Cruel In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia And Queen Gertrude

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A man once said “I must be cruel only to be kind; Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.” In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Ophelia and Queen Gertrude are treated cruelly by Hamlet. Hamlet is cruel towards his mother and ex girlfriend because of his mother's affair with his uncle and Ophelia's obedience to her controlling father.
Ophelias father, Polonius, is always spying on his children. Polonius sends a man named Reynaldo to France where he is to spy and spread rumors about his son, Laertes. He is also very controlling with Ophelia because he tells her not to speak with Hamlet and he also tells her to return all the gifts Hamlet has given to her. Hamlet makes fun of how controlling Polonius is by telling him “let her not walk i'th’ sun. Conception is a blessing, but, as your daughter may conceive, friend, look to't.” which in other words means don’t let …show more content…

When Hamlet encounters Ophelia in the nunnery scene, she hands the letters back to him. He then tells her “You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish for it: I loved you not.” meaning that he never loved Ophelia. Hamlet suspects that her father, Polonius, has something to do with this, so he asks her where is her father. Ophelia lies and tells him that he is at home, this makes Hamlet get more angry and tells her “Get thee to a nunnery, go: farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.” He tells her this because he is angry at her for obeying her father's instructions as if she were still a little girl and he is aware of how controlling her father