Comparing Shakespeare's Hamlet And Laertes Intentions For Ophelia

811 Words2 Pages

While Hamlet and Laertes intentions for Ophelia also reflect one another, the love, absence, and devastation were all too precisely timed and on the same level of affection. Although Hamlet and Laertes had a different level of endearment for Ophelia, they both deeply cared and adored her through the good and bad. Being the older brother, Laertes had a special place in his heart specifically for his sister. Before he departs to Paris, he gives her words of encouragement and warns her to stay away from Hamlet as he won’t be there to protect her. Through long dialogue, he informs “if she unmask her beauty to the moon. Virtue itself scapes not calumnious srtokes” (1.2.37-38). Laertes is demonstrating the care and compassion he has for Ophelia. He warns her that she doesn’t …show more content…

On the other hand, Hamlet cares for Ophelia just as much as Laertes. Hamlet is in love with Ophelia as their relationship is very intimate. Through Ophelia, she reveals how Hamlet has demonstrated love towards her and “with almost all the holy vows of heaven” (1.2.114). With holy and pure vows, Hamlet demonstrates his love and affections towards her are real. At one point, many people believed his love for Ophelia has gotten extreme to a point in which he went mentally unstable because of his love for her. Although Ophelia is commanded to stay away from him, she still loves Hamlet as they continue to write their love through notes and letters. Both of these men adore Ophelia in different manners, but their love for her is unconditional and exact. The intense feeling for Ophelia reflects the sensitive side of Hamlet and Laertes and displays another element in which they’re exact foils. Another factor to support this idea is how they both couldn’t be there for her when she needed them most. Hamlet changed his attitude for the sake of his plot against Claudius, causing him to be vulgar and push Ophelia

Show More
Related

  • Hamlet And Laertes Compare And Contrast

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before Laertes left for France, he gave Ophelia advice on her relationship with hamlet. Laertes tried to warn Ophelia on Hamlet’s real feelings and his true intentions towards her, and tells her to be a little wary of Hamlet and his affections. Hamlet’s feelings towards Ophelia seem to die after she rejects him. Not only his feelings, but his own appearance seems to decay after the rejection. He is described as being “Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other” (line 82). To make matters worse, Ophelia dies. Both Hamlet and Laertes are so shocked and distressed over her death, that they both decide to jump into her grave and begin to fight each other. Even though both Hamlet and Laertes hated each other, they both loved Ophelia deeply. Hamlet was obviously very infatuated with Ophelia, as too it hard at her death. Laertes on the other hand seemed to have more of a brotherly connection and bond with her, as was evident when he tried to advise her against

    Read More

  • How Does Hamlet Love Ophelia

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    He allows his true feelings and emotions to pour out at her grave for the last time before she is buried and gone forever: “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers / Could not with all their quantity of love / Make up my sum,” (V.i.285-87). Regardless to the amount of love Ophelia’s brother had for her, Hamlet claims that he loves her more than Laertes ever could. Similar to the symbolism in his letters, he expresses his abundant love for Ophelia and how she is the girl he truly cares about. The prince comes straight out with his feelings and does not act insane during the funeral, he is simply being honest straight from his heart. Now that she is gone, Hamlet cannot protect her and has no reason to hid his true emotions towards

    Read More

  • Love Loss And The Court Of King Claudius

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    Laertes. Ophelia already believed she had lost the affections of her Hamlet due to their

    Read More

  • Essay on the Oppression of Ophelia in Hamlet

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the play opened, Hamlet and Ophelia appeared as lovers experiencing a time of turbulence. Hamlet had just returned home from his schooling in Saxony to find that his mother had quickly remarried her dead husband's brother, and this gravely upset him. Hamlet was sincerely devoted to the idea of bloodline loyalty and sought revenge upon learning that Claudius had killed his father. Ophelia, though it seems her relationship with Hamlet is in either the developmental stage or the finalizing stage, became the prime choice as a lure for Hamlet. Laertes inadvertently opened Ophelia up to this role when he spoke with Ophelia about Hamlet before leaving for France. He allowed Polonius to find out about Hamlet's courtship of Ophelia, which led to Polonius' misguided attempts at taking care of Ophelia and obeying the king's command to find the root of Hamlet's problems. Ophelia, placed in the middle against her wishes, obeyed her father and brother's commands with little disagreement. The only time she argued was when Laertes advised her against making decisions incompatible with the expectations of Elizabethan women. Ophelia tells him, in her boldest lines of the play:

    Read More

  • Ophelia

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her tragedy began with her brother. Laertes knew of Ophelia’s love relationship with Hamlet; however, he also knew that she was only the daughter or a courtier and Hamlet was a prince. In those days, princes were not allowed to marry inferior women. When Laertes was getting ready to leave on his trip to Paris, he advised Ophelia to “Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood: A violet in the youth of primy nature, forward, not permanent, sweet, and not lasting; the perfume and suppliance of a minute; no more.” (Hamlet) In other words, Laertes told his sister to con...

    Read More

  • Madness and Insanity in Shakespeare's Hamlet - Both a Sane and Insane Hamlet

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet's behavior throughout the play, especially towards Ophelia is inconsistent. He jumps into Ophelia's grave, and fights with Laertes in her grave. He professes I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/Could not, with all their quantity of love,/ Make up my sum [Act V, scene I, lines 250-253], during the fight with Laertes in Ophelia's grave, but he tells her that he never loved her, when she returns his letters and gifts, while she was still alive. Hamlet subtly hints his awareness of his dissolving sanity as he tells Laertes that he killed Polonius in a fit of madness [Act V, scene II, lines 236-250]

    Read More

  • Identity In Hamlet

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hamlet’s apparent antics with Ophelia prove that their relationship begins to fall apart and become unhealthy. Hamlet mistreats Ophelia when she attempts to return the gifts he has given her, and he responds in a harsh manner, asking about her chastity and beauty, saying “that if [she] be honest and fair, [her] honesty/should admit no discourse to [her] beauty” (3.1.117-118). Hamlet continues to belittle her, calling her two-faced and admitting that he “did love [her] once” (3.1.125), his feelings for her now absent. Hamlet’s facade becomes personal through this. The entire exchange shows how Hamlet prioritizes his revenge, over his love because he eventually figures out that Polonius and Claudius spy on him. Hamlet soon speculates Ophelia’s association in their plan and decides to put on a facade for her too. Claudius’s facade also affects his relationship with Gertrude and Hamlet. After his speech to the court, Claudius approaches Hamlet in a way that appears as if he cares about him, even addressing him as “my cousin Hamlet and my son” (1.2.66), despite being aware of Hamlet’s sensitive and depressive state because of his father’s death. Moreover, Claudius expresses his deceitful love when he admits to Laertes that he won’t put Hamlet on trial because he mentions how much he loves Gertrude, and that she “is so conjunctive to my life and soul/that, as the

    Read More

  • Incest And Sexism In Hamlet

    652 Words  | 2 Pages

    Along with protecting his sister from the unlawful Hamlet, Laertes tries to protect the family’s reputation. He believes that Hamlet is to out manipulate his daughter and if he doesn’t put an end to it, entire family will be ruined. Other royals will begin to look down the family if the secrets and between Hamlet and Ophelia are ever

    Read More

  • Hamlet

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hamlet and Laertes share a different but deep love and concern for Ophelia. Laertes advises her to retain from seeing and being involved with Hamlet because of his social status. He didn’t want her to get her heart broken by Hamlet, since he believed that his marriage would be arranged to someone of his social status, and that he would only use and hurt Ophelia. Hamlet on the other hand, was madly in love with Ophelia but it languishes after she rejects him. Ophelia’s death caused distress in both Hamlet and Laertes and it also made Laertes more hostile towards Hamlet.

    Read More

  • Parallels in Hamlet by William Shakespeare

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Laertes is a mirror to Hamlet. Shakespeare has made them similar in many aspects to provide a greater base for comparison when avenging their respective fathers' deaths" (Nardo, 90). Both Hamlet and Laertes love Ophelia in different ways. Hamlet wishes Ophelia to become his wife, Laertes loves Ophelia as a sister. Hamlet is a scholar at Wittenberg; Laertes is also a scholar at France. Both were brought up under this royal family of Denmark. And both are admired for their swordsmenship. But most important of all, both of them loved and respected their fathers greatly, and showed great devotion when plotting to avenge their fathers' deaths.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Revenge Theme Essay

    1164 Words  | 3 Pages

    Laertes is greatly influenced by revenge for his actions especially when he is seeking revenge for his sister. He shows his brotherly love for Ophelia when he says “For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor,/Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood,/A violet in the youth of primy nature,/Forward, not permanent, sweet, not

    Read More

  • The Importance of Laertes and Fortinbras in Hamlet

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    Laertes is a mirror to Hamlet. Shakespeare has made them similar in many aspects to provide a greater base for comparison when avenging their respective father's deaths. Hamlet and Laertes love Ophelia. Hamlet wishes Ophelia to be his wife, Laertes loves Ophelia as a sister. Hamlet is a scholar at Wittenberg, and Laertes at France. Both are admired for their swordsmenship. Both men loved and respected their fathers, and display deviousness when plotting to avenge their father's deaths.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Movie Vs Movie Comparison

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout Shakespeare 's play it is clear that Ophelia and Hamlet were lovers but it is not entire certainty whether Hamlet loved Ophelia at the present time. His declaration of love in the written play could have been seen as an indication of his madness. In the film version Hamlet is seen hiding in the bushes while Ophelia 's funeral begins and once he discovers it is her he is overcome with grief to the point where Horatio has to hold him back (Hamlet). The pain on Hamlet 's face is apparent as well as his sanity. Another example of their relationship is in act 3 scene 1 after Hamlet finished his soliloquy he says the line “the fair Ophelia” (Shakespeare 4.1.97) while reading the play I assumed he said this line when he addressed her, and that he was pleasant to her until his madness took over and he became rude. In Doran’s adaptation however Hamlet spoke the line “the fair Ophelia” before she even saw him, he was speaking to himself with a tone of love and affection. Additionally, Hamlet remained pleasant to her until he turned and noticed the security camera (Hamlet). It was only then that Hamlet began to act mad and unpleasant towards Ophelia. This version gave a new depth to Hamlet’s madness and strengthens the idea that he was simply

    Read More

  • The Romance of Hamlet and Ophelia

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    Last, the love that Hamlet and Ophelia is real but it was also used and at one time even put to an end. So I think that he did once love her but he put her through a lot. Not only did he but also did her father. It is said that Shakespeare’s writing is “so many-sided that this kind of link can never be more than intriguing speculation” (Great Poets, 30).

    Read More

  • Essay On The Relationship Between Hamlet And Ophelia

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    This final act of the play surely sums up the love that Hamlet had for Ophelia. Dramatically, Hamlet jumps into the grave of Ophelia. Distraught with grief for her, Hamlet confronts her brother, Laertes, telling him that he loved her even more than a brother loves a sister. Hamlet cries out to Laertes “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum” (Shakespeare, Act IV, scene I, lines 285-287). Although it was too late for Ophelia to hear Hamlet’s true feelings expressed once again, this does show that Hamlet’s love was not madness, but genuine affection. Pouring out his heartfelt emotions, Hamlet says he loved her so much he would do anything for

    Read More

More about Comparing Shakespeare's Hamlet And Laertes Intentions For Ophelia

Open Document