What do you think the truth is about Ophelia's death? Was it an accident, suicide, or something more sinister?
17 Comments
Jared Fogarty
2/19/2015 08:43:14 am
Although Ophelia did die suddenly, I do not think that her death was premeditated. There is no one else that had the guts and the motives to kill her. The queen may not have liked Ophelia, but no one named Gertrude can ever be capable of murder. Gertrude was in a very compromised state herself anyway.
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Cassie
2/19/2015 10:23:40 pm
Your statement about no one being named Gertrude and their capabilities to commit murder has a good point; but, let us consider the fact that she could have used that to her advantage. No one suspects a Gertrude of murder, even you Jared, yet it is the ones who you would not expect who commit the most shocking crimes. Shakespeare must have taken this into consideration, because by leaving it open ended with no evidence against Gertrude she gets away without even an accusation (except by Mrs.Shultz). Gertrude and Ophelia are the only females in the play, surrounded completely by dumb men. Both were obviously going a little mad and Gertrude obviously did not like the attention Ophelia was getting by being crazy. The only solution was to be crazy too. Killing her would be an act of lunacy, if she was seen it would get her all the attention of Hamlet and Ophelia and she could be the talk of the castle again. At the same time, if she did not get caught she got rid of her nemesis. Poor Ophelia never saw it coming and was insane on her own, without alternative motives as Gertrude and Hamlet. The queen got away with the perfect crime; never underestimate a Gertrude.
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Remington Schneider
2/19/2015 11:39:22 pm
I think that Mrs. Schultz should keep Gertrude the cat under close watch considering this fact. She could be plotting a big crime when Mrs. Schultz is at school and nobody would expect it to be the cat so Gertrude thinks she can get away with it. Watch out Mrs. Schultz.
Hank Larson
2/19/2015 11:31:40 pm
I agree with Jared on Ophelia's death. Her death seems too much like an accident to not be one and it does not seem like anyone despises her so much that they would want to kill her. However, like Jared said, it appears that someone could have done something to prevent Ophelia's death. I don't think that Ophelia would try to kill herself in order to rid herself of the pain of her father's death. Even though her father just died, she still had her Brother, Laertes, whom she had a strong sibling bond with and loved very much. It doesn't seem like anyone, including Ophelia herself, would have the motives to kill Ophelia.
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Taylor Leach
4/1/2015 06:13:31 am
I agree with Cassie on this. I think that the Queen did have motives to kill Ophelia and that riding her life of the girl was the perfect solution. With the Queen going mad on her own, her morals were compromised making it easier to commit murder. I don't think it was entirely premeditated though. I think that the Queen simply say the opportunity and acted out of emotion in killing Ophelia. The Queen knew that Ophelia was in a vulnerable state and it would seem like a suicide, making it the perfect time to act.
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Nate
2/20/2015 04:53:56 am
Ophelia's death was random especially when you look at it from a writing perspective. I don't really see a point in Ophelia dying, although it was her death that brought Hamlet back into the story to interact with the other characters. Im pretty sure that Ophelia committed suicide or fell off the tree by accident. Her going insane could have served as some kind of contrast with Hamlet's madness. Ophelia's death could have been due to any of the characters, but we never find out. Perhaps Frankenstein killed her?
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Alison Von Haden
2/20/2015 07:46:00 am
I agree with you Nate that Ophelia’s death brought Hamlet back into the story at the end. However, I believe that her death is important because the play is meant to be a tragedy and all of the main characters in the play ended up dying due to something. Shakespeare had most of the main characters die during the bloodbath at the end. He maybe wanted to have Ophelia die too but have her death be not as gruesome as the others but (in his eyes) happy, making her death an accident.
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Cole Snyder
3/9/2015 12:32:11 pm
I agree with you that it was random. I don't think there was really a point to her death, other than what Alison said. The story is a tragedy but still, it was ridiculous and pointless. Also, I believe she killed herself due to all of the grief that Hamlet put her through. Back in those days, what she did was considered very bad and he knew that it would eat away at her, so in a way it was a degree of murder...
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Natalie Carlberg
2/23/2015 06:16:31 am
Ophelia knew that she was not liked by some people like the queen. She also went through a rough patch where her father was killed by the man she thought she loved. She also ended up finding out that Hamlet maybe never did love her like she thought. With all of these things added up maybe she did commit suicide because she was overwhelmed with everything that was going on and did not know what else to do. This is definitely an option and then maybe she tried to pinpoint it on the queen or something too since she must have been there to see it. It is for sure a strange death but strange things happened all throughout the play so it just goes along with it!
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Sara King
2/25/2015 12:08:53 am
I agree with Natalie, Ophelia probably committed suicide because she felt her life was pointless and was overwhelmed by the amount of stress she had and dislike she had from others. A lot of her stress was related to Hamlet due to how badly he treated her and disrespected her with inappropriate comments. I think Ophelia just wanted to die and not be a part of life anymore. Maybe this was her way of "getting back" at Hamlet for how badly he treated her and how he broke his word by not marrying her. Either way, Ophelia wanted to die and committed suicide in my opinion.
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Mitchell Johnson
2/26/2015 04:45:56 am
Though there is a lot of evidence that support someone killing Ophelia, her committing suicide, or simply the whole ordeal being an accident. I think the "accident" was just that, an accident. Ophelia has gone over the edge of sanity with both her father dying, and Hamlet relentlessly slandering her, so I don't think Ophelia is even in a state to consider suicide. The idea with Ophelia having a killer, doesn't quite fit considering the state she's in, like who would kill someone in their worst state, because Ophelia is definitely hit rock bottom. So seeing it in this light I have concluded that she nor anyone else killed her, her death was simply an unfortunate accident.
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Aidan Manley
3/9/2015 02:13:37 am
While I agree that her death was not premeditated, I do believe that it was a suicide. As you mentioned, she had hit rock bottom, and really had nothing more to live for. I think that when the tree branch broke and she fell into the water, she saw it as a convenient opportunity to end her suffering, and decided not to fight to live anymore. Essentially, she didn't plan to kill herself, but a golden opportunity to die appeared and she decided to take that option rather than continue living her life at rock bottom.
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Nate Day
4/1/2015 05:57:18 am
I agree. I feel that if Ophelia was killed it would have been part of the story. There is no point in Ophelia having a killer if it is never investigated or brought up. Therefore it had to be an accident or suicide. There are reasons for both happening. I think Shakespeare intended for this just to have some debate going on on the side for the readers.
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Faith
3/1/2015 03:54:15 am
I do think Ophelia's death was an accident, but she sure wasn't doing anything to prevent it. Ophelia was obviously distraught over the death of the father and (like Mitchell said) the constant slandering by Hamlet, so she wasn't in her right mind. By accident she ended up falling in the river, and since she wasn't sane, she drowned. Accidental drowning is probably a better fate for Ophelia since her recent bout with craziness was going to get her killed eventually. I don't think her death at this point was murder because she wasn't insane long enough for someone to deem that was really her problem and she must be dealt with. If she had acted crazy for a longer period, I might think her death was murder or suicide, but since her insanity and death occurred in close proximity, I think it was an accident.
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Miranda
3/22/2015 03:55:39 am
I agree with Faith. While I do not really believe that Ophelia was full blown insane, there was definitely something going on in her head preventing complete sanity. While she could have had thoughts of suicide because of all of the confusion in her life, I do not think that she took her death into her own hands. She has a brother who just lost his father as well, I doubt that Ophelia would deliberately leave him with no family. Ophelia was probably just trying to have a nice relaxing day, and to clear her mind of all of the craziness going around. She just happened to pick the wrong branch to sit on.
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Pearl Davis
3/8/2015 11:53:19 pm
I think that Ophelia's death was a suicide. She obviously isn't entirely aware of her world, and I think in her "crazy" state, she kills herself. I believe that with a mixture of her depression and general confusion with her situation, she takes her own life. I doubt it is an entirely conscious choice, as she seems solidly lost following the death of her father. Though this is what I believe, I think that it is difficult to fully know if that is the cause of her death without knowing more about Ophelia.
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Tyler Ellefson
3/27/2015 12:52:57 am
I believe that Ophelia's death was no accident. Much like Mrs. Schultz, I have a hunch that she was murdered by Gertrude. I came to this conclusion at the end of the novel when Gertrude purposefully drinks from the poisoned cup and kills herself. This points to the fact that she was overcome with guilt about something more than being with Claudius. The fact that she chose to take her own life is indicative that she did something much worse and I believe this to be the murdering of Ophelia.
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