ipl-logo

To What Extent Did Hamlet Love Ophelia

689 Words3 Pages

To get thy love or to not
Did hamlet love Ophelia? Was he forced to love her, because of their social status? It was made clear when Ophelia receives letters from hamlet saying “You may wonder if the stars are fire, You may wonder if the sun moves across the sky. You may wonder if the truth is a liar, But never wonder if I love, Oh, Ophelia, I’m bad at poetry. I can’t put my feelings into verse, but please believe I love you best, oh, best of all. Believe it. Yours forever, my dearest one, as long as I live—still chugging along, Hamlet.” (II, ii, 112) that he in fact does love her. He does not show every much affection until we get to the part where he directs the play “the Mousetrap”. In this scene we see how Hamlet goes “mad” or “crazy” and …show more content…

For example, he says to her “It would cost you a groaning to take off mine edge.” (III, ii, 233). In this suttle line, he is talking about having an erect penis and wanting Ophelia to do something with it. He would have not said that if he at least did not like her. When Hamlet finds out that Ophelia has died in act 5, he starts to freak out and says, “What is he whose grief bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I, Hamlet the Dane.” (VI, i, 238-242). He is extremely upset that Ophelia has passed away. He then jumps into the grave that is soon to bare Ophelia’s resting body, Hamlet and Laertes get into an argument and proceed to fight in the grave. Hamlet goes on to once again admit his love for Ophelia by saying “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, 255-257) he also states “... Woo’t weep? Woo’t fight? Woo’t fast? Woo’t tear thyself? Woo’t drink up eisel, eat a crocodile? I’ll do’t. Dost thou come here to whine, to outface me with leaping in her grave? Be buried quick with her? - and so will I.””...I’ll rant as well as thou.” he saying that since Laeters is saying all these crazy things that Hamlet can say some as well, what Laertes is saying are just words. It takes action. (VI, i, 260-270). It is believe that Hamlet loved Ophelia. Even though, for part of this play he treated her poorly, it could have been to make Ophelia forget about Hamlet and move on without the possibility of getting hurt. She ironically ends up dying in the

Show More
Related
717 Words | 3 Pages

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia’s love for Hamlet ultimately leads to her madness. In order for Ophelia to build her relationship with Hamlet, she must go against her father’s orders considering he strictly prohibited her from seeing him. Hamlet then breaks up with Ophelia saying, “I did love you once,” and then tells her to go “to a nunnery,” causing Ophelia to feel a great amount of betrayal. Ophelia is already heartbroken, and now Hamlet murders her father which was too much for her to handle.

Read More
925 Words | 4 Pages

This is evidence of tension between Laertes and Hamlet and foreshadows the later confrontation between them. On the contrary, Hamlet feels romantic love for Ophelia. His love is supposedly so passionate that “Forty thousand brothers/ Could not with all their quantity of love” (V, i, 275-276) care for her as much as he does. Both Laertes and Hamlet carry their love to Ophelia’s grave. While at the grave, Laertes shows his brotherly love for Ophelia once more when he stands inside her grave and exclaims “Hold off the earth awhile,/

Read More
948 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More
460 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

For instance, he states that he “loved her once” (2.2.111). Even in Act V, Hamlet declared her love again, saying that 40,000 brothers could not express his love, and he hoped that Ophelia and himself (along with Laertes) would be buried under such high soil that the top of the mountain would be pierced by the sun. Although many people thought Hamlet had never loved Ophelia, he just wanted to throw everyone away. After this scene was over, it's evident how he honestly feels about

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

He says why would she want to give birth to more sinners. Although it seems as he might be mocking her it might be possible that Ophelia and Hamlet had sexual relationships and she might be pregnant and he’s just protecting her if that was the case. Since Ophelia tells her father Polonius everything Hamlet must act mad in order to protect his love for Ophelia. Although readers may not perceive this as protecting her and they may believe Hamlet’s rejection towards her might be due for the fact that marriage itself has become abhorrent to him. Ever since his mother Gertrude married his uncle Claudius not too long after King Hamlet died.

Read More
899 Words | 4 Pages

Even though when Hamlet and Ophelia finally talk he says some harsh words like “Get thee to a nunnery “ , or “ why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” When Ophelia dies he does show some true feelings for her. While she is being buried he jumps into the grave where Laertes is and says in front of everyone “ I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers.” So it makes us believe that even though Hamlet treated her harshly and with little respect he did somewhere in his heart care for

Read More
870 Words | 4 Pages

He knows she will snitch to her family, and even depends on it during the play. Ophelia is manipulated by the men she loves in order to further their agendas and make decisions benefiting them, regardless of her opinion. During Act 1 Scene 3 Laertes warns Ophelia not to trust Hamlet. He says that Hamlet will break her heart and use her for his own gain. “Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain, If with too credent ear you list his songs, Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open, To his unmastered importunity” (1.3.29-32).

Read More
1389 Words | 6 Pages

Saying this, Hamlet’s behavior towards Ophelia is crude, rough, and full of anger. Despite Hamlet’s harsh treatment towards Ophelia, he really did love her, but because she was not his main focus, the

Read More
895 Words | 4 Pages

In Shakespeare’s dramatic tragedy Hamlet, Shakespeare has characters such as Laertes, and Hamlet display verbal violence towards Ophelia, ignorant that their words cause the limited time they have with her before her suicide. Shakespeare then uses these acts of verbal violence to epitomize that life is fragile and one should value loved ones before they expire. Shakespeare uses Laertes’s stern tone and objectifying diction when speaking to Ophelia about her relationship with Hamlet to illustrate his verbal violence towards her that adds to her desire for death; exemplifying that life is frail and that one should value loved ones before they die. Shakespeare begins Laertes his tirade with him reminding Ophelia that Hamlet’s passion and love for her is only ‘“a toy in blood’” and would only last a “‘minute’”, harshly revealing that Laertes believes Hamlet,

Read More
1735 Words | 7 Pages

However, she is a key figure in the love tragedy between Hamlet and Ophelia which is truncated by Hamlet when he decides to embark on a mad journey to avenge the death of his father (Gates). Hamlet cannot participate fully considering he is attempting to get revenge on Claudius. Generally, a love tragedy, “explores the vexed relations between individual desire and conformity to social duty,” (Gates). Accordingly, Shakespeare gives Ophelia a family that opposes her sexual desires for the idea of social rank (Gates). Laertes voices his opinions on this when he tells Ophelia that Hamlet’s, “will is not his own.

Read More
806 Words | 4 Pages

Does Hamlet Really Love Ophelia? Love what most people view as a physical affection or attachment towards someone. Is there really a pacific way to show someone that you're in love with them. When it comes to love most people are afraid of showing someone that they love them because they're afraid of getting hurt or for the other person getting hurt. Hamlet does indeed truly love Ophelia, It could be that Hamlet was afraid of getting hurt all along.

Read More
672 Words | 3 Pages

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

Read More
809 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet becomes so distressed he leaps into Ophelia 's grave. He then follows with, "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers Could not with all their quantity of love Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?" As his way to fiercely reinstate that he truly loves Ophelia.

Read More
457 Words | 2 Pages

Growing up, I always loved problem solving and being near the ocean, at the University of Michigan, I can combine these two things into a career. With one of the top Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering programs in the country, Michigan would allow me to learn from the best and connect with alumni who are doing my dream job. In the future, I would love to design small sailboats which would make it easier for people to circumnavigate the world and leave less of an impact on the environment. At Michigan, I think this dream could become a reality. With the help of the professors and research opportunities at the university, I would learn everything I would need to know in order to be successful after graduation.

Read More

More about To What Extent Did Hamlet Love Ophelia

Related Topics

Open Document