Part 2: Ophelia’s drowning shrouded in lies, like other deaths in Hamlet
Deaths in Hamlet are shrouded in lies, including Ophelia’s. The play offers a king murdered by his brother, but the murderer’s lie claims it was by snake bite [1], and an Ophelia who died from the accident of a broken branch [2], but the “churlish priest” insists that she died by suicide.[3] The ghost says, "… the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abus’d Upon my secure hour thy uncle … … … in the porches of my ears did pour The leperous distilment Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatch’d (1.5.36–8, 61–4, 74–5) So the king was killed by Claudius with intent, but the truth was obscured by his murderer’s lies of accidental death. Ophelia drowned by accident, but the truth was obscured by claims that she died by intent, suicide. A reversed echo? One could say (paraphrasing), "… the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of (Ophelia'sdeath Rankly abus’d..." I tend to believe Gertrude’s stor...