In The Tragedy of Hamlet, losing one’s mind is a common theme that makes an appearance in a few of the main characters. Ophelia, Hamlet’s former lover, loses her mind completely and becomes incompetent. The small window of time between Ophelia losing her mind and drowning proves to be an interesting read within the novel. In Act IV Ophelia’s insanity is fully demonstrated. While Ophelia is experiencing this mental downfall, she hands out flowers to people in the castle that seem most fit to their embedded meaning. On the surface this seems to be a few lines that can be overlooked in the play, but of course, Shakespeare crafts delicate and underlying symbolic meanings to nearly every line. Ophelia’s flowers were lines designed to provide a deeper look into her character and provide an insight into her emotions. Although Shakespeare crafted Ophelia into a lunatic towards the end of her life, each of the six flowers Ophelia gives away has symbolism towards her character and how she feels.
The initial flower Ophelia offers is rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis. Ophelia begins by saying, “There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, /love, remember…” (7) This statement clearly shows the symbolic meaning of rosemary which is remembrance, but does not reveal its other meaning which is loyalty. For centuries, rosemary has been used to help memory loss. For example, in ancient Greece people would wear wreaths of rosemary on their head to help improve their memory. Rosemary was also used in many different ways at traditional Greek weddings. In addition, in the medical field there are several old and new uses for this herb.
“Indeed, rosemary was once thought to be a cure for poor digestion, migraine, joint disorders, and muscle aches. I...
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...back to “innocence”. This final flower was also presented to Gertrude. Ophelia uses this flower just as she did the fennel. She is being sarcastic again and she intends to tell the Queen that she has no innocence. She makes her actions especially rude by adding the comment about giving her a violet instead.
Ophelia is a strange character in the Shakespearean play “Hamlet”. Although she was originally sane, Shakespeare constructed her into a much more complex character. This insanity makes for the perfect canvas for this flower scene. Ophelia proves to have deeper meanings for each flower and emerges in the story as a sarcastic woman. Also, this colorfully illustrates Ophelia’s feelings towards Laertes, Claudius, and Gertrude. Through these symbolic representations Shakespeare is able to give more depth to the story, as well as the character Ophelia using flowers.
Often overlooked in Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet, Shawna Maki analyzes Ophelia’s restricting role as a woman in a patriarchal society and how it essentially leads to her death being the true tragedy of the play. Maki supports this argument by stating, “Whereas Hamlet has the power and potential to change his fate, Ophelia does not and her death is tragic because the only escape she sees from her oppression is madness and death.”. The comparison between Hamlet and Ophelia is a common parallel because both characters are inevitably labeled as tragic deaths due to the quick deterioration of their state of mind.
In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare developed the story of prince Hamlet, and the murder of his father by the king's brother, Claudius. Hamlet reacted to this event with an internal battle that harmed everyone around him. Ophelia was the character most greatly impacted by Hamlet's feigned and real madness - she first lost her father, her sanity, and then her life. Ophelia, obedient, weak-willed, and no feminist role model, deserves the most pity of any character in the play.
Ophelia in the fourth act of Hamlet is demonstrably insane, but the direct cause of her slipped sanity is something that remains debatable, Shakespeare uses the character Ophelia to demonstrate how women during this time were unable to break away from social norms. While it is evident that Ophelia is grieving over the death of her father, Polonius, as Horatio says of her “She speaks much of her father, says she hears / There’s tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart” (4.5.4-5), as lines from one of her many “songs” points towards grieving over an aged relative, “His beard as white as snow / All flaxen was his poll” with flaxen indicating a white or grayed head of hair (4.5.190-191).
Throughout the play Hamlet, Ophelia is associated with floral imagery. Her father, Polonius presents her with a violet, she sings songs about flowers when she turns mad, she drowns amid garlands of flowers, and finally, at her burial, Queen Gertrude tosses flowers into her grave. Flowers symbolize her fragile beauty, blossoming sexuality, and a condemned innocence. Flowers are not deeply rooted. They are beautiful living things at the mercy of their surroundings. With no means of self-preservation, a flower's life relies on the natural forces around it. Ophelia's life mirrors this frail existence. She is entirely dependent upon the men in her life to make her choices. With no control over the storm brewing in her own life and no strength to withstand it, her shallow roots are ripped from under her. She loses her mind and takes her own young life.
Even the old saying "Sow fennel, sow sorrow" (Eriksson), backs up this fortune telling. To the audience, although Ophelia is not expressing the same message, it is seen that the King will die soon just like the flower that is for him. Ophelia, by telling King Claudius about the fennel, is simply openly confessing of her upcoming suicide, without getting caught. She speaks so openly that the true words she speaks of are being overlooked. The other flower that Ophelia gifts to Claudius is columbine.
Culturally, women have been expected to be soft spoken, gentle, delicate flowers. They should not question a man's opinion or go against their will. Ophelia, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is an example of a young naive girl who faces the dangers that come from only following what others want, and not thinking for herself. The men in this play use her for their own benefit and she suffers the repercussions, which leads her to madness and “accidental” death.
He calls her a “breeder of sinners” (3.1.132) and suggests that she “get thee to a nunnery” he says these out of anger at her, that she would betray him for her father. (3.1.131) Ophelia becomes heartbroken at this, both by the pressure of her family wanting her to break up with Hamlet, always constantly doing what they want and never making decisions for herself, and her relationship with Hamlet, “And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, that sucked the honey of his music vows” (3.1.13) She is saying here that she was susceptible to his words and deceit. Hamlet becomes so consumed by grief and the desire for revenge that he kills Ophelia’s father Polonius, and this is when Ophelia takes a turn for the worse and goes insane. She gives away flowers to her loved ones, “There’s fennel for you, and columbines. There’s rue for you, wear your rue with a difference… I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.”(4.5.205) I believe this is her way of saying goodbye, giving flowers to her loved ones, and showing them representations of how she feels and what they mean to
word “art” which may imply something about the materialistic world that she tries to be a part of. Interestingly, and perhaps most symbolic, is the fact that the lily is the “flower of death”, an outcome that her whirlwind, uptight, unrealistic life inevitably led her to.
In many cases, they are socially restricted and unable to explore the world around them. These women were coerced and controlled by the men in their lives.” Ophelia is exemplified as a character that falls under these characteristics of a middle-class woman with a restricted life. In Act 3, Scene 1, after Hamlet’s “To be” soliloquy, he acknowledges Ophelia’s presence. Hamlet’s reverie us broken by the appearance of Ophelia. Hamlet feels that Ophelia is not the women he had thought of her to be, “…be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow/ Thou shalt not escape calumny./ Get thee to a nunnery, go; farewell / Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; / for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them / To a nunnery” (III,I,137-141). Hamlet compares the chastity of women to the pureness of ice and snow. Ice is frequently employed with rigidity and frigidity. He warns Ophelia to be as hard as ice, to never tolerate lustful love from others and to not fall into temptation. The term nunnery has two distinct meanings. It can be defined as a place for nuns, also known as a convent or a brothel. If Ophelia is possesses similar characteristics and motives, shown by Gertrude, then the definition of a brothel would apply to her. Instead of openly accepting the truth of his love for Ophelia, he demands for her to go to a brothel where she can receive loveless intimacy. Ophelia creates a voice for herself, defying the expectations and standards set by society. She gives distinct flowers to Claudius, Gertrude and brother Laertes, based on their character traits. Rue and daisy are given to Gertrude (IV,V,181-183). Rue is also associated with adultery. It is discovered that it is the cause of most abortions; hence Ophelia keeps some for herself, foreshadowing the death of her unborn. The significance of a daisy correlates to Gertrude for it is a warning to women who are
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, women are oversexualized, and are given no role other than to be the item of a man’s desire. The promiscuity of the only two women in the play, Gertrude and Ophelia, detracts from their power and integrity, and allows Hamlet a certain amount of control over them. Gertrude’s sexual lifestyle is often mentioned by her son, Hamlet, and Hamlet uses his knowledge of Gertrude’s sexuality as a means to criticize her. Ophelia’s sexuality initially appears to be controlled by Laertes and Polonius, and Hamlet takes advantage of the naive image that she is required to keep. However, in her later madness, Ophelia taints this image by revealing that her innocence is feigned. By exposing the sexual natures of both Gertrude and Ophelia, Hamlet strips these women of any influence they may have had, and damages their once-honourable names.
Shakespeare uses the symbol of flowers to illustrate the characters regard for one another. When Ophelia loses her mind in act four scene five, she starts distributing flowers to Laertes, Gertrude, and Claudius. Each flower has an implied symbolic meaning to its receiver and also reveals Ophelia’s emotions. First, Ophelia gives the rosemary to her brother, Laertes. The rosemary flower symbolizes remembrance and fidelity, usually being distributed and worn at funerals, therefore foreshadowing Ophelia’s death. The rosemary can also be seen as a flower of remembrance for an invisible Hamlet, in which Ophelia is praying, has not forgotten her. Also, Ophelia gives Laertes pansies, which symbolize thought, pensiveness, and grief. It could be interpreted as Ophelia reminding Laertes to “pray, love, remember” (IV.v.151) their past memories and to hint at Ophelia losing her ability to think logically and intellectually.
The story of Hamlet is a morbid tale of tragedy, commitment, and manipulation; this is especially evident within the character of Ophelia. Throughout the play, Ophelia is torn between obeying and following the different commitments that she has to men in her life. She is constantly torn between the choice of obeying the decisions and wishes of her family or that of Hamlet. She is a constant subject of manipulation and brain washing from both her father and brother. Ophelia is not only subject to the torture of others using her for their intentions but she is also susceptible to abuse from Hamlet. Both her father and her brother believe that Hamlet is using her to achieve his own personal goals.
In the play “Hamlet,” Gertrude and Ophelia share similarities and they are also contrasting characters. Gertrude, the mother of Hamlet, is a loving, honorable, protective mother. Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest, is young, foolish, and underestimated. One of the main stances, to which they both contrast, is their love for Hamlet.
Ophelia’s betrayal ends up putting Hamlet over the edge, motivating him in his quest for revenge. Ophelia is one of the two women in the play. As the daughter of Polonius, she only speaks in the company of several men, or directly to her brother or father. Since we never see her interactions with women, she suppresses her own thoughts in order to please her superiors. Yet, however weak and dependent her character is on the surface, Ophelia is a cornerstone to the play’s progression.
Another significant female character is Ophelia, Hamlet's love. Hamlet's quest for revenge interferes with his relationship with Ophelia. There is much evidence to show that Hamlet loved her a great deal, but his pretense of madness drove her to her death. Ophelia drowned not knowing what was happening to her. This can be deduced by the fact that she flowed down the river singing and happy when in truth she was heartbroken. Ophelia was very much afraid when she saw Hamlet "with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). She described him as being "loosed out of hell" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). In addition to that he scared her when he left the room with his eyes still fixed on her. She is especially hurt when Hamlet tells her that he no longer loves her and that he is opposed to marriage. He advises her to go to a nunnery and avoid marriage if she can.