What do you notice about the way that Ophelia is portrayed in the John Everett Millais painting?:
Ophelia is portrayed in kind of a weird as you can say. Even though she drowned and died, she is surrounded by flowers right at her side and it even looks like they are in her hand. She also is dead face up so it makes me wonder if she even drowned since s usually when you drown you sink or are face down in the water, never are you face up with your hands out the way she has them. The water looks a little shallow too for Ophelia to be drowning in.
What characteristics does the artist imbue in his version of Ophelia?:
The artist imbues that Ophelia's character was an innocent one. In his painting Ophelia looks as if she wasn't intending to die or shouldn't have died. It seems a little too perfect on how the flowers are arranged next to Ophelia.
How do you believe Shakespeare intended Ophelia to be portrayed?:
Shakespeare intended that Ophelia's world and character revolved around Hamlet. She could have been upset about the fact that Hamlet killed her father and that Hamlet and her are no longer together. This could have played a role in Ophelia's death and character.
What were her final moments like?:
Her final moments seems kind of peaceful but also kind of crazy. Ophelia was hung up over her father's death and Hamlet's non existence in her life. She was using sticks as flowers and was by the stream or brook and all these flowers before she died.
Did she intentionally drown herself?:
Ophelia did not intentionally drown herself. The way she died and where she died from this picture gives me a hint that she was murdered. Some things in this book are a toss up to what your opinion is. But from seeing the same picture from different illustrators i think that Ophelia was murdered. The water was was a stream or brook that was not rough in motion. Brooks and streams are also very shallow too. I do not think she intentionally drowned herself.
Did she give in after the branch underneath her broke?:
I honestly do not think the branch broke. I do think that she was murdered and that it was a set up.
Did Gertrude sit idly by and watch her struggle?:
I don't think that Gertrude was sitting there watching her struggle because i think that in the play she says that Ophelia and Hamlet were suppose to get married to each other. I think that if I recall Gertrude even said that to Hamlet.
What do you believe is the reason for Ophelia’s madness?
Ophelia's madness was caused by Hamlet and her splitting up and then Hamlet murdering her father.
What contributed to her demise, in your opinion?:
Ophelia's madness and reaction to her father's death and Hamlet's nonexistence in her life anymore caused her demise. If she didn't react in such an insane way then maybe her death wouldn't have came to her. But still we never know if her death was accidental or if she was murdered for some apparent reason.
How might you represent Ophelia?:
I represent Ophelia as an interesting character. There isn't just one side to her. She has multiple personalities and views. She really loved Hamlet but listened to Polonius on not seeing or speaking to him anymore. She also seemed very happy sometimes during the play but then went completely insane at the end of it. Again it all depends on the situations she is in and what is going on around her.

All the "to be or not to be" scenes of Hamlet we saw yesterday were all different in their ways of portraying the meaning of this famous speech. For instance the setting's of these scenes helped bring out the true meaning of this speech made by Hamlet. Most people never really understand what Hamlet is trying to speak out about because of the way the language is. This is why the settings help viewers understand the "to be or not to be" speech.

The settings we encountered the other day were on the edge of a cliff, in basement/tomb, in a court hall, and a public blockbuster. These might sounds like unusual places for this speech to take place but they really bring out what Hamlet means.
Laurence Olivier's Hamlet speech took place on the edge of the cliff. Not only was it on the cliff but it was overlooking a rough ocean with jagged rocks sticking up from underneath. This setting showed great suspense throughout his speech. The ocean and rocks symbolized death and the unknown world. Standing on the cliff was meant to show that he was in a debate between himself in whether or not he want to live or to die. But when he stepped back and dropped the knife realizing he was one of the people he was talking about when he talked about them not taking action in life. He had the knife ready to show he would kill himself but he never took action.
Franco Zefferelli's interpretation of Hamlet and his "to be or not to be" speech was the one that took place in the basement/tomb. This setting showed both death and life. The basement was dark and consisted of coffins which showed the death part of this speech but there also was beams of light coming through openings which symbolized life. There were times when he was standing over the coffins speaking but then would step back into a beam of light. This was a result again to his failure to take action. The stairs also had tones of light shining on them which to mean showed the easy way out since it was lite and showed life. During this whole speech Hamlet was all alone and there was no music giving it a lonely mood.
Kenneth Branagh's version of his Hamlet speech was inside of a court hall where he lives his everyday life. Except during the whole speech he was in front of a mirror showing that he is battling between his conscious and himself on the question of life or death. The mirrors show the emptiness of the gigantic room he was in and that he was all alone just like in every other version of this scene. During the scene Hamlet pulls our a knife from his pocket which shows he has been thinking about death before this speech. When he pulls out the knife he sees a glimpse of Claudius with the knife near his neck. He has a calm whisper through this speech showing the intensity and importance of this speech.