In the tragedy Hamlet, William Shakespeare masterfully creates the story of a virtuous Danish prince and the struggle he faces as he is confronted by deception, mystery, and murder. As Hamlet develops, it comes to include numerous characters, all with their own distinct personality, strengths, and flaws. One such character is Ophelia, the love interest of the protagonist Hamlet, and the daughter of the advisor to the king, Polonius. Ophelia, who is kind, amenable, and faithful by nature, is eventually instructed by her family to end her relationship with her love-interest, Hamlet. As she complies with her family's request, she is thrown into disarray and eventually makes a series of "insane" speeches. While these speeches may seem insignificant and incoherent, they actually conceal clues to Ophelia's wisdom, insight, and personal wishes. Ultimately, the tragedy in Hamlet, becomes further enriched and engaging with Shakespeare's addition of Ophelia. Ophelia's faithful nature is the basis for her so-called "insane" speeches, which reveal her wisdom and indirectly uncover the particulars of her death.

Ophelia's faithfulness-her virtue-is the basis of her disregard of her own intuitions and causes her "insane" speeches. Throughout the play, Ophelia's father Polonius and her brother Laertes, both dominate Ophelia. They instruct her that Hamlet's intentions are less than noble. Laertes, for example, describes Hamlet's interest in Ophelia by using terms that connote a short-lived passion: "[T]rifling," "fashion," "toy," "a violet in the youth of primy nature," and finally "the perfume and suppliance of a minute (I.iii.5-10)." Hamlet's interest in Ophelia is only temporary and, before soon, he will move on to the next girl. This, Laertes explains, is Hamlet's eternal devotion to Ophelia. Laertes continues to explain that even if Hamlet's intentions were honorable, he would not be allowed to marry Ophelia. As Laertes puts it, "his will is not his own, [f]or he himself is subject to his birth[,]"which means that Hamlet cannot decide himself whom he is to marry(17-18). He has to marry whoever is most beneficial to the state of Denmark, which in turn means that he cannot marry Ophelia. In the same scene, Polonius instructs his daughter to stop seeing Hamlet romantically and to not believe any promises he makes. Polonius, however, offers no objective reason for his instructions, only his personal opinion that Ophelia will make her father look like a fool if she continues her love affair with Hamlet: "you'll tender me a fool (109)." Polonius demonstrates here that he is not concerned with Ophelia's feelings, only his own.

The effect of her brother's advice and her father's instructions, is that Ophelia, faithful as she is, complies without hesitation or question. This eventually proves to have a disastrous effect on Ophelia. We may ask ourselves why she doesn't question if Laertes is not describing his own personality and desire for young women, and not Hamlet's. Because, after all, how does Laertes know about Hamlet's true feelings for Ophelia. There is no evidence to imply that Laertes and Hamlet are the best of buddies who share the secrets of their love affairs. Is it not more likely that Laertes is indeed revealing his own personality? Furthermore, we may ask why doesn't Ophelia question her father's reason, or lack of reason, when his only concern is to not become the laughing stock of the court? Well, we have to assume-by her decision to not continue to see Hamlet in secrecy-that Ophelia's nature is not to act independently or even question people, certainly not those closest to her. Her faithfulness to her family is evident. If she takes the advice of two family members who know nothing about the intimacy of her relationship without question or conferring with Hamlet, we may deduce that her faithfulness is so extreme that she is unable to act independently. And this inability to act independently, I believe, is the reason for her so-called "insane" speeches.

Through Ophelia's speeches, she proclaims both great wisdom and insight. Ophelia sings several songs during her "insanity" scene. The first song, a love song maybe, is difficult to understand the meaning of without first interpreting the meaning of the third song:

This third song reveals a young man's deceitful nature. Having used an innocent girl during one night-the night of "Saint Valentine's day"-of passion, the young man deceives her by leaving her. And this is what Ophelia was led to believe would happen to her relationship with Hamlet, by Polonius, her father. The story explains: Ophelia must not give into Hamlet's desires because he is crafty and he is only out to test her. If she gives into to his desires, Hamlet will discard her when morning comes because she will have proven that she is not virtuous enough to be at his side. The story also symbolizes Ophelia's love for her father, and her faithful nature by the fact that she dutifully follows his advice in something so very personal. Feeling somehow trapped between her love for Hamlet and her father, she remained faithful to her family, as her nature suggests. At this point in the play, however, she realizes her tragic mistake: Her father acted only in his own interest without truly caring about Ophelia's feelings and therefore betrayed her. And this becomes evident when we now look back at the first song:

Who is she talking about, her father or Hamlet? Well, both, I say. First, she is referring to Hamlet, as an apology, almost, that she didn't believe him: How was I supposed to know that your love for me was real when you didn't make it obvious, says Ophelia. And second, referring to her father: How was I to know that my father's true love was not my wellbeing but pleasing his own self-interests. The point I am making is that the songs Ophelia sing are not just randomly chosen songs blurted out by a crazy woman, much thought has gone into suiting the correct song and lyrics to her situation.

In a flower scene where Ophelia distributes symbolic flowers to the people around her, she continues to reveal her wisdom and insight while also alluding to what may be her desire to commit suicide. Interpreting the symbolism of the flowers Ophelia distributes is a great help to understand the entire scene. Claudius, the new self-announced king now ruling Denmark, is given fennel (177). Fennel symbolizes flattery, by which she means "a pleasing self-deception." Or in other words, Claudius is deceiving himself if he thinks that no one will judge him. Sooner or later he will have to face the truth. If not before, then at least when he faces god, says Ophelia. This is not the first time Ophelia comments on Claudius' dishonest nature. Previously, when she makes reference to the story of "the baker's daughter" who was judged and punished by god and turned into an owl, she also told Claudius what was in store for him. She said, "we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table (42-44)." Here, also, Ophelia is saying that Claudius will get what he deserves one day. One day Claudius will be at god's table and then God will surely punish him for his deeds.

Gertrude-Hamlet's mother and Claudius' new wife-is given rue and a daisy (176-78). The rue, which Ophelia also presents to herself, represents sorrow. Ophelia's intention may be to sympathize with Gertrude, to say she understands only too well how Gertrude got herself mixed up in this web of death and tragedy, that is now upon the state of Denmark. The second flower, the daisy, is an admonition that her new love for Claudius has been entered into too hastily. Ophelia presents this flower to herself as well. She also has acted in haste with regard to love. She may be saying that she was too quick to disregard Hamlet's promise of love. She didn't give it its due consideration.

To Laertes, her brother, who has returned from Paris, France, by this time in the play, Ophelia gives first rosemary, the flower of remembrance. Please remember our father, is her message, because everybody seems to have forgotten him already. Previously, Ophelia had cried out that her father didn't receive the funeral that he was due: "They bore him bare-faced on the bier [funeral carriage]." They do not remember that he was the trusted advisor to the king, a man that deserves a respectable funeral, she is saying. Moreover, Laertes receives pansies for thoughts. Ophelia may be asking Laertes to think, to consider carefully his every deed, and not to take anything Claudius says for granted, for example. It seems that Ophelia has seen through Claudius' exterior of lies and deceit. Indeed, she may be implying that Claudius is the very reason for the "rotten state" Denmark is in. And this "rotten state" has now spread from the very top of the hierarchy to the point where it has left Ophelia in a state of sadness without restitution. In fact, considering Ophelia's belief that she has lost not only her father but also her love, Hamlet, it is highly plausible that her emotional state is in such disarray that she has lost all respect for humanity and now her desire to live. With this in mind, we may reconsider the rosemary Ophelia gives to her brother. She could very well be asking her brother to remember not only his father, but his sister as well, and hereby allude to her intention to commit suicide. While this assumption cannot be any more than that, we can, to further strengthen this assumption, question the fact that Ophelia drowned in a "brook"-a "small" stream of water, by definition.

So, in looking back at Shakespeare's Ophelia, we may credit her tragic destiny to her virtue, as it was her faithfulness that indirectly caused her death. For example, had she not been so faithful to her family's desire, she may have realized Hamlet's true and honorable intentions and avoided her tragic death. It seems that everything acting against Ophelia originates in her faithfulness-her virtue. Moreover, while we cannot be absolutely certain of Ophelia's exact meaning and purpose in her so-called "insane" speeches, we may conclude by her choice of songs and symbolic flowers that she displays great wisdom and insight. And finally, it is not inconceivable that Ophelia chose to take her own life. Considering her depressed and dark state of mind-she lost her father, she lost her lover, and there is no relief in sight-it is not an unusual notion to have that life is no longer worth living.

Just as Ophelia's brother, Laertes, is certain that there is "a document in [her] madness," I, too, believe that there is an important message in Ophelia's "madness" and death (176). Considering the alternative as well as the essence of poetry, I hope my entire thesis becomes obvious. If Ophelia's speeches and death have no value or affect on the interpretation of the play, if, in fact, there is no real purpose for neither, then the entire scene 6, in act 4, is simply an attempt to increase the length of the play with gibberish. And as we know, in poetry every word is very carefully chosen for its meaning and any extraneous words are fundamentally omitted. This is the very essence of poetry. And poetry is the very essence of Shakespeare.