Suddenly, the funeral procession for Ophelia enters the churchyard, including Claudius, Gertrude, Laertes, and many mourning courtiers. Hamlet, wondering who has died, notices that the funeral rites seem “maimed,” indicating that the dead man or woman took his or her own life (V.i.242).
Hamlet comes forward, insisting that his grief is more intense than Laertes's, and also dives into Ophelia's grave. Laertes curses Hamlet, and the two of them begin fighting.
Claudius' command at inquest, he argues, should grant her all the rites of a Christian burial. The priest refuses, saying that, because she committed suicide, he must deny Ophelia the requiem mass and other trappings of a Christian burial, even though Ophelia will be buried on sacred ground.
From the death of Ophelia, we naturally pass to the scene of her burial. Without interrupting the action of the drama, her funeral serves as a brief respite for the audience before the breathless on-rush of the fast approaching and final catastrophe.
At Ophelia's burial, the Priest reveals a widely held belief that Ophelia committed suicide, angering Laertes. Hamlet fights Laertes over Ophelia's grave, angered by Laertes' exaggerated emphasis of his sorrow and because he believes he loved Ophelia much more than her brother, Laertes.
Hamlet jumps into Ophelia's open grave after Laertes does so. Laertes is grief-stricken over his sister's death and leaps into her grave to hold her one more time. Hamlet is enraged and declares his own grief to be greater than that of Laertes.
What finally appeases Laertes at Ophelia's funeral? Hamlet expresses his true feelings for Ophelia.
Ophelia's final words are addressed to either Hamlet, or her father, or even herself and her lost innocence: “And will a not come again? / No, no, he is dead, / Go to thy death-bed, / He never will come again. / … / God a mercy on his soul. And of all Christian souls. God buy you.” Next, she drowns herself.
At Ophelia's funeral, Queen Gertrude sprinkles flowers on Ophelia's grave ("sweets to the sweet,") and says she wished Ophelia could h…
SARAH: Ophelia made a wreath of flowers and attempted to hang it on the branches of the willow. While doing so, she slipped and fell into the brook.
Gertrude says that Ophelia appeared "incapable of her own distress". Gertrude's announcement of Ophelia's death has been praised as one of the most poetic death announcements in literature. Later, a sexton at the graveyard insists Ophelia must have killed herself.
While she lives in the same patriarchal society that demands that she subjugate herself to her father and her brother until she is married, Ophelia has fallen in love with Prince Hamlet. There is strong evidence that she has even had sexual relations with him.
The officiating priest is more emphatic (epigraph) in his objections and denies Ophelia full religious burial rites. Maiden flowers can be scattered on her grave and church bells rung, but no other church-sanctioned activities may be performed. For Hamlet and Laertes, her brother, these are “maimed” (incomplete) rites.
Hamlet betrays Ophelia by refusing his love for her and being the cause of her madness with words such as “I loved you not” (III. I. 119) and “get thee to a nunnery” (III.
Ophelia's madness stems from her lack of identity and her feelings of helplessness regarding her own life. While the death of Hamlet's father made him angry enough to want revenge, Ophelia internalized the death of her father as a loss of personal identity.
Why does Laertes curse the priest at Ophelia's funeral? He is upset that his sister is not receiving a full and proper Christian burial.
Some see Ophelia's death as an accident; others see it as a suicide resulting from the accumulation of a series of unfortunate events: her rejection by her boyfriend, her father's murder, and her possible pregnancy.
A red poppy floats near Ophelia's hand, a symbol of sleep and death. Despite her saying that there were no violets, we can see she wears a necklace of them. Fritillary, symbols of sorrow, also appear. In Act 4, Scene 5 we hear Queen Gertrude's description of Ophelia's death.
Turns out Ophelia's mom was killed thanks to "being close to the royal family" (Corgi attack, probably), which caused her dad to shut down emotionally.
Q. Q. What happens at Ophelia's funeral? Laertes challenges Hamlet to a fencing duel over the grave.
Hamlet seems to know that Ophelia is helping her dad spy on him, and he accuses her (and all women) of being a "breeder of sinners" and orders Ophelia to a "nunnery" (3.1.
Ophelia's clothing carried her afloat for a time, but eventually she sank to her death. Laertes finds his grief uncontrollable, and he runs out in a rage. Claudius and Gertrude follow him, ostensibly to quell his anger.
Laertes' love for Ophelia and duty to Polonius drive him to passionate action, while Hamlet's love for Gertrude and duty to King Hamlet drive him to passionate inaction.
The queen falls. Laertes, poisoned by his own sword, declares, “I am justly kill'd with my own treachery” (V. ii. 318).
As Ophelia is laid in the earth, Hamlet realizes it is she who has died. At the same moment, Laertes becomes infuriated with the priest, who says that to give Ophelia a proper Christian burial would profane the dead. Laertes leaps into Ophelia's grave to hold her once again in his arms.