How Is Hamlet Rationalize Ophelia's Suicide

Ophelia’s Suicide: A Case of a Stolen Life
In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, whether Ophelia killed herself, or died by accident, as Gertrude seemed to believe, remains unanswered in the play. Ophelia experiences many personal tragedies, troubles and, finally, “madness” before her untimely death. One can infer that Shakespeare intended her death to be suicide because Ophelia was not given a proper Christian burial and she was in despair. The other members of the court rationalize her death as an act of insanity. Though Ophelia seemed to have moments of madness, her decision to kill herself was rational. By committing suicide, Ophelia took control of her life, which had been stolen from her by Hamlet and her father, Polonius. Ophelia’s act of suicide was brought on not by her lunacy, but as a reasoned act in reaction to her feeling that she had no other option because the people around her that she had trusted had used her and mistreated her.
Ophelia’s father used her in order to gain approval in the court and help king Claudius keep the throne. He does not care that his actions will in turn negatively affect Ophelia; in fact it is unclear if he even thinks about how his actions will impact her at all. In act three scene …show more content…
She thought things out and was an articulate, thoughtful young woman. Ophelia’s suicide was a calculated response to the situation she was put in. The only way Ophelia could take back her life was to end it, taking control of herself one last time. Though she went through a time at the end of her life where she was seen as having gone mad, her suicide was not a result of sheer craziness. That Ophelia was such a rational and normal young woman driven to suicide by the acts of those around her is what makes her death more heartbreaking to the audience and completes Shakespeare’s design of Hamlet as a