Ophelia

In John Everett Millais' picture of Ophelia she is shown to be surprised and a little bit scary. Her mouth is open as if she was yelling for help, while her body is showing that she gave up fighting. So I think he picture portrays her committing suicide.

All the pictures of Ophelia drowned were portrayed in different. In my opinion Ophelia was going crazy, so many things had gone wrong within the past couple days, and that's how she died.
Ophelia died a woman gone crazy so in the state of death she should be portrayed as relieved in a way. She is finally not crazy anymore like a weight is lifted off her shoulder. I believe that she didn't intentionally kill herself. Many people view it as she did but in her time killing yourself was socially and religious unacceptable (it still is today, but it didn't happen a lot then). She was raised with religion and it is considered a sin to kill yourself so she wouldn't "defy God". When the branch broke underneath her, maybe she did think about giving in or throwing in the towel, but her dressed pulled her under. Usually the more you struggle the worse the situation gets, so I believe she fought until her fighting got her killed. Yes, maybe Gertrude did sit by, but she did it uneasily. My thought is that she figured letting Ophelia die would finally make madness settle, as if she were to live she may never find relief or comfort without her father living.

To me Ophelia's madness is brought on by her fathers death but also her love for Hamlet, seeing him act crazy and him telling her all these crazy things are getting to her head, thus making her go crazy. All these things lead to her demise, and maybe Gertrude letting her die, is foreshadowing the up coming events. Maybe Gertrude is even letting her die to save her from the pain and tragedy she might see within the next couple hours/days. If I were to draw her picture I would draw her looking solemn, no emotion as if she finally is set free from all her worries and her madness. With her eyes closed, when you sleep your eyes are closed- its how you dream and how you mind is set free-, so in a way the closed eyes is a way of showing this.