Act 2: Ophelia

In Act 2, Ophelia once again returns to the text with more confusion regarding the news on the strange romance between Hamlet and herself. Previously, her father and brother both had convinced her that she should not believe him when he says that he loves her. In this act, Ophelia however returns with a different confusion. This is because Hamlet came to her looking "so piteous in purport/As if he had been loosed out of hell" and scared her (2.1.82-83). She was frightened because from this description, her father came to the immediate conclusion that the reasoning for this outburst is he is "Mad for thy love" implying that he believes Hamlet is more or less crazy about Ophelia. She fears this because her father had specifically told her not to get romantically involved with Hamlet.

In Act 1, in response to her father's directions, Ophelia agreed to not speak to Hamlet or continue to see him in any way. We see Ophelia's respect for her father's instruction further in act 2 when she explains that she did just as he had said:
"No, my good lord. But as you did command
I did repel his fetters and denied
His access to me." (2.1.108-110)

Although in this act not much change occurred in Ophelia's character, she continues to be revealed as a confused yet obedient teenage girl whose father lacks respect for completely as we see later on in Act 2, when Hamlet references Polonius as a "fishmonger" for selling out his daughter (2.2.166).

Overall, Ophelia as a character is very confused as to what she is to do about her Hamlet situation. She is unsure of his mental state as well as unsure of his seriousness towards loving her. Either way, she will listen to her father's orders and remains oblivious to the fact that her father is a man looking to impress the King with the information of Ophelia and Hamlet's love, and is not looking to care for her.