The Song Suicide Is Painless By Marilyn Manson

By his cockle hat and staff and his sandal shoon.” (V. IV. 23-26) This shows how Ophelia has became crazy over Hamlet’s inability to show affection towards her and him rejecting her. Ophelia’s madness soon spirals into her commuting suicide by drowning herself in the river. This can be linked to Nietzche’s statement that there is some madness in love, as Ophelia’s love for Hamlet caused her to become crazy. Hamlet also shows signs of madness due to his relationship with Ophelia. Throughout the play it is unknown to the audience if Hamlet truly has feelings for Ophelia. It is not until Act V that the audience becomes aware of Hamlet’s true feelings when he finds out about Ophelia’s death, Hamlet states, “ I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?” (V.I. 255-257) This shows how Hamlet become mad with rage and sorrow as he hears of her death, finally revealing his true feelings. This relates to Nietzche’s statement that there is some madness in love, as Hamlet has not been able to show his true feeling for Ophelia, and once he become aware of her death he is filled with sorrow. This madness is shown when Hamlet develops a plan to fool everyone to thinking he is crazy.

However, Hamlet proceeds to murder and hide the body of Polonius, which leads to Ophelia’s insanity and the scene where everyone dies, as well as the completely senseless murders of minor characters Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. Speaking of Ophelia’s madness, it becomes apparent to the audience that she is well and truly insane, when she enters, singing, “They bore him barefaced on the bier;/Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny;/And in his grave rain'd many a tear:--/Fare you well, my dove!” which, even by the archaic standards of Shakespeare, is complete and utter nonsense. Ophelia, apparently, due to rejection by Hamlet, her boyfriend, and the death of her father, had become hysterical, possibly having PTSD. PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a mental disease commonly found among soldiers, but can be caused by the murders of close family members, and does result in delusions. Whatever the case may have been, Ophelia later commits suicide by drowning herself in the river, possibly due to delusions, or out of depression over her father’s death. Whatever the case may be, both Hamlet and Ophelia are prime examples of insanity and madness within Shakespeare’s writings.

The character of Ophelia is an excellent element of drama used to develop interpretations of Shakespeare’s text. At the beginning of the play, she is happy and in love with Hamlet, who first notices her beauty and then falls in love with her. The development of Ophelia’s madness and the many factors that contributed to her suicide are significant parts of the plot. “Her madness was attributed to the extremity of her emotions, which in such a frail person led to melancholy and eventual breakdown” (Teker, par. 3). The character of Ophelia in Zieffirelli’s version is the personification of a young innocent girl. “Her innocence is mixed with intelligence, keen perception, and erotic awareness” (Teker, par. 13). This Ophelia is a victim

Her death however has both innocent and corrupt overtones. She shows the innocence of women by drowning in a creek in a pure white dress. Water and white being symbols for purity and innocence. Yet, however he death may seem pure, it manipulates the male characters, Laertes and Hamlet. The death of Ophelia causes Laertes and Hamlet to dual. This ultimately ends in the death of both men, and other characters. In life, Ophelia was manipulated by the men around her, but in death Ophelia manipulates the men still living.

It is widely believed that “Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself” and this holds true for Hamlet’s Ophelia. Ophelia’s death symbolizes a life spent passively tolerating Hamlet’s manipulations and the restrictions imposed by those around her, while struggling to maintain the last shred of her dignity. Ophelia’s apathetic reaction to her drowning suggests that she never had control of her own life, as she was expected to comply with the expectations of others. Allowing the water to consume her without a fight alludes to Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia as merely a device in his personal agenda. Her apparent suicide denotes a desire to take control of her life for once. Ophelia’s death is, arguably, an honorable one,

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia is the most static character in the play. Instead of changing through the course of the play, she remains suffering in the misfortunes perpetrated upon her. She falls into insanity and dies a tragic death. Ophelia has issues surviving without a male influence, and her downfall is when all the men in her life abandon her. Hamlet’s Ophelia, is a tragic, insane character that cannot exist on her own.

Ophelia is Hamlet’s love interest throughout the entire play. However, in an attempt to be strategic, Hamlet feigns insanity in order to be deceiving and in turn breaks Ophelia's heart. His sudden disinterest towards her coupled with her father Polonius and brother Laertes’ commands to stay away from Hamlet composes a dire internal conflict within Ophelia's mind. She is torn between her undying love for Hamlet versus her desire to be an obedient daughter and sister. In addition, Hamlet unintentionally murders Polonius rather than Claudius, which also adds to Ophelia's insanity. To make matter worse, Ophelia has no mother figure within her life. So taken all together, she is stuck in a constant battle within herself with nobody who is there for her. “I hope all will be well. We must be patient/ but I cannot choose but weep/ to think they would lay him/ i' th' cold ground” (Hamlet v, iv). This quote from Ophelia demonstrates her deep sorrow towards her father's death, as well as the start of her path to insanity. Her lack of a maternal figure leaves her with nobody to discuss her feelings and troubles with. Because of this constant battle within her life, Ophelia finds herself in a confrontation with her emotions, which ends in her official decision of suicide. Which one could argue makes her decisive in the end which may be true, but her internal struggle leading to her choice of suicide is what makes her a great example of a character struggling with uncertainty during times of

Ophelia can be portrayed as having little power, which is evident in her obedience to her father in 1.3. However, Ophelia's final act is of defiance in her use of flowers to mark the bad qualities of other characters. The symbolism of the flowers is a very feminine way to express that the corruption of Denmark is disguised, much like how the pretty flowers represent something deeper. Ophelia dies a tragic death, but it is unclear whether or not it was suicide, but Shakespeare's imagery depicts her death in a frail beauty, much like the flowers earlier in the act represent qualities such as innocence are

of her madness, she dies by drowning, but whether or not it is suicide is left

   Michael Pennington in “Ophelia: Madness Her Only Safe Haven,” elucidates the character of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet:

    Ophelia falls to the floor, her screams contrasting eerily with the song pieces she uses as her speech.  In an instant she is writhing and thrusting her pelvis in such a gross sexual manner that it becomes clear that, in his film interpretation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh wants to imply a strong relationship between female insanity and female sexuality.  Such a relationship is exactly what Elaine Showalter discusses in her essay -- "Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism" -- "I will be showing first of all the representational bonds between female insanity and female sexuality" (Showalter 223).

The word “pitied” suggests that Ophelia is deeply affected after the death of Polonius and also alludes to her loneliness. This internal conflict is more important than Ophelia’s outward conflict as Ophelia commits suicide as a result of it.

In this scene, Ophelia feels inner conflict because she is no longer sure that sleeping with Hamlet before marriage was the correct thing to do. Ophelia is having a lot of doubts about the decision that she has made, and this can be connected to her decision of whether to end her life or not. Eventually Ophelia decides that she can not live through the pain any further and drowns herself in a river. This is not the only instance in which Ophelia felt a large amount of inner conflict, another example is during Act I, Scene iii, when Laertes confronts Ophelia about her relationship with Hamlet: “Perhaps he loves you now… but you must fear, his greatness weigh’d, his will is not his own.” (I, iii, 25-28). At this point, Ophelia feels that her love towards Hamlet is reciprocated and she is not sure why Laertes is doubting her relationship so much. However, when Polonius joins the conversation and tells Ophelia to end the relationship, she responds with: “I do not know my Lord what I should think.” (I, III, 103). This shows how Ophelia is conflicted whether she should go with her own feelings, and keep seeing Hamlet, or to listen to her father as he should know what's best for her. Eventually, Ophelia decides that her feelings towards Hamlet do not matter, because Polonius wants her to end the relationship so she must do what he

The painting Ophelia is based on William Shakespeare’s play the Helmet. The play was characterized with passion, conflicts and power. One of the characters, Claudius, feels envy towards his brother who is the ruler of Denmark. Other characters are Ophelia and Hamlet who are in love each other. Then Hamlet develops a great desire to avenge his father while Ophelia feels that she is responsible for Hamlet’s problems. Ophelia decides to commit suicide due to the guilt. Hence, the Ophelia painting is a continuation of what follows after Ophelia kills

As a result of spending her life under the protection of her father and his orders, due to her submissive nature, Ophelia remains naive and unaware of the deceit and bitterness surrounding her which renders her incapable of facing the harsh realities of life once her father dies and Hamlet leaves her. After the death of her father and with the absence of both Laertes and Hamlet from her life at the time, Ophelia is driven to madness and Gertrude explains it the King: “She speaks much of her father, says she hears there’s tricks i ' the ' world, and hems, and beats her heart, spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt that carry but half sense.” Finally seeing the grim reality of her surroundings without her father to hide behind, Ophelia loses her sanity and eventually end her own life as she no longer knows how to lead an independent life. In conclusion, Ophelia is portrayed as a puppet on strings being pulled around by the males in her life, making all her decisions and controlling what she can and can’t do, and once all the men are gone, she no longer able to function on her own and she ends her life as a result.