She "Too much of water hast": Drownings and Near-Drownings in Twentieth-Century American Literature by Women Page: 6
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Whether Ophelia's death was accidental or deliberate is a debate that has been
ongoing for decades. J.M. Nosworthy, writing in 1964, takes the view that Ophelia's death is
an accident. He remarks upon a possible historical connection between Ophelia's death and
that of a real-life accidental drowning victim, Katherine Hamlett (345). Nosworthy
minimizes the connection between the two, yet remarks, "The vital point is that Ophelia's
death, like Katherine's, is here presented as accidental. Of this there can be no possible
doubt. She tried to climb a tree, the branch snapped, she fell into the brook, was incapable
of saving herself, and was consequently drowned" (345).
Despite Nosworthy's confidence, there does appear to be possible doubt, and that
doubt serves to underscore the symbolism surrounding watery deaths for women, and the
symbolic difference between an accidental death and a suicidal one. Although the
circumstances precipitating each kind of death may be similar, the suicide, no matter one's
opinion of her judgment, is making a conscious and even potentially proactive and
empowering choice. The victim of an accidental death is still at the mercy of forces outside
herself, even though there may be circumstances in which a partially voiced and empowered
character drowns by accident (Maggie Tulliver is one such character). If one chooses to read
Ophelia as perpetually voiceless and choiceless, her death was probably reflective of her life,
and therefore accidental. However, it is also possible that her death is a suicide, and thus her
only self-willed act in the play.
Carol Chillington Rutter notes that in Zeffirelli's film version of Hamlet, "Ophelia's
flight from Elsinore is coded as freedom" and her death is romanticized, with Ophelia-the-
corpse shown floating on her back in a long-shot (308). Not only does this contemporary6
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Coffelt, J. Roberta. She "Too much of water hast": Drownings and Near-Drownings in Twentieth-Century American Literature by Women, dissertation, December 2001; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3059/m1/9/: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .