Ophelia's Suicide Essay

The character of Ophelia in Hamlet enters the play as a content, though naïve, young woman. However, Hamlet’s apparent rejection of her love and her father’s subsequent murder drive all reason from her head. She reverts to a simple-minded state, entering a world of madness. Because she is incapable of rational thought, Ophelia’s death is an accident rather than a suicide.A primary indicator of the accidental nature of Ophelia’s death is that it does not conform to traditional tragic suicide. Suicides in Shakespeare’s plays are usually dramatic scenes in which the character(s) go out in a brief blaze of glory, often uttering a dying declamation. Such is the case in Romeo and Juliet, in which each character professes their undying love for the

On the other hand, the description of Ophelia drowning is serene and almost poetic, a gentle transition into death. Ophelia blissfully sings hymns as she makes her way to the water, emphasizing her innocence and purity. She gives no indication of forethought to her actions. In the manner of her death, Shakespeare sets her apart from the others. Suicide is the conscious act of ending one’s own life. If Ophelia is mad and unaware of her actions, then she cannot willingly plunge to her death. In her childlike state of mind, she climbs the tree in order to adorn it with flower wreaths. She ventures onto a weak limb hanging over the water, which breaks beneath her weight. Ophelia falls rather than jumps into the water, as evidenced by the queen’s words, “There on the pendant boughs, her coronet weeds clamb’ring to hang, an envious sliver broke” (IV, vii, 172-173). Once in the water, she does not resist or struggle against sinking because she lacks the ability to recognize danger. Although this could be interpreted as passive acceptance of her impending demise, she sings as she disappears beneath the surface. She has no sense of doom or peril; indeed, the queen describes her as “one incapable of her own distress” (IV, vii,