Blog #23: Hamlet Act 4

Hamlet Reacts to Ophelia's' Death

How quick life is. How permanent is the consequence of death that follows it. They made quite the ordeal of your tragic death, publishing stories in the newspaper. A fellow named Seng I believe authored it. He calls you "mentally deranged" (217).  Perhaps I may know a thing or two about being mad.  So mad, in fact, my dearest Polonius desperately tried to find the causes of my problems. "Mad let us grant him, then: and now remains/ That we find out the cause of this effect," (2.2.100-101). Yet, my madness did not drive me to my death. I am sorry to hear of you this way, Ophelia, but I can do nothing but pity you.

What dreams we had when we were young and innocent, unaffected by the daunting world around us. "I lov'd Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/ Could not (with all their quantity of love), make up my sum"(5.1.216-217).  And even my mother, who herself knows not how to love, could recognize the true nature of our love. She remarked, "I hop'd thou shouldst been my Hamlet's wife"(5.1.91) But I suppose the heavens would not allow it.

And just hopeful and optimistic the future was for us, it quickly turned sour. "The distorted vision of the world that Polonius and Laertes impress on Ophelia in this episode is clearly beginning of her tragedy"(222). It was your father and brother that cast the first stones that led to your demise. It was their attempt at support that ultimately left you unsupported and unhinged. You were all too willing to blindly follow their words and suggestions for you, and as a result, your vision of the truth was distorted beyond repair. As Seng says, "For indeed, she had believed in Hamlet, and, as it turns out, though tragically and too late, her trust was not misplaced"(221).  I can not completely blame your family for your downfall, but there is truthfully no others to place the blame. Your brother claimed my love was "A violet in the youth of primy nature"(1.3.7) That it was fragile and would wither away time passed. From your father it was much the same. "Affection! Pooh! you speak like a green girl,/ unsifted in such perilous circumstance"(1.3.101-102). Perhaps in a way, they were correct. I can not claim to love you as unequivocally as I did in the past. I am shocked at how quickly things have changed in Elsinore, a place so beautiful and radiant just a short time ago. But it is different now. You are gone. Your mind lost far before you were proclaimed dead. I wish it could have ended differently for all of us. But I suppose it was never meant to be. Goodbye Ophelia.