Act 4 Symbols and Allusions

Ophelia's flowers are each symbols. She explains some of them like fennel and columbines for adultery and a daisy for unhappy love. But others such as rosemary for remembering and pan sys for thoughts are symbolizing the loss of her own mind and her inability to form logical thoughts. The fact that Ophelia drowned is also symbolic of the weight she was being forced to carry around was essentially the thing that drive her crazy. The fact that she had no say in her life and made no decisions on her own made her an easy target for everyone to put their problems onto. She felt the desperation of her father to keep her safe, she felt the need the king and queen had to find out what was wrong with Hamlet, she felt so attached to Hamlet and cared for him that she also worried about his struggles. All of these worries with no explanations are what drowned Ophelia mind. When Ophelia is singing in scene 5 she also mentions Saint Charity. Charity was tortured and martyred at a young age because of her faith. This symbolizes her father who was killed by accident and had done nothing wrong in his daughters eyes. THis made him a martyr to her. Personal Reaction: Most of this act seemed like they were just telling what had happened before and things that were going on around them. THe most important things that I thought happened were Laertes and the kings plan forming, the letter from Hamlet, and Ophelia drowning. I think all of those things are sure to carry over into the next act. I also think a lot of people are going to die in the final act because of the confusion and the new plan.