Hamlet and Ophelia’s Relationship In the world of Williams Shakespeare, there have been plenty of stories and plays of love tragedies. Among these love tragedies is the story of Hamlet. Hamlet revolves around love and madness. In the play, madness did over power love, especially between Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship. In the play, there have been many questions about whether Hamlet did love Ophelia. There’s evidence arguing Hamlet never loved Ophelia by the way he acts towards her throughout the play but by the way he acts around Ophelia when he was alone with her, he really did love her. When Hamlet finds out that Polonius and Claudius are using Ophelia to spy on him, Hamlet uses bitter and harsh language towards Ophelia, but he goes overboard. For Hamlet, Ophelia’s death was painful because he never got the chance to express his love for her. However, anybody can argue that he was trying to throw people off, and he didn’t love Ophelia In the play, Hamlet said “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers, if you added all their love together, couldn’t match mine” (Act 5). Early in the play there was no exact proof that Hamlet had feeling for Ophelia. The audience didn’t get exact proof of Hamlet’s true emotions until the death of Ophelia. This part of the play becomes important because he claims directly that he loved Ophelia and that forty thousand brothers cannot be compared or replaced. When Ophelia is dead, he has no reason defend his love for her,
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
“The observed and I, of ladies most deject and wretched, that sucked the honey of his music vows, now see that noble and most sovereign reason, like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; that unmatched form and feature of blown youth blasted with ecstasy; o woe is me, to have seen what I have seen, see what I see!” (2671-2672). The general love and relationship that was administered between Prince Hamlet and Ophelia were not only complicated but problematic. Throughout the play, the reader gains a deeper insight into their overall involvement and what lead to the total turmoil of their love. Arguably, it might be perceived by the reader if Prince Hamlet even loved Ophelia or if she was only a part of his mind games. Furthermore, the heightened debate of their relationship can be strengthened either way by numerous opinions, but I believe far in Prince Hamlet’s twisted mind he cherished and loved Ophelia.
“I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/ could not with all their quantity of love/ make up my sum” (5.1.285-286). Hamlet tells Ophelia that he never did love her, but in all honesty he does still love her. Hamlet is truly insane. When he is talking with Ophelia he is truly mean to her and treats
Throughout the entire play, Hamlet’s love for Ophelia is questioned. What Hamlet is really doing is trying to throw off the other characters and make it seem like he does not love Ophelia, even though he really does. Hamlet did not want Ophelia to become involved in case Claudius decided to get revenge on Hamlet. Hamlet shows his love for Ophelia when he confesses to her that he loves her, when he tells her to go to a nunnery to protect her, when he sends her the letter, and when he finds out that she has died. Although many could argue that Hamlet never loved Ophelia, he was just trying to throw everyone else off. There is a great deal of evidence proving that his love was
His inconsistent treating of Ophelia eventually drives her to insanity. The actual recognition of his love for Ophelia can only come when Hamlet realizes that she is dead, and free from her tainted womanly trappings “I lov’d Ophelia”. This is without doubt one of the most villainous qualities of Hamlet.
He therefore had to act mad even when talking to her because he realized his every move was being watched. This is evident when he told her he is not in love with her and that he never loved her. These statements by Hamlet caused him to inadvertently hurt Ophelia to such a great extent that she committed suicide. As a result, Hamlet was forced to permanently sacrifice his true love out of concern for his own safety and his goal.
Another time Ophelia was important in Hamlet's life was after not seeing Ophelia for a while Hamlet stumbles upon a grave site being dug in the middle of the woods, but at the time he doesn’t know who for. When Hamlet find out that Ophelia is the one that is being put to rest he starts to go crazy again. He says “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers, if you added all their love together, couldn’t match mine. What are you going to do for her?” ( V, I, pg.12. lines 247-249). Hamlet is basically trying to say that even if they don’t believe him he really did love Ophelia. Gertrude responded by saying, “This is pure insanity. He’ll be like this for a little while” (V, I, pg. 12 lines 247-249). When Gertrude says this she basically means that he has gone crazy before that this is normal he will calm down soon. Therefor Ophelia played a huge role in Hamlet’s life without necessarily being there all of the time.
Hamlet's antic disposition tragically fooled poor Ophelia. She is so devastated between her father's death and Hamlet's betrayal that she takes her own life. Hamlet insists to Ophelia that he never loved her, and that she is a fool for believing him, which shows that he is trying to convince others he has lost his mind. "You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not." (III; i; 116-118) However, while fighting with Laertes during Ophelia's funeral, Hamlet jumps onto her coffin and professes his true love for her. "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/Could not, with all their quantity of love, / Make up my sum." (V; i; 250-253) This shows that despite his earlier statements, Hamlet does love Ophelia, but his antic
Have you been in love? Love does not have any shape, It does not look at social classes, skin color, even if your parents do not like you to be with her o him, but sometimes those are small obstacles that do not allow us to be with the person we love. A clear example, can be Ophelia and Hamlet on the play called Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. This pair of characters were in love with each other, but, Polonius, Ophelia's father, was against this relationship because he thinks Hamlet is playing around with her. As many relationships, everybody has parallel and contrast things. Even though compared to Hamlet, Ophelia has someone who supports her after her father's death , Hamlet and Ophelia loss of a parental figure and both of them
Hamlet appears all through the play that he is truly infatuated with Ophelia. One bit of confirmation demonstrating that Hamlet truly loved Ophelia is the point at which he advises her “I did love you” (Shakespeare). Hamlet admits that he cherished her, however then goes ahead to state that he never adored her. This could be
In contrast, his former renunciation of love for Ophelia and his latter remorseful behavior in response to her death, are both rather contradictory. In Act 5, Scene 1, Hamlet declares that his love for Ophelia is greater than the love of four hundred brothers. Such proclamation, once again, contradicts his behaviour towards Ophelia while she was alive. Hamlet's erratic behavior gives an insight into his mind and shows how the borders of sanity and insanity are being blurred in Hamlet's eyes. Although Hamlet is unaware of it, his supposed feigned acts of madness eventually drive him insane as the line between sanity and insanity completely
In Act II, scene 1, Ophelia tells her father how Hamlet appeared to Ophelia in a distressed way. She reveals how he studied her face then just walked away without looking back. She even said that she fears that Hamlet has gone ‘mad’ for her love. She is saying that she knows, herself, that Hamlet cannot live without her love. If Hamlet had not truly loved Ophelia, then why did her brother and father want her to stay away from him? Easily enough, they knew of the budding romance between the two but refused to believe it. The two men believed that Hamlet was using Ophelia and that keeping her away from him would stop the love that continued to grow. It was a terrible thing to do because that helped further Hamlet belief that Ophelia was working against him as was every other character in the play. Also, take the love letters for example. In a line of one of the love letters, “never doubt I love...” (II.ii.127), Hamlet basically says that no matter what is going on outside of their relationship, no matter what everyone is telling her, the love he has for Ophelia is real. The love letters are very significant because they show Hamlet’s honest and true feelings towards Ophelia before all of the chaos started. The love notes can be considered examples of the pure and unadulterated love that Hamlet showcased to Ophelia before anyone had a chance to try and sway their feelings in any other way than the way it is supposed to be. Another act of Hamlet’s true love towards Ophelia is showed when the scene Hamlet caused at Ophelia’s gravesite is taken into account. Ophelia committed suicide, “The unresolvable conflict of loyalties—to Polonius and to Hamlet—will ultimately drive her mad” (Shapiro.). At first, Hamlet was talking to a gravedigger, not knowing that the grave that the gravedigger was digging belonged to Ophelia. Hamlet has yet to find out that Ophelia was not alive. When Hamlet realized that the grave was,
Hamlet’s love for Ophelia is never clearly explained through the duration of the story. At Ophelia’s funeral, he blatantly says “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?”(VI.i.285-287) Some may be led to believe that this is true and spoken from his heart; and others look at the way that Hamlet treated her, and how he is the reason for her madness,
Hamlet confirmed that he did love Ophelia when he told her to go to a nunnery. Although it is a harsh statement, he tried to throw everyone else off so he had to make it seem like he never loved her. Throughout his letter he mentioned that everything else around her may not be true but his love is real. Hamlet explained that Ophelia was too naive and if Polonius read the letters, he had to act mad to protect her. Near the end of the session, Hamlet described the scene in the graveyard and how he still proved his love for Ophelia. His behaviour changed from extremely upset to more relaxed and reasoned.
In the graveyard, Hamlet confronted Laertes about his accusations that he never loved Ophelia. But Hamlet responded by saying, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum” (V. I. 285-287). For this reason, Hamlet has no reason to defend his love for Ophelia now that she is dead, but he still does. Hamlet really did love Ophelia, and told Laertes, “Be buried quick with her, and so will I” (V. I. 296).