Shakespeare’s Ophelia is torn between two contradictory poles.
To her father and brother, Ophelia is the eternal virgin, the vessel of morality whose purpose is to be a dutiful wife and steadfast mother. To Hamlet, she is a sexual object, a corrupt and deceitful lover.
She has no way to reconcile the contradictory selves her men demand that she be and still retain an equilibrium. Ophelia's desperation drives her into madness, drowning metaphorically and then literally.
This work is symbolic of the struggle for personal identity against the expectations of others.