Traditionally, only two possible reasons of Ophelia's death (accident and suicide) are analyzed while it has been overlooked that she was buried as a maiden who had lost her innocence outside wedlock. (Shakespeare mentions that a part of the virgin rites was allowed. That means that 'the other part' was cut. Would anybody assert it is possible to be a virgin partially?..) Therefore, Ophelia might have been drowned by the man who had seduced her. Hamlet was aware Ophelia was not innocent, and that was the reason of his rudeness (III.2,3) to her and Polonius.
Though at the grave-yard Hamlet was unaware of Ophelia's death, his close friend Horatio would not do anything to prevent inevitable shock Hamlet would have endured. That dictates the necessity of a more detailed analysis of the data concerning this character.
It has been widely accepted that Shakespeare made Horatio the only positive character in Hamlet. This opinion is based on Hamlet's characteristics (III.2). A detailed analysis suggests that is due a collage carefully planted by the Narrator: the very beginning of the scene is prosaic up to 44th line but the passage in which Hamlet praises Horatio is a part of the pentameter text (beginning with 49th line). Therefore, it is only in the inner drama that Hamlet's attitude to Horatio is positive. Nevertheless, the readers do not notice the difference between the passages belonging to different plots. The gradual transition from the prosaic part (describing the 'real events') to the pentameter one (with a kind of a 'neutral zone' from 45th to 48th lines) demonstrates the expertise with which Shakespeare's Narrator conceals the truth.
There is another contradiction concerning Horatio's behavior. According to Hamlet's request, he had to take the sailors with the message directly to the King and Gertrude. Instead, the message was delivered to the royal couple by a messenger who got it not from the sailors but from Horatio (Claudio). So, contrary to Hamlet's instructions aimed at averting a possibility of opening the message by a third party, Horatio did not take the sailors directly to the King and Gertrude, but rather got hold of the message while being alone. This is an important detail, and Shakespeare stressed that the messenger did not see the sailors.
A detailed analysis of the events following Ophelia's visit to the King and Gertrude suggests the only possible conclusion: the person who was with Ophelia when she died was Horatio (after her visit, the King ordered Horatio to be with her.)
Contrary to the widely accepted opinion, this Shakespeare's character happens to be the key one to the true content of Hamlet. He lets out the cues necessary to understand the truth. The Gravedigger has got a university background (he uses Latin expressions and has a good command of legal issues). More than 23 years before the described events, when Yorick the jester was still alive the Gravedigger was received at the Court as a nobleman. (Yorick the jester who poured wine on his head could perform his jokes only with peers, and only in the presence of the King.)
The mentioning of the coroner who has investigated Ophelia's case is a solid cue to realize the burial rites were cut not due to suicide but due to some other reason. Besides, Gravedigger's chatter completely rejects the version of Ophelia's madness. Firstly, being a well-informed person (he even knows on what grounds prince Hamlet was sent to England), he never mentions Ophelia's madness. Secondly, should Ophelia be mad 'in reality', there would not have been a suicide issue at all: among the Christians, intended self-destruction of mad people is not considered as suicide.
An attentive reader would notice that it was prince Hamlet who confirmed the burial rites were cut due to Ophelia's suicide (V.i):
The corse they follow did with desperate hand
Fordo its own life: 'twas of some estate.
An analysis suggests that Hamlet states that only in the text of the Mousetrap. Moreover, the way in which the Narrator attached this part of the Mousetrap to the prosaic plot is noteworthy as well:
No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither with
modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it: as
thus: Alexander died, Alexander was buried,
Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of
earth we make loam; and why of that loam, whereto he
was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel?
Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away:
O, that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the winter flaw!
But soft! but soft! aside: here comes the king.
The first six prosaic lines belong to the 'real' plot, here Hamlet contemplates the topic of Alexander. In the next four lines the topic is the same, but this part belongs to the pentameter text of the Mousetrap. Moreover, to attract the readers' attention to this transition, Shakespeare made these versed lines rhymed. The last line also belonging to the Mousetrap text is the beginning of the suicide topic. Therefore, Hamlet confirms the suicidal character of Ophelia's death only within the fictitious plot of the inner drama.
This example illustrates how cunning is the Narrator in his attempt to impose upon the readers the false version of events he describes. It is necessary to recognize the skill with which this character achieves his goals: the four centuries of the misinterpretation of Hamlet prove that well.
It is necessary to keep in mind that the image of seemingly invisible though cunning and very skillful Narrator is the product of Shakespeare's genius.
Chapter III: King Hamlet's son
Copyright © Alfred Barkov 2000, 2003