Part 9: Ophelia, "mad rogue" court fool
Ophelia becomes like a mad fool-queen regent in the fool-king’s absence, the most verbose person among the court; she commands its attention like a court fool.
Long (1971), Holleran (1989) and Olivas (2015) have recognized Ophelia in the role of the fool. Holleran cites Long who “suggests that in her madness Ophelia plays the traditional role of the 'fool' (a role she shares with Hamlet), whose songs serve as mirrors to reflect the personality of the listener” [2].
Olivas notes that Ophelia’s madness seems to free her up to be more outspoken, and through songs and symbolic gifts of flowers with traditional meanings, she speaks uncomfortable truths about the court.
Court fools were not obligated to flatter members of the court, but rather, obligated by tradition to say or playfully reveal what others may have wished to say but refrained from saying.
During The Mousetrap, Hamlet’s feigned or real madness and foolery includes rude and bawdy comments to Ophelia. Ophelia later improves upon his instruction: In Ophelia’s Valentine’s Day song [3], she reveals for the first time to Gertrude and Claudius that she and Hamlet may have been lovers:
“Before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed” [4],
referring back to how she had told her father that Hamlet had made to her “almost all the holy vows of heaven” [5].
But where Hamlet’s bawdy remarks were rude, Ophelia’s are a sincere lover’s complaint.
The play does not specify to whom she gives each of her flowers [6], and depending on which source one consults, the flowers have various meanings [7].
Among these was rue or “herb of grace o’ Sundays” [8], bitter, for regret and repentance, a known abortifacient [9], given to Gertrude and Ophelia (who may want Gertrude to terminate any pregnancy with Claudius so that Hamlet remains heir; Ophelia may wish to end a pregnancy so that she might not be disgraced; but there is a big difference (“You must wear your rue with a difference” [10]).
MARRY A FOOL
During the nunnery scene, Hamlet curses Ophelia: “if thou wilt needs marry, / marry a fool” [11]. Ophelia might be viewed as being a more faithful partner than Hamlet had been to her - by enacting a very real madness of her own, and like him, filling the role of court fool.
SHARE YORICK’S GRAVE
Ophelia will share the grave of the last court fool, who the gravedigger calls a “whoreson, mad fellow” and “mad rogue”: Yorick [12], whose bones are dug up to make way for Ophelia’s burial.
We might also note that first on stage at the start of the play is Francisco, whose namesake is likely Francis of Assisi, “God’s fool.”
In these ways, the play mourns the death of sorely needed court fools.
"We are fools for Christ’s sake, and ye are wise in Christ: we are weak, and ye are strong: ye are honorable, and we are despised."
- 1 Corinthians 4:10 (Geneva)
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* Also, unrelated to "God's fool," C. Elliot Browne noted (1876) that Francisco & Bernardo were the names of the Pazzi assassins who attempted to stop the Medici family's rising power (murder and succession).
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NOTES:
[1] 3.2.269. All references to Hamlet are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online version: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/
[2] John H. Long (1971), James V. Holleran (1989) and Tynelle Ann Olivas (2015) notice Ophelia in the role of the fool. In footnote 32 on p. 82, Holleran mentions Long. See HOLLERAN, JAMES V. “Maimed Funeral Rites in ‘Hamlet.’” English Literary Renaissance 19, no. 1 (1989): 82, fn 32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43447267. Holleran refers to John H. Long (Shakespeare's Use of Music: The Histories and Tragedies [Gainesville, Fla., 1971], esp. pp. 105-29). suggests that in her madness Ophelia plays the traditional role of the "fool" (a role she shares with Hamlet), whose songs serve as mirrors to reflect the personality of the listener.”
See also Who is Ophelia? An examination of the Objectification and Subjectivity of Shakespeare's Ophelia, master’s thesis by Tynelle Ann Olivas: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/2403/
[3] 4.5.53-71
[4] 4.5.67-68. Her whole song, 4.5.53-71:
Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose and donned his clothes
And dupped the chamber door,
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
[...]
By Gis and by Saint Charity,
Alack and fie for shame,
Young men will do ’t, if they come to ’t;
By Cock, they are to blame.
Quoth she “Before you tumbled me,
You promised me to wed.”
He answers:
“So would I ’a done, by yonder sun,
An thou hadst not come to my bed.”
[5] 1.3.123
[6] Distributing flowers: 4.5.199-209
[7] Possible meanings and recipients of Ophelia's flowers:
Rosemary - remembrance
- to Gertrude, who forgot her first husband?
- or to Laertes, to remember to be true to himself?
Pansies - thoughts (or “love in idleness”)
- to Laertes?
- Ophelia’s own thoughts of Hamlet in the idleness of his absence?
Fennel - dissembling/dishonest flattery
- What Claudius has done/will do to Laertes?
Columbines - infidelity, ingratitude
- Gertrude and Claudius?
Also see footnote for “rosemary,” 4.5.2927, at the University of Victoria’s Internet Shakespeare Hamlet: https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Ham_EM/scene/4.5/index.html
[8] 4.5.206.
[9] In the last half-century, some scholars have noted that rue was commonly known to be an abortifacient, but that over centuries this use was often erased from botanical references and from the footnotes of Hamlet editions. See Alicia Andrzejewski, “Ophelia’s Rue,” Synapses, https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2017/11/26/ophelias-rue/
[10 4.5.206-207.
[11] 5.1.184-186.
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IMAGES:
Left: 1899 Postcard: Ophelia with Gertrude and Claudius, Harold Copping (1863 – 1932), public domain via https://www.meisterdrucke.ie/kunstwerke/1200w/Harold_Copping_-_Ophelia_with_the_king_and_queen_illustration_from_Hamlet_-_%28MeisterDrucke-390017%29.jpg
Center: The Fool, Tarot card, 1909, from the Rider–Waite tarot deck. Public domain via Wikimedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RWS_Tarot_00_Fool.jpg
Right: Ophelia, 1900, Walter Stanley Paget (1861-1908); Private Collection; (Illustration from Shakespeare’s Heroines, Ernest Nister 1900). Public domain via https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/kunstwerke/1200w/Walter%20Stanley%20Paget%20-%20Ophelia%20-%20%28MeisterDrucke-52294%29.jpg
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INDEX OF OPHELIA POSTS:
My 2023 series on Ophelia, and earlier Ophelia posts:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2023/10/index-of-ophelia-posts-2023-series-and.html
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https://ko-fi.com/pauladrianfried
IF YOU WOULD PREFER to support me on a REGULAR basis,
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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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