeare used Ophelia's innocence to provide an even greater contrast to the deception of the characters who engulfed her. Works Cited Campbell, Lily. Shakespeare's tragic heroes, slaves of passion. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1952. Lidz, Theodore. Hamlet's enemy: madness and myth in Hamlet. Vision Press, 1975. MacKenzie, Agnes Mure. Women in Shakespeare's plays. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1924.