Theme Of Ophelia's Death In Hamlet

In Hamlet, a play, by William Shakespeare there is various deaths that occur as the play progresses. First is the death of King Hamlet, then the death of Ophelia and the death of Queen Gertrude. Gertrude is the queen of Denmark the mother of Hamlet and is recently remarried with her brother in law Claudius. King Hamlet is assassinated by his own brother Claudius, who is now married to Queen Gertrude. Ophelia is Hamlet’s lover who died by drowning in a river. Shakespeare portrays Gertrude as a strong and emotionally distant character. Her reaction to the deaths of others and herself is distant. Gertrude’s lack of reaction to death allows characters to focus on themselves rather than on how she’s feeling. When King Hamlet died, Gertrude didn’t …show more content…
In Act 3, scene 4, after the reenactment of the the death of King Hamlet. Gertrude and Hamlet proceeded to a heated up conversation. “What have I done, that thou dar’st wag thy tongue in noise so rude against me?” (III,IV,44-45). Even after the Queen witnessed Hamlet killing Polonius she is very cold towards his death. She acts as if nothing had happened, instead the Queen is more worried about her own life than what she had just witnessed. The Queen could have reasonably been scared about her own life when her son had just killed a family friend, but she should have shown a little more sympathetic emotion towards Polonius corpse laying in front of her. The Queen can still be scared for her life, but maybe by sharing her emotions with Hamlet, he wouldn’t have killed Polonius in the first place. As a result, he would have be able to open up to his mother more about his problems instead of wanting to avenge his father 's death. The Queen is a really tough woman who isn’t afraid of her own death because it is something that she has been getting used to witnessing after having to deal with the deaths of many loved …show more content…
Who is distant toward every character to allow them to be themselves without having her emotions affect them. The Queen has a neutral reaction to death it can be her on death, her husband 's death or her friend death and she would express the same feeling towards it. It makes it seem as if she is a stranger to the people she is surrounded by. Gertrude might be this way because she wants the people that look up to think that she is a strong woman who truly deserved the hierarchy in which she is in. The message that Hamlet sends to the audience is still relevant today in the 21st century. Death isn’t something we should be scared of instead it is a normal thing that everyone will eventually go throught. Many people act different towards death but at the end of the day we all have our own ways of coping with