The love of Hamlet for Ophelia
Uploaded by eprincess777 on Mar 21, 2000
Hamlet is without any reservations, one of Shakespeare’s most mystifying plays. Although the play has a concise story, it is filled with many uncertainties relating to different issues behind the plot. The reader is left with many uncertainties about the true feelings of prince Hamlet. One question in particular is, did Hamlet really love Ophelia? This dispute can be reinforced either way, however I believe Hamlet was truly in love with Ophelia. Support for my decision comes from Hamlet’s treatment towards Ophelia is shown throughout the play, but especially in Act 3, Scene 2, and at Ophelia’s grave in Scene 1 of Act 5.
This play is about the troubles encountered by young prince Hamlet as he tries to seek revenge for his father’s murder. Hamlet discovers the murder of his father, as well as the adultery and incest committed by his mother and uncle. This results with Hamlet retaining a very embittered and cynical outlook on life. “Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His cannon ‘gainst self-slaughter … how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world.” (1.2.131-134). Throughout the play, Hamlet teaches the audience the depths of his depression through soliloquies. Hamlet not only regards the world with pessimism, but he also has suicidal feelings. Hamlet displays thoughts of self that questions the worth of living. The foremost cause for his exasperation and aggravation is the fact that his mother and his uncle, Claudius immediately got married right after his father’s death. His mother’s actions seem to be what repulses Hamlet most as he yells, “frailty thy name is woman!” (1.2.146). Hamlet has developed a burning hate towards his mother and women in general. It is this fuming mind-set that is responsible for his terrible treatment towards dear, innocent Ophelia in Act 3.
Once Hamlet discovers the cause of his father’s death, he disguises himself by acting nutty to mask his true objectives of revenge. By doing so Hamlet is now able to do whatever he wants to, without being questioned of his behavior. He does this on one occasion during a visit with Ophelia. Ophelia later relays this meeting to her father, telling him that Hamlet was not properly dressed, “and with a look so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors-he comes before me.” (2.1.82-84). This scene is directly after...