The presence of Ophelia brings Hamlet out of his philosophical consideration of the afterlife. The famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy contemplates the results of suicide and what happens after we die. In the context of Hamlet’s situation, he wonders if killing himself is the better option in carrying out his revenge; in his mind, he or Claudius must die for the situation to be resolved. Up until that point, his only option was Claudius’s death. This contemplation is born out of a focus on his revenge plot, weighing all of the outcomes involved in murdering the new king. The fact that Ophelia distracts Hamlet from his contemplation, without him coming to a conclusion about his thoughts, further supports that part of his madness is tied to
