Act 4 Scene 5

At the beginning of this scene, we find out that Ophelia has gone mad following the murder of her father, Polonius. We re-establish the motif of insanity, but this time, Ophelia has genuinely lost her mind due to external pressures that have pushed her over the edge. This is in contrast to Hamlet’s ‘insanity,’ which was initially carried out only for Hamlet’s personal gain. Ophelia is a babbling, inconsolable mess, and Gertrude is given the job of trying to talk to her. She only follows through with this task because she is trying to make up for her own sins that Hamlet has recently exposed. When Ophelia enters, she is singing about her father’s death in old nursery rhyme tunes, while also mourning the loss of Hamlet. She makes some religious allusions to nomadic pilgrims, possibly in reference to Hamlet’s move to England. She also makes a reference to a quote, “They say the owl was a baker’s daughter.” This is a popular legend in which Christ transforms a baker’s daughter into an owl after the mistress denies him a piece of bread, due to the daughter’s instruction. This implies that her love for both Polonius and Hamlet were somewhat marred by Laertes and Polonius’ warnings about being virtuous, and she is now paying the price.