Topic > The theme of suicide in Shakespeare's Hamlet - 1049

Gertrude says no, but everyone else said yes, which is why the church wants to refuse her a proper burial. Even the gravedigger who is building Ophelia's tomb wonders whether or not it was suicide: "Shall she be buried in a Christian burial when she voluntarily seeks her own salvation" (Act 5, scene 1, lines 1-2)? Gertrude comes to fight for Ophelia's cause, saying, "There, on the drooping branches of her crown weeds, climbing to hang, an envious fragment broke... Tore the poor wretch from her melodious rest to muddy death" (Act 4 , scene 7, lines 169-180). Saying that when she fell from the branch, her clothes kept her in the water and she didn't understand the danger she was in, so when her clothes became damp, they drowned her without her knowing, leaving her dreaming for eternity. Although others believe that she was crazy and allowed herself to drown on purpose, but the reasoning is unclear. Could it stem from Hamlet's overwhelming demands on her in the "nunnery" scene or the stress of the situation between her father and brother? No one is really sure why he died, whether it was suicide, or even a suicide at all. The only thing that may be somewhat concrete is the fact that she was clearly insane before her death. Explained clearly by Claudio: “Oh, this is the poison of deep pain. Spring. All since his father's death, and now behold” (Act 4, scene