Ophelia a Suicide?   Methinks not!

Poor Ophelia has been misunderstood and maligned for 400 years by so many "experts".   It's time someone set the record straight.

Is Ophelia crazy?   Definitely, yes.

Refer to IV, v, where she sings foolish songs and cannot respond rationally to sane people's questions.

Did anyone see Ophelia die?   Yes.

In IV, v, the KING commands, "Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you."   True, these attendants may have dallied in the grass while Ophelia meandered at the brook, but that's no evidence for her suicide.

In IV, vii, the QUEEN gives a detailed description of Ophelia's drowning, further evidence of witnesses to the event.

On the other hand, if no one saw the drowning, then all the stories are pure hearsay and Ophelia cannot be called a suicide whatsoever.   Case dismissed!   She goes directly to Heaven without stopping off at Purgatory.

Are Ophelia's actions suicidal?   Definitely, no.

In IV, vii, the QUEEN says, "There on the pendent boughs her crownet [coronet] weeds   Clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke,   When down her weedy trophies and herself   Fell in the weeping brook."

In plain, current English, Ophelia fell into the brook accidentally.

Continuing, "Her clothes spread wide,   And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up,   Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,   As one incapable of her own distress,   Or like a creature native and indued [endowed]   Unto that element.   But long it could not be   Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay   To muddy death."

Of course she does not try to save herself; she's crazy and doesn't realize that she has placed herself in danger.

Consider this additional evidence:

If Ophelia really intended to commit suicide, there are plenty of parapets surrounding a medieval castle from which it would be more efficient to perform the deed.

It's not evidence in any court nor is it meaningful in psychology to talk about subconscious motives of a crazy person, so forget about this lame line of "explanation".

The gravedigging CLOWNS ("fools", remember) were not eyewitnesses; nor were they at the inquest, so their conversation based on hearsay adds nothing to the case for her suicide.

The PRIEST ("Doctor of Divinity") is more interested in his earthly salvation rather than Ophelia's heavenly one.   Unsure of case facts, civil law and ecclesiastical law, beset by politicians and clerics to pronounce the politically correct interpretation of events, he hedges his bets and performs a modified religious ceremony.   Sound familiar?

What probably happened was this:  In her deranged state, Ophelia thinks she is at her bath rather than at a brook.  She tries to hang her crown on a "rack" before stepping into her "bath".   Having fallen into her bath, she realizes no danger because of her state of mind; hence, the apparent desire to die suicidally to those persons who witness the event.

ERGO, Ophelia died an accidental death.

ERGO, No civil court, then and now, would condemn a crazy person to severe punishment and no ecclesiastical court would condemn an insane person to Perdition or Purgatory.

ERGO, Ophelia deserved Extreme Unction and a full Christian burial.

Q.E.D.

[Exit, followed by a bear.]