Ophelia, whose mind has become unhinged by the murder of Polonius, her father, and by Hamlet’s rejection of her, has fallen into a stream while picking flowers. As reported in Gertrude’s words, she drifted in the water “till that her garments, heavy with their drink, pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death.” Drawn in nuanced shadings of gray, the composition’s delicate beauty contrasts with the tragic event it depicts.