Part 18: A mote in Ophelia’s eye met with Gertrude's merciful fiction?
In a previous post on Ophelia (Part 16), I explored the idea that Gertrude’s story in 4.7 of Ophelia’s death might be true: Ophelia died because a willow branch on which she was standing broke; once in the water, she accepted the possibility of her approaching death in faith, apparently according to Christian expectations of the time.This seems consistent with many aspects of Ophelia’s last scene (4.5).
Some note: Gertrude’s account has so much detail, but no one tries to save Ophelia. Can we trust Gertrude’s account? If Gertrude’s account of Ophelia’s death in 4.7 is a fiction, a lie (bearing false witness, a sin in the eyes of Elizabethan Christians [1]), how might we best understand it?
1. As a lie of self-interest, to avoid Laertes’ rage and prevent him from killing Claudius and Gertrude herself, declaring himself king with the mob’s support?
2. To preserve the state and public order, to prevent casualties that might come from a revolt?
3. As an act of mercy toward Ophelia, to spare her the indignity of being denied Christian burial as a suicide?
Or some combination? Or?
And even if Gertrude's tale is a fiction motivated by all the above reasons, we cannot know whether Gertrude is certain the death was a suicide, or if the nature of her death was entirely mysterious and unclear, but Gertrude perhaps attempted to embellish it with clarity to make it seem a mystery of faith.
We might be tempted to judge Gertrude’s possible lie too harshly. Shakespeare knew that when we judge others (even fictional characters), our judgements say as much about us as about them: Matthew 7:1-2 (to which Shakespeare alludes in the title of his play, Measure for Measure) reads, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again.”[2]
Such a lie on Gertrude’s part may very well be an act of mercy toward both Ophelia and the state of Denmark, though perhaps mixed with self-interest. Gertrude might show mercy to Ophelia if she expects heaven to be merciful toward her.
If Gertrude’s tale of Ophelia’s drowning is fiction, it is perhaps Gertrude acting like Alcestis (who volunteered to die so that a loved one might live), offering her own eternal fate in place of another (Ophelia, in this case). Shakespeare would have known of Alcestis through Euripedes, cited in 1984 as “the most popular Greek dramatist in Shakespeare's time.”[3]
By telling the fiction, Gertrude says to the audience, to her world, perhaps to the heavens:
“Don’t judge Ophelia as a suicide, to be damned for murdering herself. She has only a mote (speck of dust) in her eye. Judge me to be the one with a plank in my own eye: a liar, an adulterer, married to a murderous usurper. Let the weight of her sins be on my soul, not hers.”
In this way, Gertrude may unknowingly rehearse for how she will do the same for Hamlet, putting on the role of Alcestis once again, drinking from the cup, the contents of which she cannot be certain, but which she may very well suspect are poisonous.
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NOTES: All quotes are from the Folger Shakespeare Library online version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/
[1] “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” was considered the 9th commandment in Calvinistic Protestant England. On the general idea of Gertrude weaving a fictional account of Ophelia's death, see Trench, Wilbraham Fitzjohn. Shakespeare's Hamlet: A New Commentary. London: John Murray, 1913. Shakespeare Online. 2 Aug. 2011. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/opheliasdeathgertrude.html >.
[2] Geneva translation.
[3] On Alcestis, see https://www.worldhistory.org/Alcestis/
“Euripides was the most popular Greek dramatist in Shakespeare's time” according to Margaret J. Arnold (1984). See
Arnold, Margaret J. “‘Monsters in Love’s Train’: Euripides and Shakespeare’s ‘Troilus and Cressida.’” Comparative Drama 18, no. 1 (1984): 38–53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41153103.
IMAGE: Crop of Ophelia and Gertrude from the larger painting, “Ophelia and Laertes,” by
Benjamin West (1738–1820) Cincinnati Art Museum. Public domain via
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ophelia_and_Laertes,_by_Benjamin_West,_1792,_oil_on_canvas_-_Cincinnati_Art_Museum_-_DSC04595.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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YOU CAN SUPPORT ME on a one-time "tip" basis on Ko-Fi:
https://ko-fi.com/pauladrianfried
IF YOU WOULD PREFER to support me on a REGULAR basis,
you may do so on Ko-Fi, or here on Patreon:
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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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Thanks for reading!
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