Both Ophelia, and Nina have a very similar steep incline into madness, resulting in exaggeration of reactions, deliriousness, loss of control, and eventually death. Moreover, the two characters problems are caused by the same oppressors. For Ophelia, her oppressors are her father and brother, and for Nina, her oppressors are her mother and her teacher.

Nina and Ophelia's slow descent into madness are alike in that they begin the stories with a pure, virginal aura, which for Nina, quickly changes. In Hamlet, Ophelia is constantly compared to flowers such as lilies most commonly, and her father and brother strongly condemn the innocence that comes with her character. In The Black Swan, everything Nina wears and does is closely related to innocence. …show more content…
In The Black Swan, Nina's biggest dilemma that she comes across is her ballet instructors constant strain for her to perfect her role of the swan queen, and to do so, he claims that she must let go of her apparent frigid, innocent, and weak personality. The instructor encourages this, saying things such as “ the only person standing in your way is you. Let go, lose yourself.”(The Black Swan, 2010). This is similar to Hamlet’s way of trying to convince Ophelia to let go of that same aspect of innocence, and be more of a sexual being towards him. Both of the women display extreme obedience, they will do anything for the men in their lives because they strive for the approval of these men. Ophelia is under the command of her father until she is married to another man, so she finds herself with no choice. Nina praises her ballet director so much to the point that every single thing that he suggests she will strive to be. However, most of the time it is through him manipulating her with tactics such as making her jealous or making her feel like she is not worthy enough for the role, and telling her to “stop being so fucking weak.”(The Black Swan, 2010) whenit is apparent that she