Hamlet #7

     Poor Ophelia has become overtaken by insanity in response to her father's murder. She mopes around the castle, and she is now singing her way through life with hopeless songs about betrayal and sorrow. This side of Ophelia is the third and final phase of her character. Ophelia begins as the loving and honest 'girlfriend' of Hamlet. When Polonius and Cluadius order her to spy on Hamlet, she is forced into deception and falsehood, which Hamlet heavily criticizes and mocks. The extreme polarity of these identities, added to the unforeseen death of her father, launches Ophelia into a bewildered state of insanity. Her lunacy tends to differ from Hamlet's perceived madness because Ophelia does not feel angered by the murder, but instead she is devastated, weakened, and physically and mentally destroyed. As she wanders about the castle, she sings; perhaps because she no longer trusts the value of words. She is not simply rhyming her speech, but she is trying to express the depth her pain and emotions. This is the first time where the audience witnesses the boldness of Ophelia and her emotions ruling over her reason.
     In my opinion, the most depressing line of the play thus far is when Ophelia begins to distribute the flowers. Flowers become very symbolic in her for this section, perhaps because they are a beautiful piece of nature that she believes cannot betray her. She begins to distribute the flowers, and she gives rue to Laertes, which symbolizes sorrow or repentance. Then, in the heart wrenching remark she says, "There's a daisy. I would / give you some violets, but they withered all when / my father died" (IV.v.207-09). Ophelia is not guilty of any crime except for trusting and loving. To hear her say that all of the violets, which symbolize faithfulness, have died, it symbolizes how she no longer has anything for which to hope or live. As Hamlet voiced, when the pain of living overbears the fear of the unknown, people will be courageous enough to end their mortal suffering. "The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to- 'tis a consummation / Devoutly to be wished" (III.i.70-72).