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Ophelia as a conditional double of Hamlet. Hamlet through the eyes of Ophelia, or Ophelia is already dead

Ophelia as a conditional double of Hamlet. Hamlet through the eyes of Ophelia, or Ophelia is already dead

20.03.2019

I have long wanted to "swing at William our Shakespeare." Interesting legends inspired brilliant writer. The characters of his plays are different, bright, their actions are not always encouraging. modern reader, but we cannot but admire the skill of the author. Shakespeare is an expert human soul, as they say now - "a good psychologist."
In the plot of the play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Shakespeare described the legend of Prince Amled, told by Saxo Grammatik, a chronicler of the 12th century.

Hamlet with his friend Horatio at the grave of poor Yorick. Presumably Yorick - real character, jester of Queen Elizabeth I.
Rice. Eugene Delacroix

Shakespeare's Hamlet, pretending to be a madman, leads strange conversations that frighten those around him. Hamlet in the legend plays out madness more vividly and more frighteningly: he wallows in dung, sits on his horse backwards, crows.

Shakespeare's Hamlet and the prototype Hamlet are characters of different characters. Between the characters there is only one similarity - the desire to take revenge on the murderer of his father. medieval legend looks cruder than a Shakespearean Renaissance play.

The Mad Prince in Play and Legend

According to legend, as in Shakespeare's play, the king is killed by his own brother and marries his widow. In the annals of the erratic uncle Hamlet is called Fenegon, in the song - Claudius.

“Fengon, devoured by envy of such happiness, decided to harass his brother with intrigues. - So little valor is protected from dangers even from relatives. - As soon as the opportunity for murder fell, he sated the pernicious passion of his heart with a bloody hand. And then, having taken possession of the wife of the murdered brother, he aggravated the villainy by incest. - For everyone who has given himself over to dishonor will soon rush to another more easily; so the first is the second impulse.”

Portrait of actor Henry Irwin as Hamlet.

Thinking over a plan of revenge, Prince Hamlet pretended to be crazy in order to lull the vigilance of his enemies. In the legend, his insane behavior is described very colorfully:
“Daily in his mother’s chambers, dirty and indifferent, he threw himself on the ground, staining himself with a vile slush of sewage. His defiled countenance and filthy exterior showed madness in the form of amusing buffoonery. Whatever he said corresponded to this kind of madness, whatever he did breathed immense stupidity. What more? He could be honored not for a man, but for the monstrous fun of an insane fate. Often sitting at the hearth, he raked up the smoldering ashes with his hands, turned wooden hooks and burned them on the fire. He gave the ends of them the shape of teeth, wanting to make them even stronger in clutches. And when asked what he was doing, he answered that he was preparing sharp darts to avenge his father. This answer caused a lot of mockery, because everyone treated with disdain the senselessness of his ridiculous occupation, although it later helped to fulfill his plan.

Not everyone believed in the madness of the prince, the king was especially worried, he suspected that the prince was pretending to be a fool.

In the play, the king consults with Polonius, the father of Ophelia, with whom Hamlet is in love. The king believes that the enamored Hamlet will give himself away in a conversation with her.

“... They sent for Hamlet behind the scenes.
He will collide here as if by chance
With Ophelia. Spies involuntarily,
We hide close with her father
And let's find out what the prince's misfortune is:
Is it true love or not?

Hamlet and Ophelia, fig. Dante Gabriel Rossetti

In conversation, Hamlet advises Ophelia to retire to a monastery or marry a fool. Frightened by strange speeches, Ophelia regrets the madness of the prince:

“What a charm the mind has died!
A combination of knowledge, eloquence
And valor, our holiday, the color of hopes,
The legislator of tastes and decency,
Their mirror... all shattered. Everything, everything...
And I? Who am I, the poorest of women,
With the recent honey of his oaths in his soul,
Now that this mind is mighty,
Like a beaten bell, it rattles,
And the youthful appearance is incomparable
Fed up with madness! My God!
Where has everything gone? What is in front of me?

Hamlet and Ophelia, fig. Vrubel

In the legend, Hamlet's test is much easier, the enemies decided to arrange a date with the prince's childhood friend.
“... to expose his cunning, they said, nothing could be better than to bring him out to meet him in some secluded place beautiful woman that will inflame his heart with love desire. For the natural inclination to love is so great that it is impossible to conceal it skillfully; this passion is too ardent to be overcome by cunning. Therefore, if his stupidity is feigned, he will not miss the opportunity and immediately give in to a fit of passion.

The date was to take place during a horse ride through the forest.
“After that, they deliberately left him alone so that he could gain more courage to satisfy his passion. And so he met a woman sent by his uncle and who seemed to accidentally be on his way in a dark place, and would take possession of her ... "

Hamlet was warned about the danger by his friend, who was his "milk brother".
“This brother, considering how it would be more convenient for him to fulfill his duty of secret guardianship and prevent the young man’s dangerous trick, picked up a straw on the ground and attached it to the tail of a gadfly flying by, and drove the gadfly just to where, as he knew, Hamlet was. And by this he rendered the careless a great service: the sign was interpreted with no less wit than it was conveyed. For Hamlet, seeing the gadfly, immediately noticed the straw that was attached to his tail, and understood that this was a secret warning to be wary of deceit. It is difficult for a modern person to understand how, with the help of such a message, Hamlet guessed about the danger.

“Alarmed by the suspicion of an ambush, he grabbed the girl and carried her away to an impenetrable swamp, where it was safer. Having enjoyed love, he began to ask her very insistently not to tell anyone about it; and the request for silence was promised as passionately as it was requested. For in childhood both had the same trustees, and this common upbringing united Hamlet and the girl in close friendship.
This story reflects the free manners of the early Middle Ages. A friend kept their date a secret.

Hamlet and Ophelia, Agnes Pringle

The next test of Hamlet in Shakespeare's play is similar to the legend. The king sent a spy to eavesdrop on Hamlet's conversation with the Queen Mother.

The prince guessed about the intrigues of his uncle and again played madness and, as if in a fit of madness, killed the king's spy. “Fearing that some hidden ears might overhear him, he first of all resorted to his usual trick - he pretended to be sick. He crowed like a vociferous rooster, and, beating his sides with his hands, as if flapping his wings, jumped up on the mat and began, swaying, jumping back and forth, intending to find out if something was hidden there. And when he felt a lump under his feet, then, having felt this place with his sword, he pierced the lying one and, pulling him out of the hiding place, killed him. He cut his body into pieces, scalded it with boiling water and dropped it through an open hole in the sewer to feed the pigs, covering the fetid mud with the miserable remains. Having avoided the trap in this way, he returned to the bedchamber.

In the play, the killed spy of the king turned out to be Polonius, the father of Ophelia.

Vladimir Vysotsky as Hamlet, fig. Aidarov Ilyas.
Vysotsky was buried in the costume of this hero.

Hamlet's dialogues with his mother are similar in the legend and the play. The prince reproaches his mother and appeals to her conscience to leave her husband's murderer.

“... he reproachfully tormented the heart of his mother, urging her to honor the path of virtue and exhorting her to prefer her former love to the present temptations,” the legend says.

"So part with the worst half,
So that the better then the cleaner to live.
Good night. Don't go to your uncle.
Instead of missing shame
Embrace the contrived modesty.
She will get used. In the mask of kindness
You will soon become addicted to the good.
Repetition changes the face of things.
Against evil habits, good habit
Humbles or drives away devils.
Later, when you want
To bless you, please
Then I will bless you"- says the prince in Shakespeare's play.

Hamlet - Innokenty Smoktunovsky (1964)

In the legend, the prince also tells his mother about his desire for revenge:
“As for me, I pretended to be insane not without purpose, for, undoubtedly, the murderer of his brother will rage with equal cruelty against his other relatives. Therefore, it is better to put on the dress of stupidity than sanity, and look for the protection of your safety in the appearance of complete madness. But the desire to avenge my father is still firmly in my heart; I catch such an opportunity, I wait for a convenient time. Everything has its place. Against a dark and cruel spirit, all mental powers must be strained. But you, who are better off mourning your own dishonor, have no reason to shed tears for my folly! It is necessary to mourn the vices of one's own soul, not someone else's. About the rest, remember and keep silence.

In order to get rid of his nephew, the king decides to send him to England. The prince suspected danger.
“When leaving, Hamlet quietly asked his mother to hang the hall with woven curtains and a year later celebrate an imaginary commemoration for him. By this time, he promised to return."- says the legend.

This storyline is also present in the legend. Hamlet's treacherous friends are carrying a letter to the King of England, according to which the prince must be executed.

Hamlet - Laurence Olivier

Ophelia - Gene Simmons

According to the plot of the play, robbers attack the prince's ship. the prince's journey is interrupted, he sends a letter to a friend: “Horatio, after reading this letter, make it easier for its bearers to gain access to the king. They have letters to him. We were not even two days at sea, when sea robbers chased after us. Yielding to them in speed, we attacked them with forced courage. During the boarding, I jumped aboard them. At this time, the ships separated, and I found myself their only prisoner. They treated me like a prudent robber, although they themselves were seamen. However, they knew what they were doing, For this I will have to serve them.

Deliver the enclosed letters to the king and hasten to me as if you were running from death. I will surprise you with something, although this is only a part of what I could tell you. These good people will take you to my location.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern continue on to England. I will also tell you about them. Goodbye. Yours, which I hope you have no doubt about, Hamlet.
The prince in the play was saved by a combination of circumstances.

According to legend, Hamlet suspected something was wrong and searched his fellow travelers. “With him, two vassals of Fengon set off, who carried with them a message inscribed on a tree (this was the usual way of writing in those days), in which the king of Britain was instructed to kill the young man sent to him. But while they were sleeping, Hamlet, having searched their pockets, found a letter ... "

The cunning prince decided to change the text of the letter, “... having read the order, he carefully scraped off what was written and, having entered new words, changed the content of the order so that he directed his own condemnation to his companions. Not content with getting rid of the death sentence and transferring the danger to others, he attributed under the false signature of Fengon a request that the king of Britain marry his daughter to the most intelligent youth whom he sends to him.

Hamlet - Mel Gibson

Ophelia - Helena Bonham Carter (who replayed the roles of various psychopaths)

At the royal reception, Hamlet showed himself.
“... It was marvelous to everyone that a young foreigner neglects the most exquisite delicacies of the royal table and the magnificent luxury of the feast, as if it were some kind of rustic snack. And when the feast was over and the king let the guests go to rest, the man sent to them in the bedroom instructed to find out about their nightly conversation.

And when asked by his companions why he refused yesterday's treat, as if from poison, Hamlet replied that the bread was splashed with contagious blood, that the drink gave off iron, that the meat dishes were saturated with the stench of human corpses and spoiled with something like a grave stench. He added that the king had the eyes of a slave, and that the queen had thrice exhibited the manners of a servant; so he insulted with insulting abuse not only dinner, but also those who gave it.

The incomparable Sarah Bernard (actress 55 years old)

Hamlet's companions apologized to the king for the prince's madness. However, the king objected to them. The prince was right.

“He answered that nearby there is a field dotted with old bones of the dead, which still reveals traces of an old battle; and that he himself sowed it with spring grain, because it was more fertile than others, in the hope of a rich harvest. That is why, perhaps, the bread has absorbed some kind of bad smell of blood.

When the king heard this, making sure that Hamlet had told the truth, he also tried to find out where the pigs were brought from. The manager said that his pigs, due to the negligence of the shepherds, strayed from the herd, grazed on the decayed corpses of the robbers, and therefore, perhaps, their meat acquired a somewhat putrid taste.

When the king realized that in this case Hamlet's judgment was also correct, he asked what liquid the drink was diluted with? And, having learned that it was prepared from water and flour, he ordered to dig the place of the source indicated to him into the depths and found there several swords corroded by rust, from which the water, obviously, got a bad taste ...

Hamlet, Fig. Pedro America

The king, seeing that Hamlet's opinion about the depravity of taste is just, and, having a premonition that the ignobleness of the eyes, for which Hamlet reproached him, concerns some stain in his origin, furtively met with his mother and asked her who his father was. At first she replied that she belonged to no one but the king, but when he threatened that he would find out the truth from her by torture, he heard that he was born from a slave, and through the evidence of a forced confession he learned about his shameful origin.

Overwhelmed by the shame of his position, but also admiring the youth's perspicacity, he asked him why he had tarnished the queen with a reproach for servile habits. However, while he was still annoyed that his wife's courtesy was condemned in a stranger's late-night conversation, he learned that her mother was a servant. For Hamlet said that he noted three faults in her that betrayed the habits of a slave: firstly, that she covered her head with a cloak, like a servant, secondly, that she picked up her dress when walking, thirdly, that she picked out the remnants of food stuck between teeth, and chewed out chews again. He also mentioned that her mother fell into slavery from captivity, so that it was clear that she was a slave not only in her habits, but also in her nature.

Probably Sherlock Holmes was a descendant of the legendary Hamlet. An amazing deduction method.

Victor Avilov

The king marveled at the prince's wisdom and observation and followed the advice set out in the letter - he agreed to marry his daughter to Hamlet.

A year later, Hamlet returned to his native land, where the courtiers celebrated his wake.
“And when he, covered in mud, entered the triclinium, where his own wake was celebrated, he struck everyone unusually, because a false rumor about his death had already spread everywhere. In the end, the stupor gave way to laughter, and the guests jokingly blamed one another for the fact that the one for whom they celebrated the funeral was standing alive before them. When asked about the companions, he, looking at the canes that he carried with him, replied: "Here they are both." Whether he said this in earnest or in jest, I don't know. For his words, although they were considered nonsense by the majority, did not deviate from the truth: they pointed to the payment received by him as a reward for those killed. Following this, Hamlet joined the cupbearers, wishing to amuse the guests even more, and most diligently began to fulfill the duty of pouring drinks.

The prince got the guests drunk and began a plan of revenge:
“In order to ensure an even more reliable outcome of his insidious plan, he approached the nobles with glasses and forced them to drink continuously and so drunk everyone with undiluted wine that their legs were weakened from intoxication and they indulged in rest in the middle of the royal hall, in the very place where they feasted. . And when he saw that they were in a condition suitable for his plan, then, believing that there was an opportunity to fulfill his plan, he removed from his bosom long-stored wooden hooks and entered the hall, where on the floor here and there lay the bodies of noble and vomited hops in their sleep. Knocking off the fasteners, he pulled off the curtains made by his mother, which also covered the inner walls of the hall, threw them over the snorers and with the help of hooks tied knots so skillfully tangled that none of those lying below could rise, even if they tried with all their might. . After that, he set fire to the roof; the growing flame, spreading the fire in breadth, engulfed the whole house, destroyed the hall and burned everyone, whether embraced by a deep sleep or in vain trying to get up.

Having dealt with the royal confidants, the prince went to the king's room and killed him.
“After this, waking up his uncle, he told him that his guests were burned in the fire, that here before him was Hamlet, fully armed with his old hooks, and was eager to exact the punishment due for the murder of his father.”

“A brave man worthy of eternal glory, prudently armed with feigned recklessness, Hamlet hid under the guise of dementia a mind that is amazing for a person! And not only received in cunning the protection of his own safety, but with its help he found a way to avenge his father! Skillfully defending himself, bravely avenging his parent, he makes us wonder whether he is more glorious in courage or in wisdom.- the chronicler writes enthusiastically.

In the play, Hamlet also took revenge on his enemies, but not so cruelly and at the cost of his life.

The legend has a sequel. When Hamlet returned to England, the king, having learned about his massacre with his enemies, became worried for his life. He told him to go to Queen Ermentrude of Scotland and marry her. It was said that the queen loves to test her suitors and executes anyone who fails the test.

Prince Hamlet charms the queen, she becomes his wife. Hamlet leads troops to England and defeats the king in battle. However, Hamlet did not manage to rule happily ever after. While the prince fought in England, in Denmark the throne was seized by a relative of the king - Viglek, who gathered an army against Hamlet, who died in battle. The prince's body was burned on a funeral pyre according to the old rite.

Miller actor Wincenty Rapacki as Hamlet

Little Mermaid Ophelia

The image of Ophelia is taken from the legend of the girl who drowned in the river. Like Ophelia's death, her death caused controversy - whether she was suicidal or accidentally fell into the water.

Ophelia, Arthur Hughes

The image of a drowned woman from an English legend is similar to a Slavic mermaid. Images of Ophelia in art also resemble a river mermaid - a pale face, flowers in lush hair, dark waters of the river.

Ophelia, Makovsky

In the play, Ophelia goes mad when she learns that Hamlet killed her father. She wanders around the palace, sings songs, distributes flowers to the courtiers, muttering - "here is rosemary for memory."

The Madness of Ophelia, Joseph Lefebvre

In the play, the queen reports the death of Ophelia, who drowned in the river:
Over the river willow hung gray
Leaves in the stream. Here she came
Weave garlands from buttercup, nettle,
Kupav and colors with a red tuft,
Which the shepherds call so rudely,
And the girls - the nails of a dead man.
She wanted to entwine willow with herbs,
I took hold of the bitch, and he broke down,

Ophelia, J. Waterhouse

And, as it was, with a shock of colored trophies,
She fell into the stream. First
She was held by a dress, swelling,
And, like a mermaid, it carried on top.
She sang something from old songs,
As if unaware of their misfortune
Or like a creature of the river breed.
But it couldn't last long
And the wet dress dragged
From the songs of antiquity to the bottom,
In the midst of death...

Gentle Ophelia - Anastasia Vertinskaya

The Queen lays flowers on Ophelia's grave with the words:
“The most tender - the most tender.
Sleep in peace! I dreamed of you in the house
Introduce Hamlet's wife. dreamed
Cover the wedding bed with flowers,
Not a grave."

Hamlet and Oferlia, fig. Vrubel

In the scene of Ophelia's funeral, Prince Hamlet, in a quarrel with her brother Laertes, reveals his true feelings, saying "I loved Ophelia, and forty thousand brothers and all their love is not like mine."

The image of Ophelia is presented in Russian poetry silver age. Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetaeva in verse conveyed the confusion of Ophelia's feelings.

Marina Tsvetaeva.
"Ophelia to Hamlet"
Hamlet - constricted - tightly,
In a halo of disbelief and knowledge,
Pale - to the last atom ...
(Year thousand which are editions?)

Audacity and emptiness - do not touch!
(Adolescent attic deposits!)
Some heavy chronicle
You were already lying on this chest!

Virgin! Misogynist! quarrelsome
Undead preferred! .. Did you think
Once at least about what is torn off
In the little flower garden of madness...

Roses?.. But this is shhh! - Future!
We tear - and new ones grow! Betrayed
Roses at least once? Loving -
Roses at least once? - Are you gone?

Having done (smelling!) you drown ...
- Did not have! - But let's stand in memory
At the hour when over the stream chronicle
Hamlet - overstretched - stand up ...

Ophelia, P. Danyan-Bouveret

Anna Akhmatova
"Reading Hamlet"
1.
There was a wasteland near the cemetery to the right,
And behind him was the blue river.
You told me: "Well, go to the monastery
Or marry a fool…”
Princes always say that
But I remember this speech, -
Let it flow for a hundred centuries in a row
Ermine mantle from the shoulders.

2.
And as if by mistake
I said, "You..."
Illuminated the shadow of a smile
Lovely features.
From such reservations
Everyone's eyes light up...
I love you like forty
Affectionate sisters.
<1909>

Marina Tsvetaeva
Hamlet's dialogue with conscience

At the bottom she, where silt
And algae... to sleep in them
Gone - but there is no sleep!
But I loved her
Like forty thousand brothers
They cannot love!
‎- Hamlet!

At the bottom she, where silt:
Silt! .. And the last whisk
Floated up on the riverside logs...
- But I loved her.
Like forty thousand...
‎- Less
All the same, than one lover.

At the bottom she, where silt.
- But I her -
‎(bewildered)
‎- loved??

Hamlet's father's shadow

Nothing is said in the legend about the ghost of Hamlet's father. Probably, the mystical beginning of the play is the idea of the writer Thomas Kyd. A ghost demanding revenge appears in Kid's play, The Spanish Tragedy, which was popular in the late 16th century.

Kid's tragedy presents a ghost story by afterlife “...I saw more sights than a thousand languages can tell. Or describe as many feathers, or imagine human hearts» . The ferryman Charon is mentioned, who transports the souls of the dead on a boat.

In Shakespeare's play, the dialogue of the characters reflects the description of the ghost, reflecting mystical ideas in the Renaissance. The ghost comes at a certain night time, he looks like he looked in life, his appearance can mean an alarming omen or guard the treasure.

Ghost, Mikhail Zichy

The conversation of Shakespeare's characters about the ghost:

Horatio
He is like a speck in the eye of my soul!
In the heyday of Rome, in the days of victories,
Before the imperious Julius fell, the graves
Stood without tenants, and the dead
On the streets, they were grinding incoherence.
Dew was bleeding in the fire of comets,
Spots appeared on the sun; month,
On whose influence the power of Neptune rests,
Was sick with darkness, as in doomsday,
The same crowd of bad omens
As if running ahead of the event,
Like hastily dispatched messengers,
Earth and sky send together
To our latitudes to our countrymen.

The ghost returns

But be quiet! Here oh again! I will stop
At any cost. Out of place, obsession!
Oh, if only speech is given to you,
Open up to me!
Perhaps you need to do mercy
For your peace and for our good,
Open up to me!
Perhaps you penetrated the fate of the country
And it's not too late to turn her away
Open up!
Perhaps during your lifetime you buried
Treasure, acquired by untruth, -
Treasures beckon you, spirits, they say -
Open up! Stop! Open up to me!

The rooster crows.

Hamlet's Father's Shadow, Frederick James Shields

marcellus,
Hold it!

Marcellus
Hit with a halberd?

Horatio
Hit if you dodge.

Bernardo
Here he is!

Horatio
Here!

The ghost leaves.

Marcellus
Gone!
We irritate the royal shadow
An open display of violence.
After all, the ghost, like steam, is invulnerable,
And to fight him is stupid and pointless.
Bernardo
He would answer, but the rooster crowed.

Horatio
And then he shuddered, as if guilty
And afraid to answer. I heard
Rooster, trumpeter of the dawn, with his throat
Wakes up piercingly from sleep
Day god. At his signal
Wherever wanderer-spirit wandered: in fire,
In the air, on land or at sea,
He is in a hurry to get home. And just now
We have confirmed this.

Marcellus
He began to fade at the cock's crow.
There is a belief that every year, in winter,
Before the holiday nativity,
The bird of the day sings through the night.
Then, according to rumors, the spirits are not naughty,
Everything is quiet at night, do not harm the planet
And the charms of witches and fairies disappear,
So blessed and sacred time.

Marcellus
And how similar to the king!

Horatio
How are you with yourself.
And in the same armor, as in the battle with the Norwegian,
And just as gloomy as on an unforgettable day,
When in a quarrel with the electives of Poland
He threw them out of the sleigh onto the ice.
Incredible!

Marcellus
At the same hour with the same important step
Yesterday he passed us twice.

The ghost of Hamlet's father, fig. Eugene Delacroix

At the meeting, the ghost says to the prince, in his words there are arguments like " Divine Comedy"Dante:

I am the spirit of your own father,
Wandering for a certain period of time condemned
At night, and during the day, burn in fire,
While my earthly curses
They won't burn out. I'm not given
Touch the secrets of my prison. And that would
From the words of my lightest story
Your soul has gone and your blood has frozen,
Eyes like stars out of their orbits
And the curls separated from each other,
Lifting up every hair,
Like quills on a frenzied porcupine.
But eternity is not a sound for earthly ears.

Legends of kings and ghosts are intertwined in Shakespeare's play. A tragedy that makes you think after centuries.

Ophelia is the most unlucky female character at Shakespeare. Even those who never held a book in their hands will tell you about Juliet and Desdemona: Desdemona was so loved that they killed, and Juliet herself loved so much that she killed herself. And about poor Ophelia you will only be told one thing: she drowned. That's all. Maybe, straining the memory, someone else will add: "crazy."

But this is not true. The story of Ophelia is no less tragic than the stories of other Shakespearean ladies, and no less mysterious. First of all, we know that Hamlet loves Ophelia only from her conversation with her father. The prince himself not only does not show any love - on the contrary, he pushes the poor thing away, showering almost with swearing. The ridiculous letter that Polonius reads to the king and queen is obviously forged - Ophelia did not give any letter to her father and directly said that she "did not accept any more of him or letters from him." The prince himself declares his love, only standing on the edge of Ophelia's grave. about any serious feeling there is no question here - it seems that Polonius is right when he said that "these flashes do not give heat." In the same conversation with his daughter, he utters a strange phrase - “You don’t accept these stupid things (“pledges of cordial friendship”), and continue to demand more expensive pledges.”

Instead of being happy for her daughter's future and trying to get the Danish throne for her, the minister and the king's first friend categorically forbids Ophelia from seeing Hamlet. This is more than incomprehensible, given his cunning, prudence, hypocrisy, which he repeatedly demonstrates in conversations with his son, servants, Claudius. He needs more expensive pledges than the love of the prince and his gifts - and after all, Ophelia had something to return to Hamlet!

Hamlet's conversations with Polonius and Ophelia would be an example of the most frank cynicism, if we do not admit, even for a second, that the prince knows something that the viewer and reader do not know. He directly tells Polonius that "The sun takes root worms with a dog ... To conceive is graceful, but not for your daughter." And the minister himself, without hesitation, calls a pimp! In a conversation with Ophelia, he goes even further. “Be pure as ice and pure as snow, you cannot escape slander” - it means that he learned or heard something about her that makes him continue: “... marry a fool. The smart ones know too well what kind of monsters you make of them.

The prototype of Shakespeare's prince - Prince Amlet, the hero of Saxo Grammar's chronicle "History of Denmark" - sang like a rooster and performed other ridiculous actions, wanting to pass for insane in order to save his life. But Hamlet only says what he thinks. He stopped pretending, threw away the courtly courtesy, gave vent to his anger. They talk about the "imaginary" madness of Hamlet, contrasting it with the "true" madness of Ophelia. But there is no madness in his actions and speeches at all. He is just angry, annoyed - and makes it clear to everyone why.

And what about Ophelia? Rejected by the prince, whose love she hoped for, as the last salvation ... The fifth scene of the fourth act begins quite unexpectedly: the Queen does not want to see the unfortunate ... "I will not accept her." But the songs and speeches of the minister's daughter are such that the courtier warns: "There is confusion in her speeches, but whoever hears it is a find." It is not in vain that the courtier asks the queen to accept her: it is obvious that Ophelia is looking for Gertrude. “Where is Denmark's beauty and queen?” she asks, just entering the room. And further - line after line, song after song, reveals to listeners and viewers a secret for which he will pay with his life.

At first, she sings about a pilgrim, a wanderer - perhaps referring to Hamlet sent to England. The death of her father and the disappearance of the prince lead her to thoughts about the shroud and the grave. But when the king appears, the theme of the songs changes dramatically. Directly and unambiguously, she declares her dishonor, and uses such words that an obedient shy woman, not only to say out loud - in principle, should not even know.

Reluctantly, in school essays and essays, it is customary to quote only the first of Ophelia's two "obscene" songs, about Valentine's Day. When the king tries to notice her words “They say the owl used to be the baker’s daughter” that this is her imaginary conversation with her father, she abruptly cuts him off: “don’t talk about it ... if you were asked what it means, tell me ...” (Ophe . Pray you let "s haue no words of this: but when they ask you what it means, say you this). Yes, the death of her father has only an indirect relation to this trouble of Ophelia.

The second "obscene" song, containing extremely ambiguous puns, is translated into Russian in a very streamlined way. Moreover, these puns are rooted in the name of God! By Gis and by cock - by Jesus and by God, the names of God are replaced by obscenities worthy only of the "baker's daughter" - whores ... It is simply impossible to translate this song without swear words. If the first song begins with at least a faint hint of a romantic relationship:
To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime
And I a maid at your window
To be your Valentine…
... then in the second song everything is said in direct, dirty and open text: "By cock, they are to blame" - "I swear ... they are guilty!". Ophelia sings this song in the hall of the palace, looking directly into the face of the king and queen. Of course, they should have listened - it is not surprising that later, after listening to her innocent songs, Laertes remarks: "This is nothing" s more than matter.

Ophelia is not crazy. She is in despair, in a frenzy. Like Hamlet, she threw away shame and decency, she is ready to tell everyone about what happened to her. What do they do with a madman? And today, and all the centuries ago? They lock him up, tie him up, try to treat him. At that time everything mental illness explained by interference evil spirits so that both the doctor and the priest were called to the patient. But no one is trying to lock up Ophelia, to calm her down - by any means. Instead, the king simply orders to follow her: “Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you.

Appearing in the room for the second time, Ophelia finds herself in a more noisy campaign: Laertes, with a crowd of indignant supporters ready to crown him, bursts into the king and queen, showering them with reproaches and claims. Now the girl has flowers in her hands, and over secret meaning these flowers are still arguing to the point of hoarseness, and they will not come to a consensus in any way - there is not a single remark in the text indicating to whom and what kind of flower Ophelia gives.

"There" s rosemary, that "s for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies. that "s for thoughts. There"s fennel for you, and columbines: there"s rue for you; and here"s some for me: we may call it herb-grace o" Sundays: O you must wear your rue with a difference. There "s a daisy: I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died ..." - "Here is rosemary, this is for remembrance; I beg you, dear, remember; but the virgin grass ( pansies), this is for thoughts. Here is dill for you and doves (catchment); here is the root for you; and for me too; it is called Grace Grass, Sunday Grass; oh, you must wear your rue with honors. Here is a daisy; I would give you violets, but they all withered when my father died ... ".

Perhaps she holds out rosemary and pansies with a corresponding wish to her brother: he must understand and remember what happened. Dill is a symbol of flattery and pretense, and the catchment meant adultery and adultery. She probably gives these flowers to the king - twice a traitor and twice a seducer. This is confirmed by the next flower: rue, the emblem of sorrow and remorse. It was also called Grace Grass (Sunday Grass) due to the fact that the penitent of sin carried it to church on Sunday. Most likely, she offers this flower to the queen, leaving one for herself: they both have something to repent of, they have one sin, and they both sinned with the same person, but the queen must wear a rue with honors - she married her seducer, but Ophelia does not. Daisy instead of violets ... Daisy is a symbol of unhappy love, and the name of faded violets - violets, is too reminiscent of violens, violence. Her father's death was violent, Ofelia tells everyone gathered in the room. The story of her unhappy love ended in violence - this is the second possible meaning of the phrase.

"Oh, you must wear your rue with distinction!" - how unpleasant this phrase must have been for the queen. No wonder she didn't want to see Ophelia! And now - a worthy finale: it is the queen who brings the news of the death of her sister to Laertes. This poetic story deserves special attention.
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
that shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
that liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, while they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and inspired
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull "d the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.

There is a willow above the stream that inclines
Gray leaves to the wave mirror;
There she came, weaving into garlands
Nettle, ranunculus, iris, orchids, -
The free shepherds have a coarser nickname,
For modest maidens they are the fingers of the dead:
She tried to hang on the branches
Your wreaths; the treacherous bitch is broken,
And the herbs and she herself fell
Into the roaring stream. her clothes,
Spread out, they carried her like a nymph;
Meanwhile, she sang fragments of songs,
As if I did not smell trouble
Or was a creature born
In the element of water; it couldn't last
And robes, heavily drunk,
Unhappy from the sounds carried away
Into the morass of death.

If there is someone who observed the death of the unfortunate woman, and even retold them to the queen with such details, then why didn’t he save her while “she sang fragments of songs”, and her clothes carried her along the stream? Who stood and watched indifferently as the victim of royal sensuality goes to the bottom? Or is all this just fiction, but in fact Ophelia paid the price for her frank songs? And - most importantly - what really plunged the girl into such boundless despair that her words and actions inspired those around her to think about her madness?

It is generally accepted that in the songs of Ophelia we are talking about the death of Polonius. But if we at least roughly place the “time milestones”, it will become clear that it was not the death of her father that plunged the poor thing into despair. Only it seems that the entire action of the play covers several days; events do not follow one another at all - the fabric of the narrative is torn, but the dates are clearly indicated. From the first appearance of the Phantom to the wedding of Gertrude and Claudius, some time passes - he has already been seen twice by the guards who reported about the strange guest Horatio. From the wedding and the first remark of the prince “Not at all a son and far from cute” to the production of “The Mousetrap” takes two whole months! From the death of Polonius, the hasty departure of Hamlet, and the illness of Ophelia, a considerable time also passes - Laertes did not receive this news immediately, returned to Denmark from France and managed to recruit supporters ... Any grief dulls with time. Even if Ophelia was the most loving of daughters, the first flash of grief should have passed by now. And why, with her misfortune, did she go to the queen, who certainly did not kill Polonia?

The great Meyerhold, considering the staging of the play, wanted to show Ophelia pregnant in the fourth act. Oddly enough, but this conclusion is very logical and suggests itself. If the cunning and dexterous minister "planted" his young daughter to the royal brother, then at least six months have passed since that time - the period when the pregnancy should no longer cause doubts in the unfortunate woman. As long as her father was alive, who directed Ophelia's actions in everything, she was calm. An attempt to change the situation, to escape from the snares ended in nothing. Hamlet, in whose love she so hoped, resolutely rejected Ophelia. The king is only the husband of the “heiress of military lines”, he will not go against his wife in any case. The fate of the unfortunate was decided.

One could believe in the accidental death of Ophelia, if not for such a detailed story about her. Everyone believed in the madness of the girl. If a person in a fit of madness ends his life, this is no reason to deprive him of the right to a Christian burial. But the conversation in the cemetery of two simpletons, gravediggers, two Clowns, again brings doubts to the picture so romantically described by the queen. According to them, "If she were not a noble lady, she would not have been buried with a Christian burial." There is no such thing as madness at all. The investigator allowed her remains to the consecrated ground: "the crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial", but the gravediggers have their own opinion on this matter. The priests, who did not want to agree with the conclusion of the coroner, had the same opinion: "her death was doubtful." “We would desecrate the holy rite by singing a requiem over her, as over a soul that has departed in peace,” the priest Laertou categorically declares. Everyone is sure: the raped (possibly pregnant) girl committed suicide. And if there hadn’t been a special instruction “from above” - “great command o” ersways the order”, her funeral would have looked completely different: “She would have been waiting in the unholy land for the pipes of judgment: instead of prayers, she would have thrown stones and shards.”

But what a bitter irony! - now Hamlet publicly declares his great love for Ophelia. Yes, it's something that could have happened, but it didn't. He stepped on the throat of his feeling, he rejected the fallen girl, pushed her away, becoming an unwitting accomplice of her death. By killing her father, he finally ruined Ophelia's life.

Here it is worth noting that the funeral of Polonius also took place in violation of the rites. This is what revolts Laertes: “His means of death, his obscure funeral - No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o "er his bones, No noble rite nor formal ostentation" - “His death, the mystery of the funeral, Where the sword and emblem of the bones did not overshadow But why was the beloved and faithful minister buried like that? His death could not have looked like a suicide! if you don’t find him for a month, then you will smell him when you go up the stairs to the gallery, "it is not indicated anywhere that the body was found. Haste and non-compliance with rituals could have only one reason: the coffin was empty. Therefore, Ophelia confuses death and death in her songs separation, the deceased and the wanderer.

“Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table!” “Sir, we know who we are, but we do not know what we can become. God bless your meal!" - these words of the girl are clearly addressed to the king, and no one will call them nonsense. Ophelia knew who she was, and she knew who everyone in the conversation was. For which she paid - honor, good name, life. She became a symbol of confusion of feelings, love deceptions, tragic disappointments.

Ophelia? Laughter. Ophelia?.. Groan.
And the terrible cries of hungry crows.
Ophelia?.. Weeping. Ophelia? Scream!
Creeping stems. Transparent spring...

nikni nikni ophelia white wreath
Swim and swim for you to the lilies along the line
Where the bloodless Hamlets roam in secret
And they bring out the melody of delirium on the flute

Long sail you to the dead in the night land
So that Hekate smile sadly extinguished
If a modest wreath lets go to the bottom
Relentless Sappho reckless force

Behind Levkat the siren Feathered people
Sailors are fooled by their bird habits
And no one returns to the whirlpool
Where three gentle voices sang so sweetly...

Guillaume Apollinaire. Translation by A. Geleskul

Ophelia's line plays an important role in the play, deepening its tragic sound. Developing with particular dramatic intensity, it turns out to be subordinate to the author's main idea of a "shattered age", in which all that is beautiful is doomed to perish.

We learn about the love of Hamlet and Ophelia almost at the very beginning of the play. Chastely restrained in expressing her feelings, Ophelia immediately reveals her attitude towards the prince already by the fact that without hesitation, she gladly goes to meet him.

A beautiful and pure-hearted girl is the only joy of Hamlet's troubled soul; he speaks words of love to her in those dark days when the whole world seems to him "boring, dull and unnecessary."

However, Hamlet's enemies try to use Ophelia as their weapon. Polonius seeks to monitor the prince through her to determine if he is really insane. He is unable to understand the nature of the deep connection between Hamlet and Ophelia and does everything to separate them. Fulfilling his will, the girl begins to avoid communication with the one she loves, although this causes her suffering.

At the same time, Hamlet's attitude towards Ophelia also changes, and the reason for this change must be sought in all his terrible spiritual breakdown. Having learned about the tragic fate of his father, he, shocked, comes to Ophelia. But the heavy consciousness that the whole world -

a lush garden that bears fruit One seed only; wild and evil reigns in it, -

poisons him with all the joy of life. In his eyes, both the beloved and his own feeling for her suddenly lose their value.

Hamlet in last time came to Ophelia and left without saying a word.

All the complexity state of mind Hamlet, breaking with Ophelia, conveys their dialogue:

"Loved" and "did not love" - in both cases, Hamlet tells the truth. His own recent love seems to him a light breath in comparison with the storm of gloomy feelings that has now gripped him. He says briefly about them: "I am very proud, vengeful, ambitious." There is no more gentle and inspired Hamlet, and he himself does not believe that he was ever like that. Nor can he appreciate Ophelia's feelings very highly now. The bitter aphorism "In short, how female love”- conveys all his disbelief in people, in himself, in the very possibility of the existence of love.

Therefore, he taunts, clowns, striking the girl's soul.

Behind the sharp denial of all that is holy, Hamlet still has a vague consciousness that he is unfair to Ophelia. But he cannot afford to focus on anything other than his debt of vengeance. He has no right, and indeed cannot indulge in the joyful, bright side of life.

The change that took place in Hamlet helps to understand how deeply and devotedly Ophelia loved him. Modest and soft, she does not reproach him, but she cannot hide her grief, her longing for the former Hamlet, when she tries to return his gifts to him and persistently reminds of their former happiness.

Ophelia doesn't just lament her lost love; much more she mourns for an extraordinary person who has lost his mind. She is more offended for Hamlet than for herself:

Unlike Queen Gertrude, Ophelia knows how to appreciate the richness of human nature. With your ideas about human dignity she herself appears before us as a Renaissance man.

Love for Hamlet became the reason tragic death Ophelia. She could not survive that her father was killed by her lover; two are lost for her dear person, and it is not known which of the losses is harder for her - it is no coincidence that, distraught, she mourns both her dead father and Hamlet at the same time.

Hamlet, however, only after the death of Ophelia felt the fullness of his feelings for her. Laertes' lamentations infuriate him, because both the love and grief of Ophelia's brother seem to him insignificant in comparison with his own:

The realization that he cannot, like Laertes, and has no right to give himself up to the sadness of loss causes special pain to Hamlet. The despair into which the death of Ophelia led him must also recede before the sense of his heavy duty that swallowed him, as his love once receded.

For the hero of Shakespeare, the main thing is the voluntary duty to restore justice. To this duty he sacrificed both his own happiness and Ophelia.

Ophelia - fictional character William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. A young noblewoman, daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and beloved of Hamlet.

John William Waterhouse. Ophelia .1894.

Possible historical prototype Ophelia is the name given to Catharina Hamnet, a girl who fell into the River Avon and died in December 1579. Although it was determined that she lost her balance and fell while carrying heavy buckets, there were rumors that the cause of death was an unhappy love that led her to suicide. Perhaps Shakespeare, who was 16 at the time of her death, recalled this incident when creating the image of Ophelia. The name Ophelia was used in literature before "Hamlet" only once - in the work "Arcadia" by the Italian poet Jacopo Sannazaro (1458-1530); it is likely that it was invented by this poet.

Ophelia.Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky

Ophelia first appears in the play when she says goodbye to her brother Laertes, who is leaving for France. Laertes instructs her about Hamlet's courtship. He warns that Hamlet, being the likely heir to the crown, is not free to marry Ophelia and therefore his advances must be rejected. After the departure of Laertes, Polonius also warns Ophelia against Hamlet, as he does not believe in the sincerity of the prince's feelings and intentions. At the end of the lecture, Polonius forbids her to meet with Hamlet.

In her second appearance, Ophelia tells Polonius how a pale and disheveled Hamlet burst into her room and, without saying a word, grabbed her by the hand, then let go and, without taking his eyes off her, went to the door. After listening to Ophelia, Polonius decides that Hamlet has gone mad because of Ophelia's coldness towards him. He decides to go to the king and announce that he knows the reason for Hamlet's nonsense. The king decides to check this by sending Ophelia to Hamlet, and, hiding, to follow his reaction.

In the scene of Ophelia's conversation with Hamlet, which is preceded by the monologue "To be or not to be", Hamlet, annoyed that Ophelia returns his former gifts to him, pretending to be insane, tells her to go to the monastery and, in contrast to his past behavior with her, behaves rather sharp. After the end of this conversation, Ophelia, turning to her father, says "What charm the mind has lost, the combination of knowledge, eloquence ...".

Alexander Cabanel "Ophelia" (1883)

Ophelia next appears when the traveling actors are playing the play "Murder of Gonzago" (The Mousetrap). Hamlet sits down at the feet of Ophelia; at first, his remarks have a clear sexual connotation, but then he speaks of female inconstancy and his statements become more and more bitter and cynical.

Ophelia's next appearance is after the murder of Polonius, her father, by Hamlet. When she hears about this, she goes crazy. She speaks in riddles and hums outwardly meaningless songs, not wanting to listen to the queen's objections.

Some time later, after Laertes, with a crowd of rebels, broke into the castle of the king and spoke to him, Ophelia reappears, uttering incoherent speeches and singing something.

In act 4, scene 7, the queen, having entered, announces the death of Ophelia to the king and Laertes: “... She tried to hang her wreaths on the branches; the treacherous bough broke, and the herbs and she herself fell into the weeping stream. Her clothes, spread out, carried her like a nymph; meanwhile, she sang fragments of songs, as if she did not smell trouble or was a creature born in the elements of water; this could not last, and the robes, heavily drunk, unhappy from the sounds, were carried away into the quagmire of death. This is one of the most poetic descriptions of death in English literature. The next Ophelia-related scene takes place in a cemetery where two gravediggers are having a conversation while digging a grave for Ophelia. One of them is convinced that she committed suicide.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Hamlet and Ophelia.

The priest consecrating Ophelia's funeral refuses to perform the full ceremony, since he also has no doubts about the deceased's suicide; he even claims that if the royal power had not intervened in this case, Ophelia would have been buried in unconsecrated ground. Laertes is painfully offended by the words of the priest.

At Ophelia's funeral, Queen Gertrude lays flowers on the grave and expresses regret that Ophelia did not become Hamlet's wife. Laertes jumps into the grave and, speaking of love for his sister, asks to be buried with her; Hamlet, distraught with grief, challenges Laertes by claiming that he loved Ophelia "more than forty thousand brothers." After this scene, Ophelia is not mentioned again.

Since it is impossible to understand from the text of the tragedy whether Ophelia's death was the result of an accident or suicide, her death has been the subject of endless disputes for four centuries.

John Everett Millais

"Ophelia" (eng. Ophelia) or "Death of Ophelia" - painting English artist John Everett Millais, completed in 1852. The film is based on a plot from Shakespeare's play Hamlet. This canvas, exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1852, was not immediately appreciated by contemporaries.

Ophelia was the beloved of Prince Hamlet, but after learning that he killed her father Polonius, she went crazy and committed suicide by drowning herself in the river. As the gravediggers say in the play, “her death is dark. If it were not for the order from the king, she would lie in the unconsecrated land. Millais reproduced the scene described by the Queen, Hamlet's mother. She describes the incident as if it were an accident:

Where the willow grows above the water, bathing
Silvery foliage in the water, she
Came there in fancy garlands
From buttercup, nettle and chamomile,
And those flowers that roughly names
The people, and the girls call with their fingers
Pokoinikov. She has her wreaths
Hang thought on willow branches,
But the branch is broken. In a weeping stream
With flowers, the poor fell. Dress,
Spreading wide across the water,
She was held like a mermaid.

In the painting, Ophelia is depicted immediately after falling into the river, when she “thought to hang her wreaths on willow branches.” She sings sorrowful songs, half submerged in water. Her posture - open arms and a gaze fixed on the sky - evokes associations with the Crucifixion of Christ, and has also often been interpreted as erotic. The girl slowly plunges into the water against the backdrop of a bright, blooming nature, her face shows neither panic nor despair. And although death is inevitable, time seems to have stopped in the picture. Millet was able to masterfully capture the moment that passes between life and death.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti The First Madness of Ophelia.

Gabriel Max. Ophelia.

"Gather Ye Rosebuds" or "Ophelia," by John William Waterhouse. (circa 1908)

John William Waterhouse (1849–1917) ."Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May".1908

Hamlet: Act IV, Scene V (Ophelia Before the King and Queen) by Benjamin West, 1792, Cincinnati Art Museum

Arthur Hughes

Ernest Hébert (1817-1908). Ophelia.

Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848–1884).Ophélie.1881

John William Waterhouse (1849–1917).Ophelia.1889

Odilon Redon - Ophelia.

Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836–1911).Ophelia.1890

Pierre Auguste Cot (1837–1883). Ophelia.1870

Ophelia.circa 1873.The Works of Shakspere, with notes by Charles Knight

Ophelia - George Frederic Watts.

Ophelia - Henrietta Rae.

Ophelia - Marcus Stone.1888

"Ophelia" by John William Waterhouse.

Ophelia, by Burthe (1823-1860), 1851

Pascal Adolphe Dagnan-Bouveret Ophelia.

Ophelia Paul Albert Stack

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel/Mikhal Vrubel Hamlet and Ophelia 1883 Water color on paper 24*17 Russian Museum

Richard Westall's Ophelia engraved by J. Parker.1903

William Gorman Wills-Ophelia and Laertes.

A possible historical prototype of Ophelia is Katarina Gamnet, a girl who fell into the Avon River and died in December 1579. Although it was determined that she lost her balance and fell while carrying heavy buckets, there were rumors that the cause of death was an unhappy love that led her to suicide. Perhaps Shakespeare, who was 16 at the time of her death, recalled this incident when creating the image of Ophelia. The name Ophelia was used in literature before "Hamlet" only once - in the work "Arcadia" by the Italian poet Jacopo Sannazaro (1458-1530); it is likely that it was invented by this poet. Perhaps it is formed by the merging of two names: Othe-kete and Lia-Liya.

John William Waterhouse "Ophelia" (1894)

CIRCLE OF ALFRED JOSEPH WOOLMER, 1805-1892, OPHELIA