ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Ophelia continues to point the way in the history of feminism, but now emerges as the definition of ecofeminist influences on our perceptions, and reveals the dire effects of ignoring them. Ophelia's natural associations are not really news, and do not help us much with this overdetermined text unless we study how Hamlet, our beloved protagonist, interacts with her; then the play's prophetic ecofeminism emerges. Ophelia' tunes are noted for their reference to sex, once again highlighting the conjunction of female sexuality and female insanity, but they are even more openly about death, and seem to be a fusing of thoughts about both Hamlet and her dead father. The combination of women and birds, think of the "wise" owl, sometimes involving metamorphosis is an especially noteworthy ecofeminist conjunction throughout the medieval and early modern eras. Ophelia's death becomes a major transition in the action, and its unique announcement reveals her continued role in the story.
