In the Renaissance period, as well as in many parts of the world today, women are forced to rely upon men to make decisions for them. Ophelia is an example that being a female in the real world and in Shakespeare's play can be difficult when women have to be silent and obey men. Consequently, she could not survive in the cruel world once the dominating men in her life were gone. For this reason, although Ophelia doesn’t speak very much in the play, the audience is sympathetic towards her and can conclude that in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia did in fact commit suicide.
Shakespeare left the whole audience with questions if Ophelia committed suicide or if her death was an accident. Ophelia did not try to save herself, she simply just let it happen. “Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, / As one incapable of her own distress, / or like a creature native and indued” (Shakespeare 107). This reveals that she sang cheerful songs when she was drowning. She did not try to call for help from others close by. After she fell in “Her clothes spread wide / And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up;” (Shakespeare 106-107). Ophelia was able to stay up above the water before she was dragged down by the current. If Ophelia's death was accidental
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Even though she was mad, she still knew what she was doing. She sings “He is dead and gone, lady, / He is dead and gone; / At his head a grass-green turf, / At his heels a stone” (Shakespeare 95). After Polonius being murdered by Hamlet she chants about death and sings in a completely insane way. During the burial, the gravedigger said, “Is she to be buried in Christian burial that wilfully / seeks her own salvation?” (Shakespeare 109). The gravediggers think she committed suicide in her own defense. Without a doubt, Ophelia did commit suicide, because others thought she did also and she was crazy because of other
Ophelia’s mental strength quickly dissipates due to multiple happenings in the play. The man that she once thought she was in love with kills her father, driving her into the dark abyss of grief. She begins to fall into madness, “...speaks things in doubt /That carry but half sense /Her speech is nothing” (3.3.7-8). She begins to jabber on about nonsense. She loses her ability to think, “...poor Ophelia /Divided from herself and her fair judgment” (4.5.91-92). Others see her as an emotional wreck, falling farther and farther into insanity. She finally can’t take it anymore, so she ends her own life, “As we have warranty. Her death was doubtful” (5.1.234). Others saw Ophelia in a dark light, saying that she took her own life, and that she did not deserve a nobel burial. Ophelia was driven into mania by a combination of negative things, that in the end, lead to her taking her own
The men in Ophelia's life are wrong about her true personality. They make demands that are impossible to resolve due to the conflicting forces that influence her life. There is no way that she could possibly live up to these demands because they contradict each other. Due to the absence of Ophelia's mother, her life is completely dominated by the will of men. All of her decisions and choices in life are determined by the men around her, therefore Ophelia is a character that lacks freewill. She is deprived of the most basic intuition of humans, so therefore she loses the will to live.
Throughout the play, grief takes center stage in many of thecharacter’s lives, but they all choose to react in a different fashion. Grief takes many distinct shapes and forms and until people learn how to overcome it, it will remain an integral part of life. One way to escape grief is to commit suicide, as Ophelia apparently does. Thegravedigger proclaims, “Is she to be buried in Christian burial that willfully seeks her own salvation” (Act V Scene I Lines 1-2). The gravedigger is wondering why a woman who has taken her own life deserves such a fancy funeral. When the Queen informs Laertes and Claudius of Ophelia’s death, she says, “...she[Ophelia] chanted snatches of old tunes” (Act IV Scene VII Line 195). Ophelia did not know how to express her grief, other than in song. In Act IV, she sings of Polonius, “He is dead and gone, lady, he is dead and gone” (Scene V Lines 31-32).
Ophelia died after collecting flowers from over a brook. I think that she was collecting them to distribute to the court, as she did after her father’s death. Flowers are a symbol of innocence, pure and easily destroyed. The tree she was crawling along whilst collecting these garlands was a willow, which is usually associated with weeping and grief, something we have assigned to the “watery” (perhaps with tears) character of Ophelia. The branches of a willow hang down towards the ground in a downcast fashion, indicating grief. The personification even extends to her garments that were “too heavy with heir drink.” The ...
It is widely believed that “Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself” and this holds true for Hamlet’s Ophelia. 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. Ophelia’s apathetic reaction to her drowning suggests that she never had control of her own life, as she was expected to comply with the expectations of others. Allowing the water to consume her without a fight alludes to Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia as merely a device in his personal agenda. Her apparent suicide denotes a desire to take control of her life for once. Ophelia’s death is, arguably, an honorable one, characterized by her willingness to let go of her submissive, earth-bound self and leave the world no longer a victim.
The volume of works that Shakespeare wrote over the course of his lifetime was extensive. In that volume are stories that have influenced so many stories written later, stories that have influenced how many define things like love. Romeo and Juliet is perhaps his best-known work and defined western civilization's concept of love for generations. While slightly lesser known, Hamlet has had much the same degree of impact. This revenge tragedy truly defines the genre and opens up dialogues to many things, like madness. It is often the madness of Hamlet that is delved into but Ophelia too went mad in the end. While her father's murder at the hands of Hamlet undeniably contributed to her suicide, it was not the sole cause. Ophelia was driven to suicide by the way the men in her life treated her.
This can be proven by the change in Ophelia’s actions and behavior. Ophelia starts to sing strange songs in front of Gertrude about her father’s death and Hamlet’s madness. Ophelia sings to Gertrude and sings, “He is dead and gone, lady, he is dead and gone, at his head a grass-green turf, at his heels a stone” (4.5.26-29).This tells us that Ophelia is a very soft and is a very weak character and can easily get heart broken. She cares about her family and the death of her father has shattered her into pieces, it may cause problems for her to
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia is the most static character in the play. Instead of changing through the course of the play, she remains suffering in the misfortunes perpetrated upon her. She falls into insanity and dies a tragic death. Ophelia has issues surviving without a male influence, and her downfall is when all the men in her life abandon her. Hamlet’s Ophelia, is a tragic, insane character that cannot exist on her own.
Evidence shows that she committed suicide. However, her death was a result of Hamlet. Therefore he is responsible for the indirect murder of Ophelia. She had experienced much stress from Hamlet’s verbal abuse. He scolded her, confessed that he did not love her, and commanded her to go to a nunnery.
In Hamlet, Ophelia is unaware of the evil is spreading around her. She is an obedient woman, and is naive in that she takes what people say at face value, which makes her an innocent lady. "You should not have believed me, for virtue/ cannot so inculate our old stock but we shall relish of/ it. I loved you not." (III.ii. 117-119). Hamlet says these lines as a mask of his madness, but Ophelia does not understand his true motives and takes Hamlet's words very seriously to heart. The words that Hamlet says to Ophelia both confuse and hurt her greatly. Hamlet's lines are what eventually lead Ophelia to insanity, and Ophelia's insanity is what causes her death by drowning.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows many causes of teen suicide, all the way from the loss of a parent or family member to depression caused by the rejection of another. All of these aspects seem to have directly impacted one of the leading ladies in the tale Hamlet’s love interest, Ophelia. Through her father’s murder and Hamlet’s rejection of her love, Ophelia spiraled into a whirlwind of confusion and misguidance, in return throwing her into a state of madness. Through episodes of mindless singing and explaining the meaning behind violets and pansies, Ophelia’s mind deteriorates faster and faster until there’s nothing left. Then, she essentially commits suicide.
In one painting Ophelia’s dress was white, which can also link to the color of white representing innocence. In conclusion, Ophelia’s death was a tragic yet beautiful visual. Ophelia’s death is something that has many meanings and are portrayed different ways. There isn’t one simple explanation of Ophelia’s death which it is to believed Shakespeare somehow planned to have many different interpretations of Ophelia’s
As a result, she drowns herself in a river. One may argue that Ophelia drowned herself because
In Hamlet suicide is an issue of controversy and question. Hamlet is a confused man from everything that he has experienced in such a short period of time. And even though Hamlet contemplates suicide he is not the one who suffers from it. Ophelia is actually is the victim of the actual act of suicide. His morality, religion, and philosophical views on suicide keep him from committing the dreaded act.
First, the scene starts out with the gravediggers, or clowns, arguing whether Ophelia should be buried in the churchyard or not because of her death. Ophelia died from falling into the stream and drowning. The characters do not know whether it was an accident or if it was an act of suicide. Back then, anyone who committed suicide, their family was shunned from the church, even though the person was already dead. This was all explained by the gravediggers in the play to help the illiterate and audience understand the importance of her death.