Ophelia has been a source of inspiration for countless artists over the years and each artist chooses to represent Ophelia in a different way. In the John Everett Millais painting, Ophelia is portrayed as a young women. This painting of Ophelia most represents the Ophelia in the actual play. They have the most similarities. In the painting, Ophelia is drowning in a lake which she also does in the play as well. If you look closely in the painting, it looks like Ophelia is slowly dying at no fault of her own. She looks helpless and innocent.

Elaine Showalter writes, there can be Hamlet without Ophelia, but there is no Ophelia without Hamlet. Perhaps if Hamlet had never told her any of the things that he did while he was upset, Ophelia would not have died the way she did. She became crazy because of Hamlet while on the other hand, Hamlet was not even concerned about her. He was completely focused on his father's death. Shakespeare intended for Ophelia to be entirely dependent on Hamlet. Per haps he intended for her to be portrayed this way in order to demonstrate how women were dependent on men in that time period. Or, he may have wanted to show how love makes you do crazy things which in Ophelia case she did.

Invisible Children

Last Thursday during our English class, we watched a special presentation on the children of Uganda. We saw how bad and chaotic it really was over there. What's most unfortunate about it, is they have no one to call for help in their times of trouble. Unlike them, when we have a problem, we can immediately call for help whether it is through a phone call, a text message or even an e-mail. Because of our advanced technology, we can take immediate action. It is so bad over there that even news reporters and journalists often do not repot there. It is one of the most dangerous places in the world. There is a civil war that is taking place right now between the government and the military which eventually rebelled against the government. The children became the heart of the war. Every day, children are abducted from their villages in large numbers and forced to become a part of the war. They are given weapons to shed blood and kill. When these rages take place in their villages, most of the time their families are killed and there, mothers, sisters, aunts, female cousins are left raped and helpless.

No child should ever have to go through such catastrophe. This is a crime against humanity. A group of college students left their comforts and luxuries here at home, to go help to the children of Uganda. They founded Invisible Children. Through Invisible children, many children have been able to get an education. One of the African ladies working with Invisible Children said, "The best gift you can give a child in Uganda is an education". That way they will grow up to be future leaders of their country and they will do a much better job than their government is doing now. The children of Uganda need hope for tomorrow. They need someone to hear their cry for help. They are so innocent and helpless forced to live a life they did not choose to live