1.

Polonius simply uses his daughter for his own gain, Hamlet refers to him as a
“fish-monger” (a pimp). He is incredibly misogynistic towards her, wanting her to
break up with Hamlet, and she speaks like a “green girl” because of him.
Laertes is also misogynistic and controlling of her, wanting to keep her “chaste treasure open”
(not lose her virginity). He is kinder and more loving than his father, but still is hypocritical when
it comes to her romantic life. He does fight for her after death, but this could still be because of
his means to control her as a woman, even if he is not aware of it.
Hamlet is the most impactful character to her, being her main love interest and having
the most scenes with him. Well, he does love her deep down, he turns oppressive because of
his relationship with his mother, he begins to loathe all women. He is crude and mean, calling
her prejudiced language (“country matters”), and attempting to embarrass her by sitting on her
lap. He could be considered the catalyst to her untimely death, saying he never loved her, and
killing her father, which became her breaking point.

2. While Hamlet’s madness is fakened for his plot for revenge, Ophelia’s is completely real and
genuine. However, they both are in a dark place and both experience mental illness and
possible suicidal tendacies due to loss, their madness both stems from loss of a father. Despite
this similarity, I think Ophelia’s madness is more linked to how she is treated as a woman and
reaching her breaking point of misogyny, and Hamlet has privilege over her in this aspect.
Hamlet is a cause of her madness, telling her she should go to a nunnery and that she is
“country matters”. Ophelia, however, as a woman in this period, does not have the social power
to contribute to his madness, and is a much more kind and meek character.

3. Ophelia’s madness is more a butterfly effect of a pile of events in the story. While the final
turning point for her is her fathers death, I believe it all stems from how the men treat her
throughout the plot. They all treat her like an object for when they need her and discard her.
Laretes tells her to preserve her charity, Ophelia even asks him “I do not know, my lord, what do
I think?” This expresses that she doesn’t know how to function without the opinions of men
around her due to their needless control of her. Polonius is described as pimping her by Hamlet,
while it’s not inherently sexual, he makes her spy and do his dirty work. She’s the only known
woman in her family, and there’s a clear uncomfortable power dynamic between them. Even her
fathers death was caused by a man who she trusted and then became very cold. It is symbolic,
because the final straw for her, was also done by a man, like everything in her life.

4. Rosemary - “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance, pray you” (remembrance and
faithfulness)
Pansy - “And pansy, that’s for thoughts” - (rational thought and faith)
Fennel - “There’s fennel for you!” (flattery)
Columbine - adultery, foolish, ingratitude, faithlessness
Rue - adultery, everlasting suffering, transgressions of woman
Herb of grace - repentance
Daisy - “There is a daisy, there’s no innocence here.” (innocence)
Violet -”I would give you a violet, but they wither’d when my father died” faithfulness or fidelity
5.
Violets - Horatio represents violet’s to me, being the most faithful and loyal character in
the story. He sticks with Hamlet until his last moment, and never bad mouths him despite him
disagreeing with his actions. He also holds a warm energy towards everyone in the story, and is
never two-faced. Also, I am the believer in his repressed homosexuality, and Violet’s were
historically used in LGBT art for love (Sappho’s poetry)
Rosemary - Hamlet is rosemary because a large part of his character is about remembering
those after death, fitting the symbol of remembrance. He idolizes death and the dead, not being
kind to Ophelia but ironically being stricken by her death to the point of dueling for her late
affections. His whole character arc is the pain he feels that nobody remembers his dad like he
does, like his mom immediately remarrying.
Columbine - Claudius is Columbine, being the main antagonist for the story and the most
foolish. The story is centered around his faithlessness to his brother, betraying him to the point
of murder. He is also a foolish and bad leader, letting Fortinbra pass through Denmark despite
his wanting of revenge.
Pansy - Fortinbra is pansies because I do think next to Horatio, he is one of the more
rational characters. This is because despite his wanting of revenge like Hamlet, he restores
peace to Denmark and respects Hamlet after his death, “Carrying him like a solider”. He is the
one who
restores the great chain of being.
Herb of grace - Unlike Claudius, Laertes actually shows true repentance and guilt for
what he’s done in the story to both Hamlet and Ophelia. Laertes' only aside to the audience is
“And yet it is against my conscience”, we don’t get a lot of his internal thoughts in the story, but
this does show he is sorry for everything.
Fennel - Polonius is intensely based on flattery to me. Despite being controlling and a
windbag, he is very much a yes man and uses flattery in a manipulative way to get what he
wants. He has a fake nice persona to everyone in the story including Hamlet, but he spys on
him, but this ultimately leads to his death.
Rue - Gertrude is who I pick for rue. Rue also means repentance, which she does say to
Hamlet (“O hamlet, speak no more! Thou eyes turnst mine eyes into my very soul”), it also
represents adultery and the transgressions of woman, she did cheat on her husband but she is
more trapped than Claudius due to being a woman.
Daisies - R and G are daisies to me, ultimately being innocently used for the king's gain,
and being unaware they are “like a sponge”. Also, Ophelia says, “There are no daisies here”.
Basically pointing out that they die and are unneeded when not being used.

6. She’s in a willow tree, that means lost love. Ultimately, this represents Ophelia’s relationship
with everyone in the story, especially the men. She lost her fathers parental love due to her
being a woman, and his death. Most important Hamlet, who was her true love but he turned on
her, leaving her alone. She was sitting on the tree alone, and while reaching for a flower, slipped
and fell into the pond, her clothes weighing her down to her drowning. Also, in other
Shakespeare plays, Willows mean sadness and mourning, which is ultimately the cause of her
madness and death.
7. Ophelia is being portrayed as calm and at peace, despite the tragedy she is finally at peace
with her flowers. The stream is also very narrow, which points more to it being a suicide
because she easily could have saved herself due to the shallowness but did nothing, showing
how tired she was of everything.