Ophelia By Jimmy Guancione

                Ophelia was an innocent girl. Her only mistake which was loving the crazed prince of Denmark. She was a normal girl. Her father had a good job as an adviser to the king and she was happy with hamlet. He told her he loved her but that would not last. After Hamlets father’s death and his mothers quick remarriage the prince seemed to have gone mad. Her father Polonius was convinced that she was the cause for Hamlets madness. He told her to stop seeing the prince. He was not sure about Hamlets intentions for her and didn’t want her getting hurt. Ophelia obeyed this order and agreed to stop seeing him. This lead to hamlet becoming angry and when she tried to return his things, Hamlet became enraged, confessing he never loved her.

                The strain of loving someone you can’t see and then having him say that he lied to you just to get with you, has to put incredible strain on a young girl. Not to mention that this person would later go on to kill your father by accident and have to leave for another country, possibly never to come back.  Ophelia must have been under enormous mental strain. You cannot blame her for going pretty much insane. After all of this stress who wouldn't think about taking the easy way out. Even Hamlet in his to be or not to be speech discussed it. Ophelia was not like Hamlet in this way though. Unlike Hamlet she did not dwell on the thought and made up her mind long before hamlet made up his about killing his uncle.

                I believe that she chose to end the stress and the pain. She apparently slipped and fell into the river. This may be true but she didn’t try to save herself from drowning. She simply let it happen. I believe this is evidence of her choice. Some may say that she took a cowardice way out, but at least poor Ophelia had the courage to make her choice and see her decision through. She may have chosen death but she showed strength in this arguably more than Hamlet showed in the entire play. Even when faced with death Ophelia sang and showed her young and free spirit. She was a normal girl, a girl that only wanted love, but was plagued by tragedy and heartbreak. She was a girl that was consumed by the madness that was going on in Denmark and took her own way out. But she does deserve a christian burial because she was forced to this decision from all of these tragedies and stress. This led to her madness and she should not be punished because of it. She should be remembered for her strength, and innocence. May she rest in peace.