While modern critical views of Ophelia often see her as a woman tragically driven intomadness, or hysteria, this article offers a Renaissance perspective on madness in order tolend support a more sane view of the character of Ophelia. This alternative view of Ophelia(inspired by Foucault’s work on the topic of madness) includes a close reading of thesymbolic meaning of Ophelia’s herbs, and argues how madness is used in Shakespeare'splay to convey specific meaning.
