Ophelia: Chapters 5-9

by Lisa Klein
Lisa Klein's adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet reimagines the famous tragedy from Ophelia's perspective.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue-Chapter 4, Chapters 5-9, Chapters 10-17Chapters 18-27, Chapters 28-38, Chapter 39-Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. coffer
    the funds of a government, institution, or individual
    As heavy as a small coffer of coins, it was entitled The Herball or General History of Plants.
  2. tonic
    a medicine that strengthens and invigorates
    Soon Elnora began to rely on me to create new mixtures and tonics.
  3. chide
    scold or reprimand severely or angrily
    She chided me less for my laziness and melancholy, and she allowed me more time to study and write.
  4. rail
    criticize severely
    She prodded me to attention when the preacher railed against pride and vanity.
  5. chaste
    morally pure
    They all said that I must be silent, chaste, and obedient, or else the world would be turned topsy-turvy from my wickedness.
  6. contend
    have an argument about something
    Or I contended in my mind against the ignorant writers who condemned women as frail and lacking in virtue.
  7. fathom
    come to understand
    “I cannot fathom what the queen sees in you. Ha!”
  8. remiss
    failing in what duty requires
    “I would be remiss in my duty, I fear, if I did not look after your spiritual welfare.”
  9. convey
    serve as a means for expressing something
    Her words and tone almost conveyed apology.
  10. puritan
    a person excessively concerned about propriety and decorum
    "Because Elnora is a puritan and Cristiana is vain and foolish," she said, misunderstanding me.
  11. mirth
    great merriment
    The tale made Gertrude merry, but I did not share her mirth.
  12. discretion
    the trait of judging wisely and objectively
    “None, my lord,” I said, discretion guarding my tongue.
  13. hoary
    having gray or white hair as with age
    She would stroke his hoary hair and tease him that it was no longer black like his son’s.
  14. carouse
    celebrate or enjoy something in a noisy or wild way
    His lustfulness was the subject of court gossip, along with reports of his drunken carousing in the great hall.
  15. coy
    affectedly shy especially in a playful or provocative way
    Wooed by both men, Cristiana favored Rosencrantz, I think, but each was greeted with the same coy laugh and the same broad view of her bosom straining beneath its artfully loosened bodice.
  16. bawdy
    humorously vulgar
    All about me I watched amours unfold as in the bawdy French tales I read with Gertrude.
  17. ribald
    humorously vulgar
    In the great hall ladies and gentlemen drank until their talk grew ribald.
  18. moralist
    someone who demands exact conformity to rules and forms
    In secret I devoured The Art of Love, for all the moralists condemned it as a dangerous book.
  19. livery
    a uniform, especially worn by servants and chauffeurs
    Great stores of provisions were delivered for feasting, musicians were summoned, and new livery brightened the guards and soldiers.
  20. sinewy
    consisting of tendons or resembling a tendon
    Hamlet, now twenty-two, was no taller, though more sinewy, and he seemed more intense than before.
  21. worldly
    very sophisticated and experienced
    Experience had carved new expressions in his features and given him a worldly manner.
  22. yoke
    become joined or linked together
    But in the presence of their subjects, King Hamlet and Queen Gertrude were yoked to each other in rule and in love, bestowing all their pride on their son.
  23. ply
    use diligently
    Cristiana sat plying her needle in the sun that streamed through high windows and slanted across the floor, then spilled through the arches and into the great hall below.
  24. rapier
    a straight sword with a narrow blade and two edges
    “Sharp as a rapier is this lady’s wit.”
  25. arras
    a wall hanging of handwoven fabric with pictorial designs
    He gestured toward the woven arras.
  26. wanton
    a lewd or immoral person
    “And there you have it again: Women are wantons, for they make men to want them.”
  27. wench
    a young woman
    “It is no shame to speak reason, but it is to flaunt your bosom like a serving wench in an alehouse,” I said, my temper rising.
  28. petulant
    easily irritated or annoyed
    “You are unkind,” she said like a petulant child.
  29. carping
    persistent petty and unjustified criticism
    I was glad to escape Cristiana’s carping and her threats.
  30. ruefully
    in a manner expressing pain or sorrow
    “Still I am beating my wings against the walls of my cage,” I said ruefully, “for Elsinore sometimes seems a prison to me.”
  31. frond
    compound leaf of a fern or palm or cycad
    So I offered to fetch fresh lavender to strew in Gertrude’s bedchamber, and that night I knelt again on the ground, gathering the silvery, purple-tipped fronds of lavender into my arms.
  32. roil
    be agitated
    I breathed their scent to calm my roiled thoughts, even while I prayed for Hamlet to appear.
  33. insubstantial
    lacking material form
    And so he did, the insubstantial presence in the fog once again becoming the solid figure of Hamlet.
  34. draught
    a dose of liquid medicine
    Finally I arose in the darkest hours of the night intending to mix a draught of barley water and poppy seeds to calm my whirling thoughts.
  35. skulk
    lie in wait or behave in a sneaky and secretive manner
    To my surprise, Cristiana was still skulking about.
  36. sidle
    move unobtrusively or furtively
    She sidled past and I smelled lavender.
  37. furtive
    marked by quiet and caution and secrecy
    Hamlet and I conducted our furtive courtship as if we guarded some secret business of the state.
  38. sot
    a chronic drinker
    “He insults me, calls me ‘boy.’ The drunken sot, unworthy to be my father’s brother!” he said.
  39. blighted
    affected by something that prevents growth or prosperity
    The orchard’s pleasures now seemed blighted by the intrusion of Claudius.
  40. rustic
    an unsophisticated country person
    It was my idea that we disguise ourselves as a rustic and a shepherdess, for the lovers in Gertrude’s romances often did so.
  41. homespun
    (of textiles) having a rough surface
    Hamlet found some loose breeches and a homespun tunic and covered his curls with a leather cap.
  42. sonnet
    a verse form of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme
    “Ophelia, you read much nonsense. What dung-covered lad can tell his ABCs, let alone rhyme a sonnet and count all its feet?”
  43. vellum
    fine parchment prepared from the skin of a young animal
    Its heart, visible beneath skin more fine than the thinnest sheet of vellum, was no longer beating.
  44. providence
    a manifestation of God's foresightful care for his creatures
    “Does it not say in the Bible that there is providence even in the fall of a sparrow?”
  45. wan
    pale, as of a person's complexion
    “What ails thee, Ophelia? You are wan and distracted today.”
Created on Thu Feb 01 16:06:25 EST 2018 (updated Thu Feb 01 16:50:13 EST 2018)

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