Ophelia’s Flowers: A feminist reimagining

I wrote this suite of poems for a theatre history class after reading Hamlet. I was interested in Ophelia’s characterization, her descent from grief into incurable madness. Most of the interpretations of this character focus on her ill usage by the manipulative men around her, positing that her significance in the story is solely her fragile innocence and delicate, feminine passivity. However, when in Act 4, Scene 5, the ‘insane’ young woman begins to dole out flowers and plants to the people around her, it is striking how intentional these gifts seem. This ‘language of flowers,’ was widely understood and utilized in the era this play was written. The pointedness of Ophelia’s gesture highlights her autonomy and intentionality as a character. Although she does not often outright defy those in power around her, through her flowers, protected by the label of insanity, she has the opportunity to speak for herself. This suite seeks to redirect the focus of the classical play toward a little known interpretation of Ophelia; as a character who is actionable, intentional and deliberate in her choices and secure in her womanhood and femininity. Each poem represents one of the plants she gave to a court member, the bolded lines are the lines she speaks in the play as she distributes her gifts (and judgements). Through these pieces, the reader journeys along with Ophelia down to the river’s edge. Her final destination a defiance act of tragedy, freedom, and reclamation.

Rosemary

In the kitchen, quiet, humble

Scented sweetly, there she hides

There’s rosemary for remembrance

Grieving, funerary ties

Slow descent, it is beginning

Growing louder, leading down

To the banks, innocent river

Later there, our maiden found

Pansy

Dainty maiden, quiet protest

Drowning with a silent roar

Petals soft, and yet unbroken

Scattered lightly, heretofore

Unbeknownst, she sends a message

And there’s pansy, that’s for thought

Simple warnings, pollen dusted

Still, her fate, unflinching caught

Fennel and Columbines

Condemnation wrapped in kindness

Harshest censure with a smile

Throwing off chains of decorum

Laughing, madly, she reviles

There’s fennel for you, and columbine

Blooming perfidy, decries

Queenly warmth, but cold betrayal

Hid in darksome, wandering eyes

Rue

Rue the day, a bitter sorrow

Cups are empty, eyes are full

Runneth over, like the river

Silver glasslike fingers pull

There’s rue for you, and some for me

Fearsome end for all surmise

Cast away all stifling garments

Now enrapt in mermaid guise

Daisy

Pure as snow and clear as water

That will now become a shroud

There’s a daisy, clasped so closely

Worldly troubles disavowed

Weeping willows reach to hold her

‘Round the cushioned banks abloom

Quiet, humble, though unhidden

Watered depths, henceforth a tomb