The Deaths of Gertrude and Ophelia in Hamlet The Queen gives an extraordinarily detailed account of Ophelia's death suggesting that she may have witnessed the event. We know that he emphasized Ophelia's suffering to such an extent that perhaps he realized that the kindest action to take would be to let Ophelia decide her own fate, even though he was clearly in no state of mind to do so and he was barely aware. of his environment “incapable of its own anguish”. Ophelia's death is "beautified" as she dies in a romantic and beautiful scene befitting her character where she was surrounded by her garland of flowers. (Ophelia herself was "embellished" in a letter from Hamlet that Polonius found to be a "vile sentence.") There are many details that lead me to believe that Gertrude is trying to soften the blow for Laertes who is already enraged by the death of his father. the death and madness of his sister; the king says: "How much I had to do to calm his anger." This is a typically selfish reaction from Claudius that serves to highlight Laertes' need to control his grief, as he is an extremely fiery character. Ophelia died after picking flowers from a stream. I think he was collecting them to distribute to the court, as he did after his father's death. Flowers are a symbol of innocence, pure and easily destructible. The tree she crawled up while gathering these wreaths was a willow, which is usually associated with weeping and grief, something we assigned to Ophelia's “watery” (perhaps tearful) character. The branches of a willow tree hang downwards towards the ground, indicating pain. The personification also extends to his robes which were “too heavy for the heir's drinking.” The… middle of the paper… and his actions do not reflect this thought now, he had previously written her a note saying: “But if I love you more, or better, believe it. “Aside from the ambiguity surrounding her death and her love for Hamlet, Ophelia is portrayed by all as an innocent child, dealing with situations for which her youth is not prepared. Even if she had consummated her love for Hamlet, I can still imagine Ophelia as a vulnerable and innocent child who must face situations beyond her control in a world where the role of women is passive. It is this helplessness that Gertrude wants to take care of as she "hoped that you were my Hamlet's wife" and her madness that Gertrude wants to save her form by allowing Ophelia to make the decision about life and death. Work cited Shakespeare, William . Hamlet. 1600? Ed. Silvano Barnet. New York: Classic Seal, 1998