opheliaaa

Elizabethan beliefs

Flowers’ meaning
Ophelia represented the floral motif. Being a female in a kingdom filled with chaos and deceptions, the innocent Ophelia was suppressed by manipulation to obey to the main men in her life, her father and brother.

§ Ophelia dances around and sings songs that are difficult to understand but are full of meaning. During the Elizabethan era, flowers were used to fend off bad spirits and also to symbolize ideas. Ophelia shows how she feels about the people and situations surrounding her through distributing flowers.
§ With the willow tree and flowers, Ophelia attempted to artificially reconstruct the court at Elsinore as the natural world.

Christian burial

Hamlet’s eulogy to Ophelia

Ophelia--I caused your mind to lie in pieces before us. I was not aware this is your burial. I -I-I did not know you died-ed and I had just stumbled upon this by accident. In the midst of my troubles and agonies, all affections appeared futile. My love for you was hopeless, and I had to avenge my father’s death. I could not reveal to you how my life and purposes have changed. I then played the madman most to you, the cruelty warranted by your obedience. Under the command of your father, you betrayed me. You let your brother and father convince you to deceive me. Any willfulness you had was overridden by your father and brother’s demands. None of your acts stemmed from your will. But you unknowingly acted as bait to hook me to into a death trap. And I rebuked you for your betrayal. I see now you were victimized by the actions of those around you. Through it all, you were loving, innocent, and simply obedient. Perhaps, Ophelia, you were too virtuous for this corrupt world. And to think, the world could have corrupted you as it has corrupted my mother. Even before your death, Polonius, your “fishmonger”, used your sexuality for his purposes. Such outward circumstances separated us. You doubted my love and believed me to be insane, and I doubted womankind and believed you to be contaminated by your father, Claudius. But you did become his willing agent. That is why I warned you to fly from the contamination of this world to a nunnery. He abused the natural bond between the two of you while you relied on him for guidance. As I departed for England and left you without a promise of marriage, you found out that I, the man you loved, killed him. His death and my departure drove you mad. It was then you abandoned this world of appearances. You found yourself cheated of the happiness you expected. Through your singing using flower imagery, you spoke the truth in your madness. You reverted to an innocence no one else possessed. Before you went mad, even your love was muted and repressed by the forces that overwhelmed you.
*Turning to talk to the gravediggers*
The young, beautiful, harmless Ophelia deserves a Christian burial in her untimely death. From her aimless, broken speeches about unrequited love to quick transitions from joy to sadness... her despair was apparent. The increasing psychological pain I have caused her may have driven her to her madness, but how she died has to be an accident. Although she would have wanted to be rid of the pain and grief, it’s undeniable that she was deprived of any reaction after falling into the brook. Once she fell into the water, she likely was not capable of fighting against the relentless currents of the water. Even then, Ophelia could have been incapable of reason at the time of her death. While I do not believe Ophelia is capable of committing an offense against God, against the king, and against Nature... If she did self-destruct, her despair over actions out of her control and within mine makes me responsible. Ophelia - If you have let your life go along with the waters of the stream. Then, I alone is responsible for that as your madness, which I caused, killed you. First I, feigning madness, rejected you, and then, I killed your father.