I have been a motherless girl from the very beginning. Lady Frowendel died at my birth, leaving my brother Laertes and my father Polonius without her care, recalls Ophelia, who came to King Hamlet's court at the age of eight, where her father took on a ministerial position. She is educated, well-versed in Latin and French, but a wild child, blissfully carefree and impetuous. This pleases Queen Gertrude, who soon makes her her favorite maid, as well as her son, young Hamlet, who falls in love with her—a secret love that has consequences. According to Shakespeare, it meets a sudden end when the murder of Hamlet's father throws everything into chaos. Hamlet dies in madness, and Ophelia, driven mad by it all, goes into the water. But this story goes differently. It begins like this: Although I have only been in the world for sixteen years, I have experienced much sorrow.