Poor Ophelia! In Act Four, Scene Five of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia wanders the grounds draped in flowers and singing mad songs. She has recently been through several major traumas: her father, Polonius, has died (murdered by Hamlet), Hamlet himself has rejected her love, bidding her to "get thee to a nunnery," and her brother, Laertes, is not present to support her through these losses. The grief has driven Ophelia to the brink of madness,...
Poor Ophelia! In Act Four, Scene Five of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia wanders the grounds draped in flowers and singing mad songs. She has recently been through several major traumas: her father, Polonius, has died (murdered by Hamlet), Hamlet himself has rejected her love, bidding her to "get thee to a nunnery," and her brother, Laertes, is not present to support her through these losses. The grief has driven Ophelia to the brink of madness, which alarms Gertrude and inspires pity in Horatio.
It is later revealed that Laertes has actually sailed back from France in secret, but even his re-appearance can't draw Ophelia out from her crazed state. Although it does not happen in this particular scene, it will not be long before Ophelia drowns herself in the river. Tragically for this young heroine, lost love and the death of family is enough to destroy her reason and will to live.
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