Some see Ophelia's death as an accident; others see it as a suicide resulting from the accumulation of a series of unfortunate events: her rejection by her boyfriend, her father's murder, and her possible pregnancy.
After realizing that her voice does not matter to those around her, Ophelia's suicide becomes her ultimate act of obedience to her oppressors by permanently silencing herself through drowning.
SARAH: Ophelia made a wreath of flowers and attempted to hang it on the branches of the willow. While doing so, she slipped and fell into the brook. RALPH: Gertrude describes how her clothing spread out over the surface of the water, keeping her afloat for a moment, while she sang songs of praise, or perhaps hymns.
Her death is "doubtful" (V. L227) because she is as bereft of motivation as she dies as is the infant being baptized. Whatever "intention" leads to her drowning, the church seems to rule that she has "Too much of water" (IV. vii.
In the movie, Ophelia does not die. Instead, after realizing that Hamlet's quest for revenge against King Claudius could prove hazardous to her own health — and deducing that she is pregnant with Hamlet's baby — Ophelia fakes her drowning death.
By this point, Ophelia would be well aware of her pregnancy, and well aware that she would soon begin to show outward signs of it.
In Act 4 Scene 7, Queen Gertrude reports that Ophelia had climbed into a willow tree (There is a willow grows aslant the brook), and that the branch had broken and dropped Ophelia into the brook, where she drowned.
Background: Ophelia's syndrome is the association of Hodgkin's Lymphoma and memory loss, coined by Dr. Carr in 1982, while it's most remembered for the eponym in reminiscence of Shakespeare's character, Dr.
For the Elizabethans, Hamlet was the prototype of melancholy male madness, associated with intellectual and imaginative genius; but Ophelia's affliction was erotomania, or love-madness.
Ophelia is a character in Hamlet who is shown to be diagnosed with the mental illness “Schizophrenia”. Her diagnosis within the first acts of the play is weak, however, her mental illness reaches its peak in act 4, as a cluster of schizophrenia's symptoms are shown.
Why is Hamlet shocked by Ophelia's funeral in Act 5, Scene 1? He is astonished that the priest will not honor her with full rites. He is devastated by her death and stunned to see physical proof of his loss. He is enraged to see Claudius mourning when ultimately he caused her death.
The combination of her former lover's cruelty and her father's death sends Ophelia into a fit of grief. In Act Four she spirals into madness and dies under ambiguous circumstances. Ophelia's tragedy lies in the way she loses her innocence through no fault of her own.
There is ambiguity in Ophelia's death: if she committed suicide (in her madness), then according to Christian beliefs, she should not be buried in sanctified ground, but if her death was an accident, then she could be. The gravediggers obviously believe she committed suicide.
Perhaps the most descriptive sexualization of Ophelia is when Gertrude describes her dead body as “mermaid-like” (4.7. 201) with “her clothes spread wide” (4.7. 200). Describing her clothes as “spread-wide” is especially suggestive, as to reference the act of removing clothing before sex.
Ophelia's character is important in the story because she represents femininity, and Hamlet is able to act out his aggression towards his mother on Ophelia. Although she is really a naïve and innocent girl, Hamlet believes all women are manipulative and use their feminine nature to take advantage of men.
Ophelia's death symbolizes a life spent passively tolerating Hamlet's manipulations and the restrictions imposed by those around her, while struggling to maintain the last shred of her dignity.
Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia because he has transferred his anger at Gertrude's marriage to Claudius onto Ophelia. In fact, Hamlet's words suggest that he transfers his rage and disgust for his mother onto all women.
Ophelia in the fourth act of Hamlet is demonstrably insane, but the direct cause of her slipped sanity is something that remains debatable.
After Polonius' death, Ophelia finds herself lacking a strong accessible support network. She has an excellent relationship with her brother and could thus go to him, but he has unfortunately already left to study in France. This separation becomes a risk factor for PTSD.
She has been hurt both mentally and physically by three men in her life who are Laertes, her brother, Polonius, her father and Hamlet her one and only “true” love. Ophelia is a victim of the male dominated society she is surrounded by.
Ophelia is a Greek girl's name meaning “aid” and “help.” This name is best known for the tragic heroine in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Although Ophelia's story is heartbreaking and poignant, the name also represents beauty and selflessness.
However, the sexual references in Ophelia's songs account for her obsession with the now mad Hamlet, as in “promising his love” to her earlier in the play and then being scorned, she is doubly heartbroken by his absence alongside the death of her father.
And, indeed, shortly thereafter, Ophelia drowns herself. The conventional interpretation is that Hamlet has broken her heart and killed her father. But the play seems to suggest strongly that Hamlet has seduced her, and to hint that she is pregnant as well.
Ophelia Nichols' 18-year-old son Randon Lee died by gun violence on June 24.
Ophelia's final words are addressed to either Hamlet, or her father, or even herself and her lost innocence: “And will a not come again? / No, no, he is dead, / Go to thy death-bed, / He never will come again. / … / God a mercy on his soul. And of all Christian souls. God buy you.” Next, she drowns herself.