Gertrude killing Ophelia would also be a perfect thematic fit because it completes the family of murderers—Claudius poisons his brother, Hamlet stabs Polonius, and Gertrude asphyxiates Ophelia. The death penalty has always interested me. But she can't call him out on his language, because, as a good girl, she can't admit that she knows what it means. Gertrude. They don't know whose grave is being dug. Ophelia (/ ə ˈ f iː l i ə /) is a character in William Shakespeare's drama Hamlet.She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends up in a state of madness that ultimately leads to her drowning. The end of Act 4 leaves readers with a heavy heart as we have seen the last of Ophelia. There, on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds. 38). Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship is very complicated, and many critics have questioned whether Hamlet genuinely loved Ophelia. Claudius suspects Hamlet is aware of his treachery and Polonius advises the King to use Ophelia to find the source of his madness whether it be Ophelia’s refusal to Hamlet or another matter, ‘Ophelia is a card that can be played to take several sorts of tricks’[1]. Laertes blames nobody for Ophelia's death nor does he respond to it by dreaming up a 4th, 5th and 6th way to kill Hamlet. Even so, there are reasons for believing that it was something of an after-thought, prompted by a This could be due to the fact that, once Ophelia received the letter, she gave it to her father. vii. Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern—all nobles—die off-stage, but Laertes—also a noble— dies on-stage. Hamlet seems to know that Ophelia is helping her dad spy on him, and he accuses her (and all women) of being a "breeder of sinners" and orders Ophelia to a "nunnery" (3.1.131; 132), i.e. The most egregious crime is the death of Ophelia, whom Hamlet drives to madness and suicide with a campaign of misogyny, gaslighting and open … Furthermore, before Ophelia’s death, the two women in “Hamlet” are established as foils to one another. This is the one time before Ophelia’s death that Hamlet reveals his true feelings. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour, Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood; A violet in the youth of primy nature, Forward, not permanent- sweet, not lasting; Later, in his dying moments, Laertes blames the King for the Queen's death , then says: Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet. To cut his throat i’ th’ church. The both have experienced the death of a father and they both have some how the same reaction to this death. The uncertainties of Ophelia’s death “also raise questions about whether agency itself can define subjectivity” (15). Plot devices of pretended madness, feigned death and amazing rescue have allowed her to survive the trauma of dating Hamlet… Hamlet cries out his sorrow, jumps into the grave, and starts to fight with Ophelia's brother.. Hamlet and Horatio are lingering in the graveyard. Part of the difficulty is that Shakespeare wrote his female roles for men, and there were always limitations on them that restricted and defined the characterizations devised. Her death is reported by Queen Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, in great poetic detail as though she had witnessed the poor girl’s death. In the case of an ingenue like Ophelia, a very young and lovely woman, Shakespeare would have been writing for a boy. Laertes leaps into Ophelia's grave to hold her once again in his arms. Ophelia: The most tragic death in Hamlet Who is Ophelia Following Orders -Ophelia, throughout the play, simply does what she is told by her father, her brother, and the king. Clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke. What are the different ways you can execute someone without it being cruel or unusual? At the same moment, Laertes becomes infuriated with the priest, who says that to give Ophelia a proper Christian burial would profane the dead. ” However, Ophelia (daughter of Polonius, King of Denmark) begins to go mad, as well, after Hamlet kills her father, and the other numerous tragedies that plague her like a black cloud hovering about until her untimely death. Ophelia - Went insane because of Polonius's death, and drowned herself offscreen. As Ophelia is laid in the earth, Hamlet realizes it is she who has died. In Act 4, following the death of Polonius, his daughter Ophelia goes mad. a brothel. The death of Polonius is also ignored by the principal characters; Ophelia and Laertes are too preoccupied with their emotions and feelings to remember their father, and Hamlet who accidentally kills Polonius expresses only some sympathetic words: Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell (Shakespeare, 1985 3. . 2. In young-adult romance novels, such as Dating Hamlet (2002), Ophelia: A Novel (2006), and Falling for Hamlet (2011), Ophelia has become a heroine. myShakespeare | Hamlet 4.7 Gertrude’s Description of Ophelia's Death. (hamlet)1,5,29-31. Hamlet genuinely loved her before his father’s death, and this is shown by the love letters they have from before. ... Is Ophelia driven mad by her love for Hamlet, or is she the victim of a society that has created impossible expectations for its women? A discussion of Gertrude's description of Ophelia's death in Act 4, Scene 7 of myShakespeare's Hamlet. 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