Essay about Hamlet - He Loves Her? He Loves Her Not?

Hamlet was deeply in love with the recently departed fair Ophelia, daughter of Polonious, who also sadly is not with us. He loved her much more than he expressed, and it is unfortunate that his inability to express his love for her could have been part of her downfall. Although he treated her scornfully and rudely I know that he loved her more than anyone could imagine. Hamlet, I remember, at the dear Ophelia’s funeral, you told the whole world of your love. “I loved Ophelia. 40 thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love make up my sum,” you said. I cannot help but think that if you had expressed your love for the fair maiden, both her and quite possibly you would still be with us today. He loved his mother, Queen Gertrude. Although he held her in disdain for her hasty marriage to Claudius, who he despised, he still loved her with all his heart

Hamlet also uses Ophelia as a pawn, perhaps more than her family. Hamlet uses the court’s knowledge of his relationship with Ophelia in order to draw attention away from his real purpose of killing his uncle. In Act III, Scene I, Ophelia approaches Hamlet in order to return his letters and other pledges of affection for her, according to her father’s wishes. Hamlet appears to be very distraught, and accuses Ophelia of lying to him and being prostituted by her family. This outburst, however, is used solely to camouflage his real purpose-to have revenge of Claudius, his uncle, for killing his father. Hamlet is aware that Polonius and Claudius are watching this encounter between him and Ophelia, and uses the situation to his benefit- he can pretend to be heartbroken by Ophelia’s supposed

Ophelia tries to obscure the truth because she is afraid of disobeying her father. It is obvious that Hamlet is already well aware that Polonius is watching after he states “Let the doors be shut upon him, the he may play the fool nowhere but in’s own house.”(3.1.132-133) Ophelia could have easily told Hamlet the truth, but due to her undying love for her father chooses to deceive Hamlet. Ophelia’s deceit leads Hamlet to start questioning her honest nature. Hamlet begins tearing apart by Ophelia because he is so irritated with her for being insincere to him. He states to Ophelia that “you should not have believed me: for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not.” (3.1.117-119) Hamlet states that he does not love Ophelia because he believes that through this scheme, Ophelia will reveal the truth that Polonius is in fact behind their “unplanned” meeting. Ophelia had betrayed Hamlet by lying to him, thus Hamlet felt the need to betray her. If Ophelia had just been honest with Hamlet he would have not become so discourteous towards her, but she was not which resulted in him denying his love for her. Just as Hamlet was deceived, Ophelia was also because it was her lies that led to the ending of their love. Ophelia’s dishonesty resulted in her becoming a mockery of Hamlets antic disposition. Hamlet uses Ophelia to uncover

The play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare is about a guy named Hamlet going through a hard time in life, after the death of his father, and the remarriage of his mother to his uncle. Throughout the play were are able to get a greater understanding of who Hamlet really is. The actions of Hamlet in Shakespeare's master piece “Hamlet” proves him to a revenge seeker, emotional, and crazy.

For the myth which has been built round Hamlet is never more perverse than when it pretends that Ophelia went mad for love and killed herself. No line in the play suggests that she felt either passion or affection for Hamlet. She never mentions him in the mad scene, and Horatio says of

Throughout the play that is William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, makes numerous advances on the blissfully graceful Ophelia, the daughter of the Lord Chamberlain in King Claudius’ court, Polonius. However, for as often as Hamlet expresses his truest and deepest desires to be with Ophelia and live life full of wonder and happiness with her, he treats her like muck on the ground, insulting her deeply and occasionally throwing her around physically. In regards to the question as to whether or not Prince Hamlet did truly hold a fluttering fancy for the sweet Ophelia, the most honestly reasonable answer is that no, he in fact did not. This is reflected the best through the scene in which Hamlet told Ophelia that he did once love her,; through the time in which he insults Ophelia directly to her face,; and through Hamlet’s reaction to the affection displayed by her brother, Laertes, at her grave.

As the play progresses there is an evident change in Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s relationship. Hamlet appears to have gone insane, not being able to be with Ophelia, as shown in Act III. When he first sees Ophelia in the opening in the opening scene of Act III, his behaviour is rather normal. Be that as it may, Hamlet’s actions change radically at the point where Ophelia is returning Hamlet’s love letters. At this point, Hamlet is rather forceful and says, “I loved you not”, [3.1.129], and by advising her to “get … to a nunnery”. He then begins to act much more antagonistic and violent when he hears a clamour close-by. He suspects that Claudius and Polonius are eavesdropping, leaving Ophelia in a frightened state. She says, "O, help him, you sweet heavens!" and

The King and Polonius, who is Ophelia’s father, believe Hamlet has not been himself because he is so madly in love with Ophelia and she is the reason he has been acting crazy. In order to verify their suspicions they decided to spy on Ophelia and Hamlet to monitor the way he acted towards her. This would prove to them whether or not it is Ophelia he has gone mad for. As Hamlet and Ophelia met up, he had a feeling he was being watched so in order to confuse the King and Polonius, he set out a fake act to make them think he has gone completely mad, but not because of his love for Ophelia. Hamlet tells Ophelia, “You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so/ inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved/ you not.” (3.1.117-119). He acts as though he never has and never will love her, saying she should have never believed him because

In Hamlet written by Shakespeare, Hamlet’s true feelings for Ophelia are never fully explained. This leaves the readers to question if hamlet really loved Ophelia, however I believe that Hamlet truly did love Ophelia showing his feelings through his actions. The evidence that Hamlet truly loved Ophelia in Act I, Scene 3, lines 95-120, Polonius states that Hamlet has been spending private time with Ophelia which he doesn’t approve of; he wants to get to the bottom of their relationship to protect her own honor. Ophelia tells Polonius that “he has lately made many offers of affection to me”, this supports the statement that Hamlet cared for Ophelia, if he didn’t why spend so much time with her?

When it comes to Hamlet and Ophelia the big question is, is there love real? or true? In William Shakespeare's writing there is evidence that he does love her but also evidence that he is simply using her to make him seem more “mad”. My solution to this question is that Hamlet did love her, but he puts all feelings aside because the most important thing right now is to avenge his father's death. Evidence that shows that he loves her is in the letter he sends saying “ never doubt I love.” (II.ii.127)

This light-hearted scene, depicting a rather normal family, is placed directly before Hamlet's confrontation with his father's ghost, which is highly dramatic and very intense.  By preceding this confrontation with a scene as light and fluffy as the one between Ophelia and her father, Shakespeare heightens the intensity of Hamlet's later scene. One is struck immediately by the contrast between the two fathers, as well as the two relationships. Ophelia loves her father dearly, apparently oblivious to the fact that he is a total fool; he gives her advice which unknowingly will lead to her death. Hamlet also loves his father with all his being; his father is not a fool, but the knowledge he imparts to Hamlet begins a long chain of events that will result in Hamlet's death as well. In this case the silly scene with Polonius, in addition to giving audience a well-deserved spell of

Throughout the play, their relationship is presented to show Hamlet is simply trying to use her for sex, however, there are many situations used to back up the theory that Hamlet did in fact love her. Shakespeare reveals to the audience in the beginning of act 5 as to what could be Hamlet's true feelings, he was in love with her. Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship seems to be in trouble as soon as the audience meets Ophelia. Her father and brother tell her to stay away

In Hamlet’s letter to Ophelia, he revels his true intentions to his most beloved Ophelia. His “most beautified Ophelia” is torn between the young Hamlet and the words of her father (2.2.117). The line “But never doubt I love” established the tone of faithfulness to Ophelia and revels Hamlet’s true intentions of love and compassion (2.2.126). This line, however, creates a sense of irony within the plot of the play. The odd acting of Hamlet heavily contradicts the deep love buried within the lines of his letter to Ophelia.

Throughout the entirety of Hamlet, Prince Hamlet shows a series of mood swings and outbursts directly relating back to his father's death. His love for Ophelia was a continuous focal point of Hamlet’s behavior. Throughout the play, a series of flashbacks showed Hamlet and Ophelia embracing and showing their love for each other. However, after King Hamlet’s death, Hamlet’s obvious love for Ophelia seemed to have disappeared judging by Hamlet’s attitude towards her. “Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once” (Shakespeare 3.1). With saying this, Hamlet admits to loving Ophelia in the past. Hamlet does not state what changed for him to say this but the message was simple: Hamlet claims he does not love Ophelia anymore. Due to his father’s passing and mother’s new marriage, it was as if nothing was important to Hamlet anymore except revenge. However, this idea continues to escalate and change throughout the next stages of the play.

Life, love, death, revenge, grief, and murder are all characteristics well known to the writing of William Shakespeare, his play Hamlet is not an exception. In this play the reader follows a young prince Hamlet on a quest for retribution on his uncle, for the murder of his father and the incestuous affair with his mother. To exact his vengeance on his uncle, King Claudius, Hamlet put on an act of being mad to catch his uncle profess his sins, and causing it to be morally right for hamlet to kill him. Hamlet tells very few of his act, and one of those excluded from this information is his supposed love Ophelia. He chooses not inform Ophelia of his plans knowing her father, Polonius, is obsequious, and he could