Part 44: Ophelia, Ariadne, Aegeus: Rejection, Ecstasy, Drowning
After Ophelia’s father Polonius tells her to reject Hamlet [1], she obeys; later Hamlet is unkind to her and tells her, “Get thee to a nunnery” [2]. But the fact that her father forbade her to see him could not erase her feelings for him [3], or her hurt at being rejected.
The story of Theseus, son of King Aegeus, and how he killed the Minotaur with help from Ariadne, was quite familiar in Shakespeare’s time, and the playwright even has Theseus as a character in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Ariadne loved Theseus, as Ophelia seems to have loved Hamlet. But like Polonius, Ariadne’s father, King Minos, would not have approved. In the Greek myth, Theseus takes Ariadne with him when he leaves the island of Crete after defeating Ariadne’s half-brother, the Minotaur [4]. He later abandons her on the island of Naxos.
Ophelia may feel similarly abandoned after Hamlet leaves for England [5] and her father is found dead and given a hushed-up funeral [6].
(Perhaps an underlying current in the plot suggests that Hamlet killing Polonius, who was hidden behind the arras [6], is roughly parallel to Theseus killing the Minotaur hidden in the labyrinth?)
Some say Ariadne hanged herself; in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (familiar to Shakespeare in translation), she does not drown like Ophelia, but becomes the wife of Dionysus, god of wine, who inspires ecstasy [7].
In Gertrude’s account of Ophelia’s death, Ophelia sings hymns after she falls in the water [8], as if caught up in mystical bliss, spiritual ecstasy.
Ophelia drowns while Hamlet is away, perhaps thinking he will not return. In this way, Ophelia resembles King Aegeus, who was waiting for Theseus to return: Theseus had promised Aegeus that he would change his black sails to white, to signal on his return that he was returning alive; but he forgot to change the sails, so his father, seeing the black sails, flung himself into the sea to drown [9].
Rejection, ecstasy, drowning in despair. Many Elizabethan literary plot or character tropes can be traced back to Ovid.
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NOTES: All references to Hamlet are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online version: https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/entire-play/
[1] 1.3.124-145. See also 2.2.150-160, with Polonius describing to Claudius and Gertrude his instructions for Ophelia to reject Hamlet, and in the “nunnery” scene (1.3), how Ophelia returns Hamlet’s “tokens” or letters, 3.1.102-112.
[2] 3.1.131, 140, 149, 151, 162.
[3] 3.1.126, 130, 163-175.
[4] See painting in upper left of collage.
[5] 3.1.183.
[6] 4.5.89-91, 237-242.
[7] As told in Book 8, Ovid's Metamorphoses. See the upper right and two lower images in the collage.
[8] 4.7.202-205.
[9] Ophelia's drowning as a transformation of King Aegeus’ drowning might make more sense when one sees the final cup scene as a gender-flipped transformation of King Aegeus knocking the cup from the hand of Theseus, and Claudius as a Medea-poisoner figure. For others regarding Greek mythological allusions or echoes in Hamlet, see Jonathan Bate (on Shakespeare and Ovid) and/or Tanya Pollard (Greek Tragic Women on Shakespearean Stages), and see also Arthur Golding translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses for more possibilities.
IMAGES:
Upper left (According to Wikipedia): Charles-Édouard Chaise (1759–1799),
Thésée vainqueur du Minotaure
(Theseus victor of the Minotaur), circa 1791.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg,
CeCILL / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 France,
via Wikipedia: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Theseus_victor_of_the_Minotaur_mg_0114.jpg
Upper right (According to Wikipedia): Ariadne in Naxos (also called Bacchus and Ariadne or Bacchus discovering Ariadne in Naxos), by the Le Nain brothers, circa 1635, in Orléans's Fine Arts museum.
Painting first attributed to Louis Le Nain, yet possibly Mathieu Le Nain.
Public domain via Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_in_Naxos#/media/File:Orleans_MBA_L_Le_nain_bacchus_et_ariane.jpg
Lower left (According to Wikipedia): Dionysos surrounded by his thiasus discovers Ariadne asleep at Hypnos's side. Fresco in Pompeii.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli.
Photo 29 November 2013, 12:18:02 by Sailko. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Public domain via
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Dioniso_scopre_arianna%2C_da_casa_dei_capitelli_colorati_a_pompei%2C_9278.JPG
Lower right (According to Wikipedia): wall painting (fresco): old satyr / Silenos with thyrsos admiring the scene; young beardless wreathed Dionysos with thyrsos, seated, touching one of Ariadne´s breasts; in the background Theseus´s ship is sailing away (upper right corner) - period / date: early fourth style of pompeian wall painting - probably the same workshop of painters as in the house of the Vettii - findspot: Pompeii, VI, 17, insula occidentalis, 42, house of the golden bracelet / house of the wedding of Alexander / house of M Fabius Rufus, triclinium (20), north wall - museum / inventory number: Pompeii, Parco Archeologico, Antiquarium 41658.
Photo: 4 October 2018, 14:22:11 by ArchaiOptix.
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.
Public domain via
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Wall_painting_-_Dionysos_joining_Ariadne_on_Naxos_-_Pompeii_%28VI_17_ins_occ_42%29_-_Pompeii_PAAnt_41658_-_02.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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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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My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.
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