Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.
Act IV, Scene 5 · Ophelia
Context
Ophelia, in the middle of her mad scene, interrupts her own songs with this gnomic statement, addressed to no one in particular.
Analysis
The balanced syntax—'we know what we are, but know not what we may be'—gives this line the sound of a proverb, yet it is spoken by someone whose grip on identity has collapsed. The tension between the clarity of the sentence structure and the unknowability it describes makes the line feel like a moment of eerie lucidity breaking through madness.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Ophelia's madness grants her a dark wisdom the sane characters lack—this line articulates the play's central anxiety about selfhood and future, and coming from her it suggests that only by losing socially imposed identity can one see how fragile all identity is.