A brief introduction to Hamlet
"Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," is a play written by William Shakespeare between 1599 and 1601. It deals with a wide range of topics spanning from love, death, religion, faith, incest, ghosts, madness, and at the start of everything, the most ancient archetype of rivalry of them all: sibling rivalry. (If this doesn't sell the play to you, nothing will!) The play is set in the castle of Elsinore, Denmark. Prince Hamlet must avenge his father, who has been murdered by his brother Claudius so that he could seize the throne and marry the prince's mother, Gertrude. Hamlet is told all of this by the ghost of his father himself. Now, the prince must decide when and how to kill his uncle Claudius. His chosen mode of action is to feign madness and ultimately murder his uncle.
Ophelia
Ophelia is one of the only two female characters in the play, alongside Gertrude. She is the daughter of Polonius, Claudius' chief councillor, and sister to Laertes. She is Hamlet’s main love interest. Ultimately, Ophelia kills herself after the exile of Hamlet and the involuntary murder of her father, Polonius, caused by the prince himself.
Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais, 1851–52
A summary of Act 4, Scene 5
In this scene, Ophelia enters Elsinore's hall where Gertrude and Claudius are present. Despite Gertrude's cries, Ophelia continues to sing about a man buried and adorned with "sweet flowers." Here, we can clearly and categorically see Ophelia’s display of madness and insanity. The scene is interrupted by a messenger who tells Claudius that Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, has taken it upon himself to storm Elsinore to avenge his father, Polonius. After a confrontation between Laertes and the King, Ophelia enters, where she hands out different flowers to the people present. This is the last time we see Ophelia before her suicide.
The flowers and their symbolism
In this scene, she hands out rosemary and pansies to her brother Laertes ('There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance / Pray you, love, remember. And there are pansies, / that’s for thoughts'). With the rosemary, she is asking Laertes to remember the way she was and their close relationship prior to her madness, as she knows she is going to die soon. Pansies were seen as a symbol of remembrance, purity, and innocence. To the King, she hands out fennel and columbines ('There's fennel for you, and columbines; there's rue for you, and here's some for me'). Fennel represents adultery and flattery, while columbines are frequently associated with love and romance, and the fear of doing something sinful in the eyes of God. These flowers are a clear reference to the King's unfaithfulness. As quoted, she then hands out rue to the Queen and keeps some for herself, which is known for its symbolic meaning of regret.
Ophelia by Alexandre Cabanel, 1883
Ophelia, a feminist analysis Ophelia by John Waterhouse's, 1894
Ophelia is immediately shown to be obedient and submissive. For example, when her father forbids her to accept the affections demonstrated by Hamlet she responds with “I shall obey, my lord”. She is just a pawn in the eyes of the men in her life, whether she’s being used to discover the root of Hamlet's madness or be a way for Hamlet to demonstrate his insanity to Polonus and his family. Even in death she isn’t considered a real human being with complex emotions and thoughts; they consider her death to potentially be an accident, an aesthetically feminine beautiful accident. Even to critics or viewers she is either the villain or a saint, putting her into a box, furthering the notion that Ophelia is almost not human capable of independence. To Gertrude her suicide appears so beautiful and adorned with flowers that Ophelia seems “incapable of her own distress” (IV.V.100). As we have seen
after being silenced and stripped of her independence her entire life it only makes sense she can exclusively communicate through flowers, allusions and intentions. To quote the essay ‘The Anatomy of Madness: Ophelia and the Body’ “The King and Queen seek to make Hamlet's manifestations of melancholy intelligible (...) Ophelia, however, is deprived of language and so she must use the language of the body to communicate her grief. She resorts to a complex symbolism, distributing flowers loaded with meaning and singing bawdy songs, a modified and abstracted form of speech.” Returning to the flowers, when Ophelia is being buried Laertes says the following: “May violets spring!”. Violets symbolise modesty and chastity, even at her funeral the importance of controlling the young girl overrides any sentimental value the funeral should hold.
Flowers are a symbol for Ophelia herself, they are something considered so fragile and beautiful that they should be taken, without consent or regard to their mortality, in order to secure and protect the beauty it holds.
beautifully written!