In William Shakespeare 's Hamlet the question is often posed as to whether or not Hamlet truly loved Ophelia. The question is open to interpretation yet, through Hamlet 's actions throughout the course of the play it is evident that he truly loved her. Hamlet is a famously self absorbed character although when he is around Ophelia his true feelings of love are portrayed. Although, many can argue that Hamlet never truly loved Ophelia there were many instances throughout the play where Hamlet is ardently in love with her.
Hamlet 's true love for Ophelia is first displayed in act three when Hamlet blatantly says “I did love you” ( III.i.126). Hamlet tells Ophelia that he does love her but follows by saying he never truly loved her. This just shows the depth of Hamlet 's character in the sense that this new overwhelming sense of love confuses him. If we examine the scene in which this took place it is apparent that Hamlet only took back his profession of love because he knew his conversation with Ophelia was under watch. The concept of “love” is one that is very confusing in Shakespeare 's work. The concept
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Another instance where Hamlet demonstrates his love for Ophelia is when he writes her a love letter. Through the dialogue present in his letter it is obvious to the reader that he truly loves her. In the letter Hamlet states “never doubt I love” (II.ii.27). He tells Ophelia that in their world of complications and unclarity his love for her is truly the only thing that makes sense to him, his love for her is undeniably real. This scene is one of the few times where Hamlet obviously expresses his love for Ophelia before she passes away. This could be due to the fact that after Hamlet delivered his letter Ophelia immediately gave it to her father, Polonius, whom Hamlet does not trust. Yet, it was the action of Polonius receiving the letter which led Hamlet to conclude that in order to protect the love of his life, Ophelia, he would need to conceal his love for
“ My lord, I have remembrance of yours, that I longed long to re-deliver; I pray you, now receive them” (Shakespeare 2. 2. 93-95). Ophelia’s decision to relinquish her love to Hamlet for her father’s sake spurred Hamlet’s decision for his feigned madness and also made it easier for him to reject Ophelia and emotionally abuse her, which in turn, spurred her own internal disappointment and hatred in herself. However,“We see Hamlet’s nobility and realise that his flippant comments to her stemmed from his antic disposition and feigned madness” (Tuohy, 2012).
Hamlet repeatedly acknowledges his faults, most precisely to her. In conversation, he tells Ophelia how he is guilty of such terrible things that he shouldn’t have been born, and that he proud, revengeful, and ambitious (3.1.132-135). Hamlet is fully telling her his faults and that, while being scathing towards her, he is no better. Even after her death, he continues to express his flaws around her presence. This is seen at her funeral, for which he says to her brother, Laertes, “For though I am splenitive and rash, I have in me something dangerous, which let thy wisdom fear,” (5.1.275-276).
It is or is it not true that Hamlet was faking his insanity? I’m not saying Hamlet was faking the whole thing. The meaning for insanity on Dictionary.com is “a permanent disorder of the mind.” I don 't think Hamlet had a permanent disorder of the mind he knew what he was doing and even planned the majority of the events that happened. Most of the time anyway.
In conclusion, it can be proven that Hamlet truly does love Ophelia. He pretends he isn’t in love with her kind of like in real life. Sometimes people pretend they not care for the people they really care for the most, just like Hamlet did to
There is a direct link between self respect and an individual's response to injustice. When someone treats us poorly, we might feel the need to fight back because of our self respect, but if we don't we’re letting people control and take advantage of us. It's about proving our self worth and equality amongst our peers. In the novel “Hamlet”, Shakespeare has created this man Hamlet who's father the king has been slain by his uncle Claudius, who is now wed to his mother Gertrude. Before all of this happened hamlets life was perfect, he was going to school and had a lovely girlfriend, heir to the throne.
All of Hamlet’s comments towards Ophelia suggest that he feels betrayed. Hamlet and Ophelia showed each other true love but both were mad after their fathers’ deaths. Hamlet was acting mad to have revenge while Ophelia was truly mad. During Ophelia’s funeral, Hamlet stated “I loved Ophelia; forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum”, expressing his true feelings towards her. Ophelia’s betrayal and lies to Hamlet in Act 3 deeply hurt his feelings causing Hamlet to hate
The type of love felt by Hamlet and Laertes is quite different. Ophelia is the sister of Laertes and therefore he has brotherly love for her. Before leaving Denmark, Laertes advises against relations with Hamlet. He remarks on the love Hamlet has for Ophelia as being “The perfume and suppliance of a minute,/ No more.” (I, iii, 9-10)
Hamlet once again fails to understand that Ophelia much like himself is only trying to stay loyal to her father, much like what he is doing himself. In addition, Hamlet blames woman for giving birth to such evil and deceiving men like Claudius and himself. When he was talking to Ophelia he told her "Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better
Ophelia’s death results from Hamlet's madness, his telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, and Polonius's death. Hamlet telling Ophelia to go to a nunnery made Ophelia feel insecure. Especially when Hamlet told Ophelia that he would marry her just so she would sleep with him. Then, Hamlet comes back to Ophelia telling her that she needs to go to a nunnery. Which is basically calling Ophelia a whore, because a nunnery is like a whorehouse. Ophelia at this point felt very insecure about herself and she questioned her relationship with Hamlet.
For the duration of the play, Ophelia was portrayed as a naïve and submissive woman. Her passivity and powerlessness reinforce the voicelessness of women during the Elizabethan era. For example, “I shall obey, my lord” (I.iii.134) shows that Ophelia concedes to her father’s will, even though she believes Hamlet’s love is genuine. She is willing and expected to obey her father despite the fact that she still loves Hamlet, which emphasizes her character’s submissive nature. Furthermore, in Act I Laertes warns Ophelia that it would be shameful of her to love Hamlet, and she responds with “I shall the effect of this good lesson keep as a watchman to my heart” (I.iii.45).
Hamlet has not only become distraught from his conniving and lying stepfather but also his mother, Queen Gertrude as well. The unfaithfulness that Gertrude shows to Hamlet’s father and Hamlet has a toll on him and plays a part in his insanity. The facade that Hamlet displays slowly leads to his insanity, causing him to show mistreated love towards Ophelia. In the beginning of the play, Ophelia displays a very honest
In Act III, scene i of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, readers will come upon Ophelia’s soliloquy. After Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have failed to find a reason as to why Hamlet is acting in a peculiar and mad way, Claudius is persuaded by Polonius that the reason for Hamlet’s madness is the broken romance between Hamlet and Ophelia. To prove this, Claudius and Polonius plan to spy on Ophelia’s meeting with Hamlet. During their conversation, Hamlet denies ever having loved her and curses her. Ophelia is left fretting over his sanity.
Hamlet and Ophelia “This was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once… I loved you not” (3.1.114,119). Confusion clouds the audience’s judgement reading this quote from Hamlet.
Hamlet surely thought that his mother Gertrude dearly loved his father Old King Hamlet, now he may feel like his mother never loved his father. This may result in why he feels like he may not love Ophelia. We are also aware that Hamlet has trouble with his own happiness and this probably reflects on the way we feels towards people mostly women. Hamlet thinks that the reason real love does not exist is because of the female gender. Hamlet blames both his mother Gertrude and Ophelia for portraying men as monsters.
Despite all the reasons throughout the play to show that Hamlet did not in fact love Ophelia, I believe he may have loved her in some sense. Hamlet may or may not have been hopelessly in love with Ophelia but he definitely felt some sort of love for her. Evidence of his love for her is shown massively by how he responds to learning of about her unfortunate death. In Act V, it is revealed that Ophelia had drowned herself, later in the act, Hamlet discovers the truth.