In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet becomes overcome with rage when Ophelia betrays him with her dishonesty about her father, Polonius. Before Hamlet’s anger intensifies, he greets Ophelia with a subtle kindness and compassion, answering her gentle questions heartedly. The tables turn when Ophelia brings to him the letters composed of sweet words that he gave to her as a gift of his love. This is not only a betrayal of the love Hamlet gave to her, but she stands against Hamlet, and with her father since she allows him to control her actions. The dialogue between the two lovers brings to question whether Hamlet truly cares for Ophelia or not, and her responses to his disassociation of her provide evidence of her spiraling down into madness. …show more content…
She uses contrasting diction while describing the love letters to Hamlet, “Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind” (100). Ophelia creates imagery of how her relationship with Hamlet was before her father Polonius ordered her to end it and before Hamlet began his mad act upon Denmark. There is an undertone of sadness in her words toward Hamlet, calling him out for being deceitful about his promised love to her. Every kind word and every gift he has given to her has now faded away and lost its sweetness because Hamlet has proved himself to be unkind by denying their love in the first place. Hamlet refers to the emotional feeling of love or the act of lovemaking in “I did love you once” which, if this is his way of expressing to Ophelia that he loves her then the following line “I lov’d you not” appears to be a bad reaction to her words. (114-118). On the contrary, if this is Hamlet claiming he made love to her, then that following line of denying the emotional love seems excessively harsh toward Ophelia’s fragileness that is starting to crack open. Ophelia’s retort to Hamlet’s unkind words “I was the more deceiv’d” makes the reader think that she really did believe the prince when he said he loved her (119). However, she remains silent as to whether or not she loved him back because she knows …show more content…
Repetition for Hamlet can be conclusive evidence of the mad act he is performing. He says “Go thy ways to a nunn’ry” and uses the word “nunn’ry” five times throughout his conversation with Ophelia (129). The previous repetitions of the word appear to be a part of mad Hamlet’s character, but with this specific line, he seems to be genuinely furious at Ophelia. Building up his rage through cursing Ophelia and the world, Hamlet has lost a bit of control of his emotions and is taking his anger out on Ophelia because she stands directly before him an easy target. Another example of repetition is Ophelia shouts “O, help him, you sweet heavens” and “Heavenly powers, restore him”, which are the two times she calls upon the heavens to help- not herself- but Hamlet (133-140). This is not the only time, however, that references of heaven and God are brought into their conversation. Hamlet also repeats the power of the heavens in “God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves / another” but he does this in almost an accusatory tone toward Ophelia (142-143). The dramatic irony is that Ophelia calls upon the heavens to help Hamlet, while on the other side Hamlet uses God’s name in a degrading way to curse and accuse Ophelia. Whether or not Hamlet truly cared for Ophelia, it is evident in their conversation that he is too overcome with rage for everything that he allows his own self to emotionally damage the poor
Ophelia is a character in Hamlet that is chronically faithful to everyone else but herself. Ophelia is deeply in love with Hamlet, and she is certain that he loves her as well. This is clear from the assertions she makes in Hamlet’s defense: “My lord, he hath importuned me with love in honest fashion. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, with almost all the holy vows of heaven” (1795). Ophelia’s downfall emerges when she doubts her own feelings and beliefs about Hamlet, upon instruction and advice from her brother and father. Ophelia, a confident and intelligent woman, begins to rely on others to tell her what to think and how to act. “I do not know, my lord, what I should think” (1795). Upon Polonius request, and going against her own hearts desires, she starts to avoid Hamlet. “No, my good lord, but, as you did command, I did repel his letters and denied his access to me” (1806). By doing what her father advises and wishes Ophelia is no longer capable of making decisions for herself. The loss of Hamlet’s love and the death of her father leave her with confusion and doubts about her future. “Well, Go...
Living in an environment of deception and hostility, the reader can easily identify with Hamlet's anger. Most all compassionate audiences will be sympathetic to his plight. However, the origins of Hamlet's vehement actions toward his once beloved Ophelia can be debated from several different points of view. Whatever his reasoning may be, it is probably correct to assume that he regrets deeply every harsh world spoken toward Ophelia. He only realizes again what a beautiful and kind person she was- after her death.
The Love of Ophelia It is never easy to see into a person’s heart and find their true emotions, especially when their feelings are intentionally masked to give off a different impression. Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, attempts to mask specific emotions throughout the play. He tries to give off the impression that he is insane when he is near his murderous uncle and other characters because he doesn’t want them to suspect his plan of revenge. However, he silently expresses his love towards the sweet Ophelia, his girlfriend.
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.
Ophelia in the fourth act of Hamlet is demonstrably insane, but the direct cause of her slipped sanity is something that remains debatable, Shakespeare uses the character Ophelia to demonstrate how women during this time were unable to break away from social norms. While it is evident that Ophelia is grieving over the death of her father, Polonius, as Horatio says of her “She speaks much of her father, says she hears / There’s tricks in the world, and hems, and beats her heart” (4.5.4-5), as lines from one of her many “songs” points towards grieving over an aged relative, “His beard as white as snow / All flaxen was his poll” with flaxen indicating a white or grayed head of hair (4.5.190-191).
Hamlet, Ophelia’s lover, accidentally kills her father and “confesses” he never loved her, Hamlet toys with Ophelia's emotions intentionally and unintentionally to solidify his madness. Even though she was the who initiated the “breakup”, her sorrows of the relationship are much more public than Hamlets. Hamlet’s madness scares Ophelia away which he used as a defense mechanism to not be hurt anymore. His madness looks as though he had been "loosed out of hell to speak of horrors" (2.1.83-84) and she "truly [did] fear it"(2.1. 86). His insanity and rudeness suffocated any love she had for him. She admits that their "their perfume [has been] lost" (3.1. 99). This helped Hamlet solidify his insanity by cutting ties with the ones he loves, and having them tell others he is mad. This comes with the cost of discontinuing his relationships: especially with Ophelia. Both have hinted around in the text of an intimate affair. This makes the emotions and breakup even more difficult for both of them. Their relationship was a love, not an innocent crush or courtship. Poor Ophelia initially thought she caused Hamlet's madness due to the abrupt ending of their affair. But because of her naivety, she lacks to see his other internal struggles. Ophelia’s trust in Hamlet left her heartbroken. Hamlet’s agenda of or getting justice for his father occupied his mind more than Ophelia did. Which left her feeling
Ophelia begins the play as an innocent, trusting, and spirited young girl, full of promise and full of life. But, all too soon her view of men and the world in general is tainted. Her brother warns her that Hamlet may be toying with her affections and to, "fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister..." (1.3.33). With these simple words he implants the seeds of distrust and betrayal. These themes of distrust and betrayal are interwoven throughout much of the play, from the murder of the King, to the constant spying of Polonius.
In hamlet, Ophelia is in love with Hamlet and she wants to be with him. Her dad poloniuss does not want her to be with him, and he merely tells her that she is not good enough to be with hamlet because he will have to marry an heir to the crown. Poloniuss tells Ophelia to stop talking to hamlet and to let him go. She does obey her father and from this she stays away from Hamlet. Until Hamlet comes storming into her room one night and stares her straight into her eyes and
Hamlet shows much anger and disrespect to the women in his life. Ophelia’s believing her father’s words breaks Hamlets heart, being the reason for his treatment towards not just her but his mother. Ophelia
At first, Hamlet is successful, and society is convinced Ophelia is the reason for his madness, thus granting Hamlet more time to plot Claudius’s murder. This is achieved in Hamlet’s “to be or not to be speech” [3,1,57] when Claudius and Polonius spy on the conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia. During the Act, Ophelia displays traits of dishonesty and Hamlet uses this to his benefit and appears to go insane to convince Ophelia, Claudius and Polonius that Ophelia is responsible for his madness. Hamlet insists his madness is an “antic disposition” [1,5,179] and that “Thou this be madness, yet there is method in it”. [2,2,204] In the play, Hamlet uses his “antic disposition” [1,5,179] to refuse Ophelia’s affections, which is powerfully portrayed when he exclaims to her “get thee to a nunnery.” [3,1,138] By denying Ophelia’s love, Hamlet’s power in the relationship is effectively demonstrated, and it is shown he is in control of their relationship. In addition, this is reflected in Ophelia’s self-destruction, as she has no purpose to live a life without Hamlet or a man. Overall, Hamlet is successful in using his power over Ophelia for the sake of his
He was looking for her innocent face for some sign of loving truth that might restore his faith in her. He took her silence for a sign of her guilt and found her to be a false person, like his mother. In his letter to her, having addressed the letter as "the most beautified Ophelia" and he ended the letter with "I love thee best, O most best, believe it" (English Book). He used the word "beautified" to display a honest message of thanking her, and it is obvious he still loves her. His tries to win her feeling of love. Ophelia is still too much under the influence of her father to question his wisdom or authority, and she has no idea of how much she has made her lover suffer. No matter how much it pained her to not see Hamlet, all she could see in his present behavior is the madness that scared
Thine evermore most dear lady, …Hamlet! (Shakespeare, Act II, scene ii, lines 116-124). Indeed, not only does Hamlet profess his love, but also he begs Ophelia to not doubt him and always believe in him. Without doubt, this is quite important, since Hamlet’s sanity is constantly in question. In fact, he is assuring her that whatever happens, she should believe in his love for her. As time goes on, Polonius and Claudius increasingly suspect Hamlet of being crazy, and they devise a scheme to prove this using Ophelia and the “remembrances”(Shakespeare, Act III, scene i, line 95) and love letters given to her by Hamlet. Likewise, these the fact that he gave these keepsakes are more proof of Hamlet’s love for Ophelia. Since Hamlet is aware that Polonius and Claudius are eavesdropping on he and Ophelia, he purposely insults her and denies that he gave her these gifts. Despite this rejection, Hamlet still loves Ophelia, as he forewarned her to never doubt his love for
In Act III, Scene 1 Hamlet tells Ophelia “I loved you not”, confessing that he never really loved her. Imagine being a girl and receiving constant love letters and affection and then one day when you confront him he denies everything. Hamlet makes Ophelia believe that he was in love
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 ...
Ophelia’s betrayal ends up putting Hamlet over the edge, motivating him in his quest for revenge. Ophelia is one of the two women in the play. As the daughter of Polonius, she only speaks in the company of several men, or directly to her brother or father. Since we never see her interactions with women, she suppresses her own thoughts in order to please her superiors. Yet, however weak and dependent her character is on the surface, Ophelia is a cornerstone to the play’s progression.