In Act 4 of Shakespeare's Hamlet,everything is falling apart. I wonder if her father didn’t die would she have reacted to this accident in the same way? A document in madness! At the end of Act 3, Hamlet killed Polonius, in the mistaken belief that he was killing his uncle. O heavens! I,3,486. There are many different things that contribute to Ophelia’s death, and I like that you put it all out there. Nevertheless there is a mystery about her mental condition. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Well written! However, the explicit sexual references in Ophelia’s songs perhaps account for her obsession with the now absent Hamlet, as in “promising his love” to her earlier in the play and then being scorned, she is doubly heartbroken alongside the death of her father. 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), a secondary cause of Ophelia’s madness may be in fact about her failed relationship with Hamlet as well. OPTIONS: Show cue speeches • Show full speeches # Act, Scene, Line (Click to see in context) Speech text: 1. O, you must wear your rue with a difference! It’s quite the strain to put on anyone’s mental state. His words imply that, just as the wind only occasionally blows from the north-north-west, so too is he only occasionally struck by madness. For more than a thousand years sad Ophelia Has passed, a white phantom, down the long black river. Ophelia is pointing out Hamlet’s madness and how his anti-disposition on his mind is also affecting the way he looks and behaves. The first half of the sentence may refer to either of these two understandings of body, but the second half seems to refer directly to Polonius, a "king" who's been separated from his body through death. Dane, Gabrielle. In Q2 (the 1604 text based on Shakespeare's own manuscript) Ophelia enters before Gertrude speaks lines 17-20 and in the Folio she enters after. Some of the most popular examples from Hamlet would be Ophelia quotes. I assumed her song at 4.5.62-64, insinuates an alleged intimacy she had with Hamlet, and his promise to marry her if she were to agree to intimacy. The third scene interrupts the action of the drama by a skillful episode, in which the Poet introduces us to several important characters. However, as with many other examples of Hamlet's double-speak, there is a method to the (apparent) madness. I think that Hamlet and Laertes carried on Ophelia’s madness when she passed away and they both jumped into her grave. No more but so? X-Axis= Time of important event. I think that you did a great job analyzing Ophelia’s character, and I think that it helpful as a reader to see the different aspects of her character development to understand what she is going through. You have probably come across a number of Hamlet quotes on different themes include love, hurt, hate and madness, just to mention a few. Hadst thou thy wits and didst persuade revenge it could not move thus. In the begining of the play Ophelia knows that Hamlet loves her yet decides to keep her distance because her brother tells her to. I also think that before Ophelia died Hamlet had a huge effect on her which might have played a huge role with her death. Till the last trumpet. Ophelia's madness is portrayed through her detachment from immediate reality—those surrounding her in the court—and the dreamlike singing she … I still don’t know if I see Ophelia’s death as a suicide because of the fact that her clothes led to her death and all, but with all of the circumstances around her, I think that she definitely did not fight her death for a purpose. O rose of May! Many readers have wondered whether she is thinking of Hamlet—but it’s impossible to know for sure. I do think that she is a tragic character in this play, and I do think that it is in a pitiable way, because of the events that she has gone through. White Ophelia floats like a great lily; Floats very slowly, lying in her long veils... - In the far-off woods you can hear them sound the mort. Elizabethans thought that love really could make a man sick, they believed that Hamlet's madness was primarily because of his love that he has for Ophelia. Ophelia is forced to give up the one she loves due to what other’s are telling her to do so, and because of her father’s prying he ultimately dies. 5 Evil, once unleashed, will attack and destroy without distinction, the good as well as the bad. Hamlet’s ‘antic disposition’ is one of the play’s great mysteries. While doing so, she slipped and fell into the brook. Ophelia’s random singing was the first sign of madness when I first read it because instead of trying to save herself from drowning she was just calmly singing and letting the heavy water pile on top of her and her clothing. With the loss of her father, brother, and her lover all extremely close together is enough to make anyone go mad I suppose. I like the way that you wrote about Ophelia singing as her madness. Elizabethans thought that love really could make a man sick, they believed that Hamlet’s madness was primarily because of his love that he has for Ophelia. 1 Mad as the sea and wind when they both contend / Which is the mightier Gertrude's reaction to hearing of Ophelia's madness, Act 4 Sc. Or would her fate be the same? She is used as a ploy by her father to test Hamlet’s maddness. These consist of Hamlet abandoning her, along with Here Elaine Showalter discusses Ophelia's madness as a particularly female malady, showing how from Shakespeare's day to our own Ophelia has been used both to reflect and to challenge evolving ideas about female psychology and sexuality. For more than a thousand years her sweet madness Has murmured its ballad to the evening breeze. It is interesting to me that you believe her suicide is due to both her father’s death AND her complex relationship with Hamlet. Ophelia/ Madness: Ophelia's madness is revealed to the court. Sam, Great points! . Elizabethans thought that love really could make a man sick, they believed that Hamlet’s madness was primarily because of his love that he has for Ophelia. The first is her father, Polonius, who bids her stay away from Hamlet, and then go to Hamlet to help spy on him. When the Ghost tells Hamlet about Claudius’s murder, Hamlet responds strangely: he tells his friend Horatio and the watchman Marcellus that he is going to pretend to be mad. These will enlighten you about life, and the options available to all people. I,3,493. As we have warranty. I wonder which had more an effect? Her father’s identity is her identity and this loss of identity propelled her further into madness. Do you doubt that? Hi Sam, In her madness, Ophelia sings snatches of songs, most of which sound like popular songs of Shakespeare’s day. Ophelia is pointing out Hamlet’s madness and how his anti-disposition on his mind is also affecting the way he looks and behaves. Along with it are some quotes that will be analyzed for their significance to the topic of madness regarding the listed characters: Ophelia Ophelia is seen as a level-headed and very much sane character at the beginning of the play. I know the focus is mainly on Hamlet and his questionable madness, but in a way I definitely see how Ophelia went somewhat mad as well! English By William Anderson (Schoolworkhelper Editorial Team) August 5, 2010 1 Comment. I do pity her as a character because now she is truly on her own and I feel Hamlet and her family is partially to blame. Ophelia exists as a tragic character in Hamlet and one that is entirely pitiable because of unfortunate circumstances that she has been put through. Laertes listens to Ophelia’s troubling songs, noting that her madness says more about the depths of her grief than sane words ever could. Ophelia’s madness is driven by the loss of the male influences in her life. 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