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  • Essay / Ophelia's Madness or Nothing or Nothing Analysis

    First, it is an "unwelcome" and "distracting" Ophelia (4.4.2) who specifically seeks out the "beautiful majesty of Denmark", Queen Gertrude (4.4 .22). Upon recognition, Ophelia asks, “How should I know your true love/From another?” (4.4.24-25). A rhetorical question, Ophelia provides the answer by explaining that Gertrude's true love is distinguished "by his cockle hat and his staff,/And his shoon sandal" (4.4.26-27). However, the pilgrim Ophelia refers to is "dead and gone," implying that his spiritual quest for indulgence takes place in the afterlife (4.4.30-31). King Hamlet, who died “twice two months” (3.2.121), is said to be the only character to have a tomb of “grass-green turf” and a “stone” (4.4.32-33). Interestingly, the tomb Ophelia sings about is inverted; whereby the “stone” is “at his heels” and the “grass-green turf” is “at his head ».”