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Love Is Toxic In Shakespeare's Hamlet

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Love is Toxic “But never doubt that I love” (2.2.119). Throughout the play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, Hamlet professes much love to his girlfriend Ophelia. However he begins to mistreat her through his antic dispositions caused by revenge on his uncle, King Claudius, who killed his father. 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 …show more content…

She then begins to hand out flowers to express herself and her feelings toward the people. As she is handing these flowers out she declares, “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. /I pray you, love, remember”(4.5.199-200). The flowers she hands out symbolize: remembrance of her father’s death, columbines for the disloyalty that King Claudius depicts, fennel for how he seduced Queen Gertrude, rue to Queen Gertrude to show sorrow for marrying her brother, and daisies to Queen Gertrude for the infidelity because she is unfaithful to her ex-husband, Hamlet Senior. After handing out the flowers, she then begins to walk around the castle talking to her family and friends while singing songs about death “Hey, nonny, nonny, hey, nonny, /And in his grave rained many a tear” (4.5.189-190). In this quote it represents how she begins to act crazier and her insanity takes over her. Soon enough, this leads to her suicide by drowning in a river “One woe doth tread upon another’s heel, /So fast they follow. Your sister’s drowned Laertes” (4.7.187-188). Ophelia’s extremely sudden and unexpected death cause the doctor to question what happened, “As we have warranty. Her death was doubtful” (5.1.234). Queen Gertrude says this to Laertes to let him know of the news about Ophelia. Ophelia ends up going insane and committing suicide from the way Hamlet uses her and the harmful love he provides …show more content…

Throughout the play, Ophelia acts as a very honest person in the beginning, willing to tell Laertes and Polonius anything. She then receives mistreated love from Hamlet that leads her to drowning herself in a river. The true face and actions from Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius, Queen Gertrude, King Claudius, and particularly Hamlet lead to their deaths. The end result leads to unfortunate events, including death. The love throughout the kingdom of Denmark becomes toxic, killing all who lives

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