Poor Ophelia. She feels more like a plot device than a character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Take her introduction for instance, which focuses on introducing the audience to ‘crazy’ Hamlet. Throughout the play, Shakespeare treats Ophelia just like Claudius and Polonius do — as a tool to gage Hamlet’s madness. That is, until act 4 scene 5 when Ophelia herself goes mad. It is during this moment of madness that Ophelia finally gains agency and she does so by leaning into her femininity. Ophelia is an example of a female character who is strong because of her femininity, not in spite of it.

Shakespeare is no stranger to female agency. His canon is full of strong female characters such as Lady Macbeth from Macbeth, Viola from Twelfth Night, and Portia from The Merchant of Venice. The common thread between those three, and what separates Ophelia from them, is that their agency comes from phallic appropriation. For example, in The Merchant of Venice Portia gains agency by attending and interfering with Antonio’s trial. In order to do that, she takes on a male persona; she knows that the only way she will be able to attend the trial is as a man, so she dresses like one. She also adopts a stereotypically masculine attitude. In the trial, she acts more unemotional and aggressive than any of the men there. It is clear from the way she speaks to Shylock, “down, therefore and beg mercy of the duke” (Merchant of Venice 4.1.378), that she does not care about him at all. She leans into her masculinity by rejecting the traditionally feminine trait of empathy and that is what wins her the trial and her agency.

Ophelia is a stark contrast to Portia. During her moment of agency, Ophelia is the picture of femininity: covered in and cradling an assortment of flowers. However, the flowers are more than a traditional symbol of femininity — they are messages from Ophelia to the citizens of Denmark. Laertes is assigned rosemary “for remembrance” (Hamlet 4.5.199) and pansies “for thoughts” (4.5.200-01). Rosemary is an emblem of remembrance, one that is traditionally used at funerals, and the name pansy comes from pensée, the French word for thought (“Rosemary, n. and adj.”). It appears she is asking her brother to remember the father they lost but to also think before he acts on it, as Ophelia knows that Claudius can influence his actions the same way he influenced their fathers. Gertrude and Claudius are presented with fennel, columbines, and rue (4.5.204-05). Fennel is an emblem of flattery (“Fennel,” n. 3”), columbine is associated with faithlessness and foolishness particularly in wedlock (Wong 92), and rue (the plant) is a punning allusion to the word “rue,” meaning sorrow, repentance, and regret (“Rue, n. 2”). Here it seems Ophelia is shaming Gertrude and Claudius for their marriage and pointing out the way they betrayed Old Hamlet for their own gain. Ophelia then takes some rue for herself – “and here’s some for me” (4.5.205) — likely to express the regret she feels for playing a part in Claudius’s schemes. The daisies, a symbol of innocence, are possibly given to no one (4.5.207; see also Wong 88 and 92 n. 14), while the violets, an emblem of loyalty and devotion, “withered all” (4.5.208) when Polonius died (Wong 88). Using the flowers to critique the rotten state of Denmark, Ophelia musters the symbolic association of flowers with femininity. Instead of rejecting the passive role as Portia does, Ophelia finds a loophole. She hides her opinions of Denmark and its citizens within the flowers. She finds a way to voice her opinions — just not explicitly. Not only does this situation exemplify Ophelia’s cleverness, it also shows that there is strength in femininity.

Story after story I have seen female characters like Portia: women who only gain agency by leaning into their masculinity. Over time, this tendency has created a binary where masculinity equals strength and femininity equals weakness. Ophelia is one of the few female characters I have found to show strength through stereotypical femininity and I wanted to share that. Specifically I wanted to share that with teenage girls who are so often criticized and mocked for their femininity.

Through research I discovered that Ophelia has already become quite the symbol for teen girls. From the 1961 publication of Mary Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia to early 2000s YA adaptations to the 2018 film Ophelia, it seems others may have attempted the adaptation I was wanting to make. However, there was a large emphasis on revising Ophelia as a more assertive character (Flaherty 2). I felt this unnecessary since Ophelia is strong as she is. Thus I decided that I did not want to reinvent Ophelia, but rather reintroduce her to a modern audience.

Wanting this to be an adaptation for teen girls, I knew I needed a hook, something to intrigue them. After all, it is 2020 and Shakespeare is hardly the hottest trend. However, the 2004 movie Mean Girls is a cult classic among teen girls and a key plot device from the movie is the Burn Book which the main characters use to keep track of gossip.

At its core, a Burn Book is just a different kind of diary: it is a mostly private display of a person’s thoughts and opinions. It is something most girls can relate to as many grow up keeping, or at least attempting to keep, diaries. Most importantly for this adaptation, it is a feminine medium. Diaries aren’t often read aloud or shared and so the owner keeps those thoughts and opinions to themselves. Still, there is a feeling of agency that comes from writing them down. It is a process that helps to solidify the writer’s opinions, and one I picture Ophelia doing as she was compiling her critiques of the Danish kingdom and court. This is why I felt it a fitting medium, because the audience would learn about Ophelia’s feminine agency through a feminine medium. Further, this medium would engage them by making them active participants in the adaptation: as readers of her Burn Book, they would be placed in the role of Ophelia’s friends who she trusts with her thoughts and opinions.

Ophelia’s Burn Book has six pages: one for each of the Danes and a separate page for the daisies. It is a simple adaptation that remains close to the original, as most of the text is borrowed straight from the scene itself. This was because I wanted to show that Ophelia is a strong, feminine character on her own and that she does not need reinvention as much as reintroduction. Therefore, the Burn Book is designed to act as a more intriguing and visually stimulating version of my flower analysis and so my focus was on creating a clean layout of aesthetically evocative images. Additionally, I added details to illustrate the scene’s underlying dynamics. For example, the power difference between characters is displayed through Gertrude’s and Claudius’s gold backgrounds and Laertes’s and Ophelia’s simpler ones, whereas the contrast between the bright white of the daisies and the darkness of Polonius’s page highlights just how rotten the kingdom has become.

In my reading, act 4 scene 5 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows Ophelia finding agency in her femininity. I hope my adaptation is able to introduce that same strong, feminine Ophelia to a new audience.

Works Cited

“Fennel, n. 3.” OED Online, Oxford UP. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/69273.

Flaherty, Jennifer. “Reviving Ophelia: Reaching Adolescent Girls through Shakespeare’s Doomed Heroine.” Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation, vol. 9, no 1, 2014, https://openjournals.libs.uga.edu/borrowers/article/view/2295/2269.

“Rosemary, n. and adj.” OED Online, Oxford UP, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/167551.

“Rue, n.2.” OED Online, Oxford UP, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/168530.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet from The Folger Shakespeare. Edited by Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library, December 24, 2020, https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/hamlet/.

Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice from The Folger Shakespeare. Edited by Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles, December 24, 2020, https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/the-merchant-of-venice/.

Wong, Harley. “The Murder of Ophelia.” Prized Writing, 2015-2016, pp. 85-96. https://prizedwriting.ucdavis.edu/sites/prizedwriting.ucdavis.edu/files/sitewide/pastissues/15%E2%80%9316%20WONG.pdf.