Ophelia’s Realization, Madness, and Tragedy
Hamlet is a revenge tragedy
which focuses primarily on Hamlet’s desire and attempt to avenge his father’s
death. Part of the tragedy of Hamlet revolves around the character Ophelia and
his relationship with her. Usually, critics regard the tragedy of this subplot
to stem from Hamlet’s loss of love. Elaine Showalter notes that Ophelia is only
present in 5 of the 20 scenes in the play and that very little is known about
her background. Another scholar, Lee Edwards, adds that “We can imagine Hamlet’s
story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no story without Hamlet” (qtd.
in Showalter 283). Despite her relative absence, Ophelia still holds much of the
readers’ and play goers’ attention. Perhaps she gains so much attention because
her character and her circumstances are so tragic.
As
Annette Wyandotte observes, “One could argue that Ophelia’s death is the true
tragedy of Hamlet.” Ophelia’s life certainly seems tragic based on Aristotle’s
definition of tragedy. She experiences the reversal of fortune, but in order for
her death to be truly tragic, she must experience anagnorisis—a realization of
her powerlessness without the men in her life. In her madness, Ophelia
eventually does make this realization and because of her lack of alternatives,
she accepts death. Even with only five appearances in the play, the text
provides enough support that the audience can come to understand something about
Ophelia and her own tragedy.
Ophelia has limited options as a woman in a patriarchal society and this
is what separates her from Hamlet, who has the freedom to change his own fate.
Ophelia needs to be obedient and is not allowed to express herself and her true
feelings. What happens in her life is determined by the whims of the men who
control her. She is obedient to her father and brother and also to the king, and
although she tries to do what is right, she is often pulled along by these men.
Unlike Hamlet, who can act according to his own will and speak his mind as he
wants, Ophelia must find an alternative to express herself. The only out that
she sees is in madness and eventually death. As a mad woman, Ophelia would not
be bound by the societal restrictions of women; she could voice herself;
however, even in madness she is not free. Even though she is able to have a
voice, she still has no freedom of choice and she is ultimately regarded as
nonsensical and her words are taken to be simply mad-talk. 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. Thus, her limited options in a patriarchal society and her realization of
those limitations are what make Ophelia's death the true tragedy of
Hamlet.
As a woman in a society dominated by men, Ophelia has few choices in
life. While unmarried she would have to obey her father and once married she
would have to obey her husband. It is clear from the text that Ophelia is a
proper woman for her time. She obediently does as her father tells her without
complaint. Even if she does not want to comply with the rules, when her father
gave the order, she obeyed. Her real attitude is clear when she has a
conversation about chastity, first with Laertes, her brother, then with
Polonius, her father. After Laertes rather explicitly warns Ophelia to fear
losing her virginity, she replies by telling him not to lecture her, “Whiles, a
puffed and reckless libertine, / Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
/ And recks not his own rede” (1.3.48-50). She is able to rebuke her brother to
some extent, but when her father gives her the same lecture and tells her not to
accept Hamlet’s advances, she simply replies, “I shall obey, my lord” (1.3.135).
This early scene in the play sets up Ophelia’s frame of mind. Although Ophelia
wants to believe Hamlet is true to her and “Hath given countenance to his
speech… / With almost all the holy vows of heaven” (1.3.112-13), her father’s
word is law and what he says she must follow, for “if she refuses Polonius, she
risks social ostracism and grave insult to the man who capriciously controls her
future” (Campbell 58). Essentially, Ophelia was the property of her father. Mary
Floyd-Wilson explains that “Polonius’ application of economic terms to Hamlet’s
overtures transforms Ophelia into a commodity…The issue of Ophelia’s chastity
concerns Polonius as a parent and a politician—a virginal Ophelia has a better
chance of attainting Hamlet’s hand in marriage” (401). As such, Ophelia’s
feelings and desires are suppressed by her inability to freely voice herself in
a strict patriarchal society that views her as a sexual object for trade.
Although Ophelia’s complacency seems extreme, during the Renaissance, she
would have been diagnosed with hysteria. Women of Ophelia’s time had little
autonomy and their lives were reduced to the will of their father or husband. In
an essay exploring madness and suicide in literature, Erin Campbell explains
that “Ophelia suffers from hysteria, a malady often ascribed to upper class
women who bide their time in their fathers' homes while awaiting fulfillment of
their culturally mandated roles as wives and mothers” (53). Hysteria was a
common diagnosis for women during the Renaissance. It was believed that women
became hysteric because of the movement of their wombs within their bodies.
Common symptoms included “choking and muteness.” Ophelia’s muteness, or
inability to speak her mind, stems from her repressed desires and wandering
womb. According to Jordon, physicians would have diagnosed marriage as the cure
for this malady because it was believed that the womb wandered as a result of
“the cessation of menstruation, due to sexual inactivity. Renaissance physicians
believe menstrual fluid is a by-product of sexual intercourse and that lack of
sex causes the body to retain rather than release such blood” (qtd. in Campbell
54). This would suggest that Ophelia has not had a sexual relationship with
Hamlet; although even if she wanted to, she would not be allowed because her
father has forbid her from seeking a relationship with Hamlet. Thus, if Ophelia
is suffering from a form of hysteria, she has little she can do to solve it.
Marriage to the man she loves is not an option because she must obey her father
who’s “prerogative [is] to arrange his daughter’s marriage” and to protect “her
reputation and that of her house” (Kincaid 104).
The patriarchal society that Ophelia lives in associates hysteria with
women in order to control them and prevent them from expressing sexual desires.
Although men could also be diagnosed with hysteria, it was generally recognized
as a condition that affects women. Men considered madness and hysteria to be
women’s diseases and used them to maintain patriarchal authority over women, who
needed to be protected from their own desires. Carol Thomas Neely proposes that
"[t]he context of [Ophelia's] disease, like that of hysteria later, is sexual
frustration, social helplessness, and enforced control of women's bodies" (qtd.
in Campbell 54). Ophelia wants to be able to express herself and her desires,
but the patriarchal authority does not allow her to.
Because of her obedience, Ophelia is easily manipulated and used by the
men in her life. At one point, Hamlet pursues her as a lover. After plotting his
revenge, he attempts to use Ophelia in order to maintain an image of madness.
Knowing that Ophelia will report to her father, Hamlet appears to her in a
dismal state. He goes to her private room “with a look so piteous in purport /
As if he had been loosed out of hell / To speak of horrors” (2.1.80-82).
Ophelia, frightened by the ordeal, tells her father. When Polonius hears this he
immediately devises a plan of his own. As Cameron Hunt observes, “Polonius [is]
more active than reactive, and his manipulation of Ophelia in order to
investigate Hamlet’s madness serves a strategic purpose as he vies for favor
with the King and Queen” (14). He sees potential gain for himself if he reveals
the cause of Hamlet’s madness to the King. He says “This must be known, which,
being kept close, might move / More grief to hide than hate to utter love”
(2.1.116-17). Before this point, it may have been dangerous for Polonius to
suggest that Hamlet loves Ophelia because of her lower social status. Now,
Polonius has the opportunity to reveal the affections in hope that the King will
favor him or allow the relationship which would also benefit him.
Again, Ophelia displays her deference towards her father who does not once ask
her how she feels about the situation.
Eventually her need to obey forces her to choose between her father and
Hamlet. Because she is unmarried, she chooses to obey her father, as a good
daughter should. After all, as Arthur Kincaid explains, “The father’s position
in the household was that of a ruler. He was expected to be strict” (105). In
addition, Claudius, the King himself, has requested that Ophelia play her part.
Thus, even if Ophelia wanted to object, she could not. Claudius and Polonius set
Ophelia up to test Hamlet while they watch in secret; “Polonius [and Claudius]
snoop behind the arras, and she becomes the bait to catch the conscience of the
Prince” (Hunt 15). Some scholars argue
that Hamlet overhears this plot to use Ophelia to get to him. For this
interpretation, certain stage directions must be given—Hamlet must enter the
stage before he gives his “To be” speech. Unlike other scenes where characters
overhear other speeches, this scene does not make it clear whether or not Hamlet
has overheard the King’s plan. According to Kincaid, “the device of overhearing
or overseeing seems to be one of Shakespeare’s favorite tricks, and the
techniques he uses to convey it are invariably clear to the audience” (100) and
that the characters usually let on that they have overheard a conversation by
“asides commenting directly on what they say” (99). Because of this uncertainty,
it is difficult to say if Hamlet’s harsh speech towards Ophelia is because he
knows about the plot to use her against him. Whether or not Hamlet overhears the
plan, one question he asks suggests that he feels Ophelia’s loyalty lies with
her father; he asks “Where’s your father?” to which Ophelia replies “At home, my
lord” (3.1.130-131). Hamlet’s response may indicate that he knows better; “Let
the doors be shut upon him that he may play the fool nowhere but in’s own house”
(3.1.132). Hamlet knows that Polonius is the meddling sort and even if he
doesn’t realize Polonius is there at the moment, he understands that he could be
plotting something. Hamlet then rejects Ophelia for choosing her father and the
King over himself. In this case, Ophelia was obedient as she should be, but she
is punished for it.
Another interpretation of Hamlet’s attitude toward Ophelia is that his disgust
is with his mother’s sexuality and he projects his feelings of Gertrude onto
Ophelia. Women had strict codes of conduct they needed to follow and during the
time, “influenced by religious literature, the attitude taken by most writers of
deportment manuals reflect the theologians’ traditional dislike and distrust of
women” (Kincaid 103). One of the most famous manuals on women’s conduct, written
by a churchman named Luis Vives, explains that “Woman is a frayle thinge, and of
weake discretion, and that may lightly be deceyued, which thing our fyrste
mother Eve showeth” (qtd. in Kincaid 103). Hamlet as the text indicates, was
well-read and was probably influenced by the general attitude regarding women of
the time. Although there is no indication that Ophelia has broken the codes,
Hamlet clearly feels his mother has. He says of Gertrude and her hasty marriage:
‘Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely.that it should come thus,
But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two!
…
Let me not think on’t. Frailty, thy name is woman! (1.2.135-138, 146).
Hamlet takes out his frustration regarding his mother on Ophelia. He chastises
her for her faults as a woman, even though up to this point, Ophelia has shown
the proper traits of a good woman. In his speech, Hamlet also suggests the one
possibility in life for all women; the nunnery. It is not made clear whether or
not Ophelia has lost her virginity to Hamlet, but either way, Hamlet sees this
as her only option. He says “If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for
thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape
calumny. Get thee to a nunnery” (3.1.135-37). Even if Ophelia remains pure and
chaste, she cannot escape her fate as a woman. She is restricted by the moral
codes of the day and is disdained because of the general attitudes which labeled
women as distrustful.
At this point in the play, Ophelia begins to realize that she cannot
always simply trust the men in her life. After Hamlet leaves, she exclaims, “Oh,
woe is me, / T’have seen what I have seen, see what I see” (3.1.159-60). In this
remark she reveals that her eyes have been opened. Mark Taylor explores the
possible meaning of this line and explains that it could refer to any number of
understandings. One possible interpretation is that “The present perfect
tense…recalls the good old days of their romance before the death of Hamlet's
father and then the interference of Polonius, and the present tense announces
the broken affair we see in the play along with Hamlet's great mental
perturbations” (Taylor 5). Before her very eyes she sees the fall of a noble and
model man. She trusted Hamlet’s word and naively let him pull her along. Hamlet
tells her that he did not love her, to which she replies “I was the more
deceived” (3.1.121). Another possibility, one that makes Ophelia seem more
sympathetic towards Hamlet, is that “What she has seen and what she sees have
both caused her woeful state—the former because of the way Hamlet treated her,
the latter because of her knowledge of her own involvement, however passive,
perhaps even unwilling, in the act of spying” (Taylor 6). In this case, Ophelia
actually understands her part in the plot and her guilt shows that she wishes
she had not been a part of it. She sees the consequences of her blind obedience
to her father. She has lost some of her naivety; however, she does not yet
realize the extent to which she is dependent upon the men in her life.
Even after losing Hamlet, she is able to get along fairly well during the
play scene despite his rude comments to her. He again attacks her in regards to
her sexuality and asks “Lady, shall I lie in your lap?” (3.2.105) and follows
with suggestive assertions as to what lies between a ladies legs—“nothing.”
Showalter explains that in the Elizabethan Era, “nothing” was a slang term for
the female genitalia (284). During this scene, Ophelia is reminded once again
about how she is viewed as a woman in society. She sees that often times, as is
this case with Hamlet, women are viewed and valued mainly for what their bodies
offer.
It is not until she loses her father that Ophelia is finally able to realize how
dependent she is on men and how helpless she is without them. Even after her
realization of powerlessness, Ophelia maintains composure, but losing her father
causes her to crack. At this time, the characters believe that Ophelia has
descended into madness. The Gentleman tells the Queen that:
She speaks much of her father, says she hears
There’s tricks I’the world, and hems, and beats her heart,
Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt
That carry but half sense. Her speech is is nothing. (4.5.4-7)
Although the Gentleman says “her speech is nothing,” he also suggests that her
speech has meaning. He notes that “She speaks much of her father” which shows
that he was a major influence on her life. Without him, she has trouble making
sense of the world, but she is also more aware of what is going on around her.
She notices the deceit, feels the troubles of life, and is offended by the
trivial things in life she didn’t notice before. Her father’s death causes her
to see her true station in life, her naivety, and her dependence on men to tell
her what to do.
Because the other characters believe she is mad, Ophelia is able to
express herself and break the strict social conventions that she is bound by as
a woman. When Ophelia starts singing songs and wandering about dreamily, the
other characters assume that she is suffering from “the extremity of her
emotions, which in such a frail person led to melancholy and eventual breakdown”
(Teker 114). She is able to speak her mind because she is believed to be mad.
Her first speech with the Queen is a shift from her usual, pure, demure
attitude, to a more bawdy and sarcastic attitude. As Campbell observes, Ophelia,
in her madness, moves outside of time and “by publicly alluding to sexual
experience, Ophelia reveals a deeper understanding of worldly issues than an
aristocratic virgin should ever admit, rejecting the essentialized female codes
her father dictated to her and blurring the demarcations between innocence and
subversion” (58). While her speech pattern is different from before, it is not
random. She tells about the baker’s daughter who was turned into an owl for not
giving bread to a beggar, who was Jesus in disguise. She then says, “They say
the owl was a baker’s daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we
may be. God be at your table” (4.5.42-44). This may be a question about
identity. Ophelia understands what she is and what her role is, but she does not
understand her options, what she may be. It may also reflect her recent
understanding that people cannot be judged by appearances or station alone. For
example, while Hamlet appeared to be noble of character, he ultimately rejected
her and lied to her.
Her next songs may also reflect her disappointment with Hamlet. These songs are
about the loss of virginity. In one song, the man, “Let in the maid, that out a
maid / Never departed more” (4.5.54-55). The woman in the next song says,
“Before you tumbled me, / You promised me to wed” (4.5.62-63). These songs may
indicate how Ophelia feels like she was treated by Hamlet. If she lost her
virginity to him, she knows that she has lost her value. Maintaining her
chastity was something her father taught her to value. Her songs reflect the
fear that was instilled in her by her father and brother regarding losing her
virginity. They also reflect her fear of shaming herself and her family. Ophelia
was expected to remain virginal until marriage, and was expected to do as her
father ordered. She may have wanted to express her feelings to Hamlet and felt
he was genuine, but everything falls apart as her father and brother told her it
would. Even after death it is possible that her father still greatly influences
her thoughts and the lessons he taught her are still heavy on her mind.
In her final speech, where she hands out flowers to the people in the court,
Ophelia shows that she finally understands the people around her. Each flower
has meaning and if given to the right person, this scene shows that Ophelia is
too aware to be truly mad. Laertes even makes the comment, “This nothing’s more
than matter” (4.5.169); that her speech seems like nothing, but it is actually
quite moving and revealing. Rosemary, for remembrance, may be intended for King
Hamlet—they should not forget about his death. They may also be intended for
Laertes, as he is the last to speak before Ophelia. Flowers, during the
Renaissance, were often used in the context of funerals, thus Laertes may need
to remember his father (Persoon 70). Pansies, for thought, may be given to
Hamlet because he is a thinker, not an actor. Also, James Persoon explains that
“Pansies are the same flower that elsewhere in Shakespeare are known as love-in-idelness,
called that by maidens because they are ‘purple with love’s wound’ (Midsummer
Night’s Dream.2.1.167-168). Not only are the flowers “wounded” purple; maidens
like Ophelia are also bruised” (70). It is also possible that the rosemary and
pansies suggest sexuality. These flowers were used as “abortifacients in folk
medicine or as inducers of menstruation [and] suggest the mostly unspoken sexual
nature of the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia and highlight the many
images of sex and pregnancy in Ophelia’s bawdy song fragments” (Persoon 70).
Thus, these flowers could be another indication of Ophelia expressing sexual
desires in spite of the repressive society.
As she continues to give out flowers she shows her understanding of people and
of herself. Rue, for repentance, can be given to the Queen and to herself. She
says “you may wear your rue with a difference” (4.5.176-77), suggesting that
they have different reasons to be repentant. Ophelia may feel that she has
failed her duties as a woman and so has the Queen by forgetting her husband or
remarrying too quickly. Ophelia probably remembers her father’s advice to
“Tender yourself more dearly, / Or—not to crack the wind of poor phrase, /
Wronging it thus—you’ll tender me a fool” (1.3.106-8). If her earlier flowers
suggested sexuality, then Ophelia knows she has shamed her family and self and
needs to repent. The daisy, for dissemblance, may be given to the King, who,
after the play scene, shows that he may be hiding something. She says that
violets, for faithfulness, withered when her father died. She still loves her
father and believes he did what was best for her. Although the text does not
make it clear who Ophelia gives each flower to, it still shows that she has some
awareness that each flower symbolizes something. If she were truly mad she would
not be able to understand the deeper meaning of giving someone these flowers.
Ophelia’s final song before her death shows that she is conscious of what death
means and that she feels the people around her may all have reason to repent.
She sings:
And will ‘a not come again?
No, no, he is dead,
Go to thy deathbed,
He never will come again.
…
God ha’ mercy on his soul
And of all Christians’ souls. God be wi’you (4.5.184-93).
Ophelia knows that death is the place “from whose bourn / no traveler returns”
(3.1.80-81). Her father is gone forever; he will never be there to guide her and
she will always feel guilty for letting him down. Also, asks God to have mercy
on all souls, perhaps showing that she sees corruption everywhere and that
everyone needs God’s mercy.
Although Ophelia is free to speak in her madness, she is still not able to
change her fate. Because the other characters believe she is mad, they do not
chastise her for her speech, but they also do not take her seriously. Although
Laertes initially claimed Ophelia’s flower speech had meaning, after she
finishes he remarks, “Thought and afflictions, passions, hell itself / She turns
to favor and to prettiness” (4.5.181-82). Even in madness, Ophelia is a feminine
object, she is pretty and pitiable. Even though Ophelia’s speeches are deeply
revealing about herself and the society that surrounds her, everyone is able to
ignore her truths because they can simply claim she is mad and that there is
“nothing” in her speech. The evils of which she speaks are made pretty because
she is a woman and in madness she is almost adored even more. Many critics have
also felt this way; for example, William Hazzlitt states that Ophelia is "a
character almost too exquisitely touching to be dwelt upon" and called her "a
flower too soon faded” and another critic, Strachey, adds that "in the study of
Ophelia's character […] there [was] more to be felt than to be said [...]
because she [was] a creation of such perfectly feminine proportions and beauty"
(qtd. in Teker 113). Thus, Ophelia is nothing more than a beautiful, mad maiden
who the characters pity, but do not take seriously.
Ophelia understands that it is her madness that allows her to freely
express herself, and she also realizes that she has few options left for
herself. Her father is dead, Hamlet has rejected her, and her brother is
preoccupied with revenge. She has no one to turn to and everyone believes she is
mad. Although Ophelia may not have actively sought out her death, when she
accidently falls into the water, she accepts it. Gertrude explains that Ophelia
fell into the water, at “Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, / As on
incapable of her own distress” (5.1.176-77). Even though she is not capable of
making a choice of whether or not save herself, she is at peace. She accepts the
fact that she is unable to act without someone to tell her what to do.
Some critics have argued that Ophelia did not kill herself; she was
killed by Gertrude. Scholars assert that Gertrude knew the details too well and
left too many questions unanswered, such as why she did not try to save Ophelia
(Loberg 59). With no clear
answer to these questions, many have argued that Gertrude killed Ophelia;
however, the queen’s failure to save her may have resulted from her realization
of Ophelia’s tragedy. Gertrude and Ophelia had many similar dilemmas regarding
their sexuality and their ability to express it. Gertrude’s witnessing of
Ophelia’s death may show that she understands what Ophelia has gone through and
knows the realities of their patriarchal society. The queen does not help,
because like Ophelia, she knows that there is no other escape; she is free in
madness, but still has no autonomy or power.
One explanation for Ophelia’s suicide is that she overheard Hamlet’s “To
be” speech, and was then able to contemplate the subject of life and death
herself. In her essay exploring Ophelia’s madness and death, Magda Romanska
remarks, “With Ophelia absent from “to be or not to be,” her madness and
subsequent death comes somewhat randomly and inexplicably. We are prone to
assume, following Claudius’ oversimplification, that “it’s the poison of deep
grief” over the death of her father that pushes her over the edge” and “She
becomes a character whose thinking we cannot follow: an empty space of
inexplicable and irrational drives prompted by a somewhat unfounded emotional
breakdown” (492-93). Ophelia’s earlier speeches indicate that her grief extends
beyond the loss of her father. Also, it seems possible that Ophelia could have
overheard Hamlet’s speech. As Romanska observes, the stage directions of the
different versions of the play do not have Ophelia exit the stage. In the Second
Quarto direction reads, “Enter Hamlet. [Ophelia pretends to read.].” As she
pretends to read, she could be listening to Hamlet’s speech. Hearing the speech
“gives an intellectual dimension and existential awareness to her character. By
listening to Hamlet, she does participate in man’s, or rather, the human
existential tragedy and commits a very conscious act of ending her own
life as an alternative to the philosopher’s heaviest question” (493). Ophelia
may have become conscious of some of the evils of the world as she listened to
Hamlet’s speech and after seeing his conduct and losing her father, she
understands “The heartache and the thousand natural shocks/ that flesh is heir
to” (3.1.63-4). Ophelia, then chooses for the peaceful death Hamlet describes,
“To die, to sleep—/ No more” (3.1.61-2).
Because of the restrictions on women by society, Ophelia is limited in the
actions she can take to change her situation. Without a man to attach herself to
she has no power and no word. She can choose to live a powerless, essentially
“dead” existence, or to actually die and be free from the will of society. She
tried to do what was expected of her; she obeyed her father despite her own
feelings and desires, but she ultimately suffered for it. She loved Hamlet, but
she could not be with him because her father would not allow it. Hamlet rejects
Ophelia either because she chooses her father over him or because of his
perceived view of her sexuality. In a world dominated by men, Ophelia has little
influence or power. She cannot express herself except in madness, and even then
she is still a feminine object.
Ophelia’s death is tragic because she is
not allowed to take control of her own fate. Hamlet has the means to set his
life straight—he is a man and furthermore, he is a prince. He spends his time
contemplating whether or not to act, but Ophelia does not even have the choice
to act, which is why her character is more tragic than Hamlet’s. She starts well
off, loved by her family and by Hamlet, and then she loses everyone. Her brother
leaves, Hamlet abandons her, and her father is killed. Throughout her life she
has been pulled along by men and the expectations of society. Unlike Hamlet, she
is unable to change her fate even after she realizes what is happening to her.
This realization and powerlessness to fix her life are what make Ophelia’s death
the true tragedy of Hamlet.
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