Appreciation of Ophelia's death by Gertrude

... must wear your rue with a difference"; Ophelia also gave the Queen a daisy to represent deception in love affairs. She said, "I would give you some violets (which symbolise faithfulness) but they all withered away when my father died." The violets represent her father now, not Hamlet as they previously did as he has let her down. Violets have been mentioned before by Laertes when talking to Ophelia as he refers to Hamlet as "a violet in the youth of primy nature," furthering the use of flower imagery, which was first seen at the beginning of the play in Hamlet´s first soliloquy where he described the world as an "unweeded garden." Ophelia is also surrounded by flowers at her funeral, "Sweets to the sweet." Ophelia´s death is referred to as being "muddied." This phrase could have two meanings, either muddied as in dirty as she dies in a brook full of flowers and weeds, or muddied in the sense of shrouded in suspicion. By blaming the "envious sliver" for her death, as this broke and caused Ophelia´s fall, therefore negating any decision as to whether or not she committed suicide, which was "envious" of her beauty. There is an unresolved ambiguity in her death, why did she allow herself to die? In her madness, she may not have realised the danger she was in, or p ...