Queen Gertrude told King Claudius and Laertes that Ophelia had drowned. She told that Ophelia carried a wreath made up of flowers. Queen Gertrude was not sure whether or not Ophelia was afraid to drown or accepted her death when she fell into the brook. Overall, Ophelia was an unfortunate character in my opinion.
First of all, she lost her love. Second of all, her father was killed by a person once she had loved. Third of all, entire people in the kingdom hushed about her father’s death. As the daughter of an aristocracy, she would have expected a respectful and honorable funeral; however, none of it was given to Polonius. By the Act 4, she had lost most of her precious people: Polonius and Hamlet. It was also very unfortunate that although other characters in the play viewed Ophelia to be insane, she still had her mind right and said what she wanted to say through songs. It seemed to me that she expressed all of her feelings under a reason of mourning. She seemed to be kind of scary because I could imagine her in my mind, singing those songs with spiritless eyes. I also felt sorry for Ophelia as nobody seemed to be sorry or mourn for Polonius’ death. King Claudius was relieved that it was not him who was slain. I believe that Ophelia had just accepted her death because she no longer had a hope in her life. I think the moment she slipped into the brook was accidental, but once she was in the brook, she just wanted her life to be over. She may have thought too many tragic events happened in her life that she would not be able to handle, and she did not ask for help to safe her from death. All of her actions she had done after Polonius’ death and her death itself were very bitter and heart-breaking. Ophelia was always crying or being restricted when she appeared in the play. There was not a scene when she was
happy.