Part 42: A Living Mousetrap: Ophelia's Owl
OPHELIA: “They say the owl was a baker’s daughter.” What are owls famous for eating — even a dozen in a single night? Mice. What does Hamlet call the play by which he hopes to catch the conscience of the king? “The Mousetrap” [1]. Ophelia sat with Hamlet at his playlet, heard him call it “The Mousetrap.” She soon references a folktale in which a baker’s daughter is ungenerous with a beggar at the door (Jesus or a fairy in disguise), and as punishment, is changed into an owl [2]. Into a living mousetrap. (And the owl asks, “Who? Who?” First words of the play: “Who’s there?”) The name “Gertrude” may point to a Christian saint famous for getting rid of mice [3]. I have argued that, by drinking the poison cup, Gertrude builds a better mousetrap, catching the conscience of Claudius [4]. So there is a trilogy of mouse-trapping characters in the play: Hamlet, Ophelia, and Gertrude. But Ophelia’s owl reference is usually not viewed by scholars, critics, teachers and students as a reference t...
