Ophelia and Arthurian legends: Broken Oaths, Suicides, Ghostly Fathers (Ophelia postlude)
In Thomas Malory's collected Le Morte D'Arthur tales, the Lady of the Lake, an unnamed damsel, and two figures named Elaine resemble various dynamics in Hamlet and Ophelia. This is not to say that Hamlet alludes to Malory (he never does explicitly), but that knowledge of the tales was one among many aspects of the cultural-literary fabric that informed the shaping of Hamlet as distinct from its older sources. 1. Ophelia’s Valentine song in 4.5 implies Hamlet had broken his oaths to her, in spite of her having broken off the relationship first in obedience to her father. - The Lady of the Lake [1] acts as if an oath had been broken or a debt unpaid related to the sword, but she is killed. 2. An unnamed damsel falls in love with Lanceor (not Lancelot) but she is in such sorrow at his death that she kills herself, falling on a sword.[2] 3. Lancelot is deceived by sorceress Brisen who disguises Elaine, daughter of King Pelles, to appear as Guinevere. Elaine seduces Lancelot (simil...