Ophelia subtext

“They bore him barefaced on a bier”-his cask was open, his coffin wasn’t closed which
shows a lack of respect”

“And in his grave rained many a tear”-many people including herself cried at his death.

“Oh how the wheel becomes it” the king is the wheel that drove this delusion into madness.

“It is the false steward that stole his master’s daughter”-Hamlet stole all of Ophelia’s
attention, leading her to forget and disregard her father.

“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance, pray you love to remember”- She hopes her
brother can still remember who their father was to them.

“There’s a pansies, that’s for thoughts”—She wants her brother to remember her father.

“(To the queen) There’s fennel for you, and columbines—they symbolise adultery (to
Claudius) There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me—rue symbolises repentance We call
it the merciful Sunday flower. You should wear it for a different reason. Daisy is for unhappy
love,(thinks of Hamlet) violets are flowers of faithfulness.

“He is gone, he is gone”-referring to Hamlet, he left her and is never coming back

What is her objective:

In this monologue she feels completely heartbroken from the death of her father and
rejection of Hamlet who she chose more than her father. She blames the king and queen for
unleashing this evil into the world, for committing volatile incestuous acts. Even though he’s
mentally unstable, her objective in the scene is to show the king and queen what they have
done to her family, to the entire kingdom, their mischievous acts and suspicion has led her
to her father’s downfall, but she hates herself to having succumbed to the temptations of
the royal family, and disregarding her true family.

Find out what happened before this scene, if anything happened between her and her
father before his death.