“
Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.
OpheliaHamlet · Act IV, Scene 5
4
Act 4, Scene 5
Falling Action
Polonius is dead, killed by Hamlet. Hamlet has been sent to England. Ophelia, shattered by grief for her father and abandonment by Hamlet, has gone mad. She enters the court singing fragments of bawdy songs and distributing flowers. In the midst of her madness, she utters this piercing observation.
Why This Matters
Ophelia’s mad wisdom — a profound truth delivered in the guise of insanity, about the unknowability of the self.
madnessidentityprophecy
Hamlet: Act IV, Scene V (Ophelia Before the King and Queen)
Benjamin West, 1792 · Public Domain