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A critical analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet
Evaluate shakespeares hamlet from psychoanalytical point of view
Literary elements in hamlet that support revenge
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Recommended: A critical analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet
In the Hamlet play I believe Hamlet really loves Ophelia, because in the play Hamlet expresses his feelings toward her in many ways. The love between Hamlet and Ophelia is real until someone came in between and tries to use Ophelia as bait. Hamlet realizes it and starts to question his love for Ophelia.
Ophelia is talking to her father Polonius about Hamlet and she mentions to her father that Hamlet has given her gifts: "He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders / Of his affection to me" (1.3.99-100). Polonius is afraid Ophelia will get pregnant by Hamlet, because he thinks Hamlet won 't marry his daughter. Polonius only worries is his reputation, and he doesn 't want his daughter to make a fool out of him. Polonius also mentions that
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He opens the letter and reads it: 'To the celestial, and my soul 's idol, the most beautified Ophelia. '––That 's an ill phrase, a vile phrase; 'beautified ' is a vile phrase. But you shall hear."(2.2.109-110). Polonius argues with the king that he does believe Hamlet is in love with his daughter. He tells the king to execute him if he is wrong and he will find the truth behind it all. Hamlet also mentions to Ophelia that she shouldn 't believe anything he has told her, because he does not love her: "You should have not believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish it. I love you not." …show more content…
/ Dead for a ducat, dead!" (3.3.25-26). If Hamlet does love Ophelia, he wouldn 't have killed her father. He should have checked to see who was behind the 'arras ' before he uses his sword to kill. Hamlet 's mother had told Ophelia 's brother Laertes that Ophelia has drowned in the water. Hamlet is surprised that Ophelia is dead, and he 'leaps into the grave and they grapple '. Hamlet is in love with Ophelia, even though he was mean to her. Now that Ophelia is dead, Hamlet expresses his feelings towards her: "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers / Could not with all their quantity of love / Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?" (5.1.221-223). The queen believes that Hamlet would marry Ophelia someday and now that she is gone Hamlet 's mother Gertrude won 't have a daughter in law in the
Another similarity between Hamlet and Ophelia is the feelings they have for each other. In the beginning of the play, we are led to believe that Hamlet loves Ophelia. This frightens Ophelia, but that does not mean she does not have feelings for him also. It is her father who encourages her to suppress any feelings she may have then. Later in the play Ophelia confesses her love for Hamlet, and he then hides his feelings and denies that he loved her. He suggests that she go to a nunnery. This makes Ophelia feel worthless and not wanted.
First there is the killing of Polonius. When he kills Polonius, the father of his girlfriend, he shows no sign of regret. No guilt. He is so caught up in his own little world of revenge, he doesn't even think of the fact that he just killed an innocent old man and the father of Ophelia. In fact, there is no point in the entire text in which he even mentions Ophelia. This just goes to show that he doesn’t truly care about Ophelia, which as state is the necessary component of love. The second deciding scene is that of Ophelia’s funeral. Hamlet has gone the whole text since the play in act three scene two without a word about Ophelia. Then *bang* Ophelia is dead and he's seeing her funeral. He observes as a distraught Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, throws himself into her grave in grief. Hamlet’s response to this is not a of shared sorrow but of competition. He starts by saying to Laertes “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum” (5.1.284-287). Rather than just grieve for her, he fights with her grieving brother about who loved her more. While this may seem like a loving gesture, there has been no other proof of his love for her throughout the play which make this seem a bit strange. It is as if he wants to have loved her so that he can have emotions that are more important than everyone else’s. Hamlet even accuses Laertes of just trying “to outface” him “with leaping in her grave” (5.1.295). Hamlet would actually be grieve the lose of Ophelia and not fighting over whose emotions matter more if he had truly loved
By not speaking anything, Hamlet at once strengthens his image as a madman, as well as shrouding his real intentions towards those around him. Just following this passage comes a place in the text where we can see how the character of Ophelia has been manipulated by Polonius. After his "hint" that he might be doing this out of frustrated love, Ophelia says that that is what she truly does fear. (87) Her feelings of pity and concern are shaped by her father in order to fit his case of madness against Hamlet.
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
When reading the text, one can comprehend that Ophelia is caught in the middle between two opposite sides. Her family (father and brother) believe that Hamlet is a womanizer rather then the philosopher that he is. They also believe that he will use her in order to achieve his own purposes, and that he would take her precious virginity only to discard it because he would never be her husband. But, Ophelia's heart mesmerized by Hamlets cunning linguistics is set on the fact that Hamlet truly loves her or loved her, even though he swears he never did. In the eye of her father and brother, she will always be a pure, wholesome girl, an eternal virgin in a sense, (due to a parents nature to always see their offspring as a child) they want her to ascend into her stereotypical role in life as a vessel of morality whose sole purpose of existence is to be a obedient wife and a committed mother. However, to Hamlet she is simply an object used to satisfy and fulfill his sexual needs. He also seems to hold her at a distant which suggests that he may...
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]
Throughout Hamlet, Ophelia is represented as a pure and obedient woman to the men in her life who all live a life of deceit. Ophelia’s father, Polonius, uses his authority over her to tell her what her emotions and thoughts should be towards the love of her life, Hamlet. Ophelia tells her father “I do not know, my Lord, what I should think” (1.3.104). In response to her feeling lost and helpless her father says “Marry I’ll teach you. Think yourself a baby/ That you have ta’en these tenders for true pay,/ Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly.” (1.3.105-107). Polonius is explaining to his daughter that she need not to lose her purity and dignity to a mad fool, even if she does love him. Polonius believes that Hamlet is just using his daughter for what she sees as affection, and is lying to Ophelia of his love for her. Ophelia is blind to all of the lying that is
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
However, if this letter really does belong to Hamlet, telling Ophelia to never doubt his love for her is a pretty bold statement. Perhaps it is even a message for the future, when he begins to tell her otherwise.
Two of Ophelia’s difficulties arise from her father and brother. They believe that Hamlet is using her to take her virginity and throw it away because Ophelia will never be his wife. Her heart believes that Hamlet loves her although he promises he never has (“Hamlet” 1). Hamlet: “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 not the time gives it proof. I did love you once.” Ophelia: “Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.” Hamlet: “You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock ...
...es still care about them both. Hamlet understands that Ophelia was just doing as she was told, and he struggles with himself over his feelings. When he learns that she has died, he feels guilt and acknowledges that "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers / Could not with all their quantity of love / Make up my sum" (Hamlet, IV, i, 285-287). Hamlet forgives Gertrude of her deeds too, for after Claudius poisons her, Hamlet takes revenge upon him in the name of both his father and his mother, "Then, venom, to thy / work... // Drink off this potion. Is (thy union) here? / Follow my mother" (Hamlet, IV, ii, 352-353 and 357). After this violent act, his comment that Gertrude is a "wretched queen" (Hamlet, IV, ii, 365) implies that she should be pitied, not despised. There is no malice towards women in Hamlet, he just is overwhelmed by the deception that he faces.
Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain to King Claudius. She is the love interest of Hamlet, and often questions her own nobility as well as his. She refers to her own nobility when she returns her gifts to Hamlet. She did not want to accept these gifts because it would be immoral for her to take them from an immoral person. When Hamlet starts his madness, she states “Oh, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword, Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state, the glass of fashion and the mould of form, Th’ observed of all observers, quite, quite down!” (Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1) She talks about how he was once so noble, but he has lost all of his grace and fell low. In Act
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there are two characters who are in a relationship, but many readers question whether Hamlet really loved Ophelia or not. I would argue that yes he did love Ophelia because there was countless time throughout the story where he shows her love and affection. He also never stopped loving her it was all just an act because he was focusing on getting revenge and had to act “crazy”.
Hamlet is the Danish prince who wishes to kill Claudius for killing Hamlet’s father and then marrying his mother. Hamlet and Ophelia are in love with one another. Ophelia’s brother Laertes and Polonius are both against Ophelia’s feelings for Hamlet. Laertes tells Ophelia that Hamlet may not truly love her so she should be careful. Polonius tells Ophelia that she shouldn’t believe that Hamlet loves her at all and that she should not spend time around Hamlet any longer. Then, Ophelia says that she will do as Polonius says. Later, in the play, Ophelia tells her father that she worried that Hamlet has gone mad because Hamlet came into her room looking disheveled, grabbed her wrist and held her hard, then let go and walked out of the room staring at her. Because of this, Ophelia gives back the letters that Hamlet sent to her and doesn’t let him visit her. Polonius shows Claudius and Gertrude a letter from Hamlet to Ophelia to show them that Hamlet has gone mad, and he tells the two of them that he thinks Hamlet went mad over Ophelia rejecting him. Then, Polonius plans to bring Hamlet and Ophelia together to see if Hamlet truly is in love with her. When Hamlet and Ophelia meet, Claudius and Polonius are watching them. Ophelia tries to give Hamlet back some gifts and letters that he gave to her. Hamlet reacts by saying that he never loved Ophelia and tells her to go
She swears by everything in her that Hamlet loves her truly while everyone else around her, including Hamlet, is telling her that he doesn’t love her. Hamlet writes Ophelia a not very well constructed letter on how much he loves her, which is one of Ophelia’s driving motivations to prove that he does love her. As the scenes go by we take a look at another perspective in their relationship, the nunnery scene. By this point, Hamlet has taken a turn for the worst and while speaking to Ophelia he is indirectly speaking to his mother because he knows they are being spied on. He speaks passionately about women having “two faces”. He then makes the claim that he doesn’t believe that anyone should get married because it would prevent men from getting hurt. For Ophelia, Hamlet’s resolution is to send her to become a nun, that way she could live a pure life where she cannot procreate and have a chance to hurt another man. Their relationship settles when Ophelia dies and Hamlet confesses his longing and meaningful love for her, claiming he loved her more than anyone