The Love of Hamlet's Life Essay #3

Ashley Booth
Instructor Holder
English 102
July 29, 2007
The Love of Hamlet’s Life

Hamlet is the story of a young Prince in Denmark who has returned home to discover that his mother, Gertrude, has married his uncle Claudius barely a month after his father’s untimely death. Several nights after his return, Hamlet sees his father’s ghost atop one of the battlements of the castle. The ghost tells Hamlet that he was poisoned while sleeping by Claudius in order that he might marry Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. The ghost then goes on to tell Hamlet to get revenge against Claudius for his murder. The rest of the play involves Hamlet’s attempts to discover whether Claudius actually murdered his father and how to go about exacting his revenge. There are many questions that arise while reading Hamlet, one of which is whether Hamlet truly loved Ophelia, one of the King’s advisor’s daughters.

In Act I scene iii, Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, is leaving for France and in his parting speech, he tells Ophelia to “hold [Hamlet’s professed love] in a fashion, and a toy in blood; / A violet in the youth of primy nature, / Forward, not permanent-sweet, not lasting; / The perfume and suppliance of a minute; / No more” (I.3.7-11). Laertes seems to think that Hamlet’s love for Ophelia is just a “crush”, a passing affection that will fade with time. He continues on to tell Ophelia that Hamlet’s flighty affection will pass away in time if ignored (I.3.14-17). Laertes seems to confidently believe that Hamlet has no true affection for his sister. After learning of Laertes’ advice to her, Ophelia’s father Polonius tells her that Hamlet is merely playing with her and his affections and advances are not worth nearly as much as they seem to be (I.3.112). Ophelia seems to take her brother and father’s advice to heart for the moment, at least, and thinks of Hamlet’s tenders toward her as passing.

In the next Act (Act II), Ophelia rushes to her father’s side to tell him that Hamlet just came into her room distressed and disheveled, apparently fascinated by her face, not taking his eyes from it even as he left the room. Polonius takes this to mean that since she has denied Hamlet her affections following Laertes’ departure, Hamlet is desperate for her attention. Polonius then goes to the King and Queen (Claudius and Gertrude) to tell them that he has discovered the cause of Hamlet’s madness: denied affection from Ophelia. Going on to prove his point, Polonius reads from a letter Hamlet wrote to Ophelia that states that Hamlet truly loves Ophelia and would have her believe it (II.2.124-130). Polonius believes that Hamlet is out of Ophelia’s class and therefore could have no reason to care for her. Some people would argue that Hamlet knew Ophelia would tell her father about the letter and that everyone would assume that her resistance to advances was the cause of his madness. Personally, I think that while Hamlet’s letter may have had a two-fold purpose (one of which was convincing his mother and uncle that the cause of his madness was slighted love), I still believe that Hamlet was being truthful when he said that the recipient is indeed his “soul’s idol, the most beautified Ophelia” (II.2.117-118).

As the story progresses, the King, Queen, and Polonius persist in their attempts to discover the true cause of Hamlet’s madness, since they do not seem convinced that slighted love is the catalyst into madness. In the first scene of Act III, Polonius attempts to set Ophelia in Hamlet’s path in a place where both he and Claudius will be able to listen in on the conversation. When Hamlet approaches Ophelia, she attempts to return all his letters and gifts. At this, Hamlet seems to realize that she has been convinced that she should no longer reciprocate his affections. He continues to speak in what can only be called a “jealous rage” and tells her that he never loved her. Trying to protect Ophelia from further hurt, Hamlet tells her that rather than be caught in love with a scoundrel like himself, she would be better off in a convent, chaste for eternity (III.1.131-139). At this point, Hamlet seems to know that Polonius and Claudius have set him up and that they no longer believe he is distraught about Ophelia’s refusals or that he is truly mad. He knows that he is not fooling anyone and he reveals hints of his plans to Ophelia and all who may be listening. While Hamlet professes to despise her, his actions to protect her from hurt and his letter in the previous Act provide ample evidence that he really does love her and wish for her to be happy.

Following Hamlet’s confrontation with Ophelia, Claudius realizes that Hamlet means to kill him and sends him away to England for execution. Hamlet understands what King Claudius is attempting to do and escapes. Upon his return to Denmark he discovers that, in his absence, Ophelia has drowned. He secretly watches her burial and when they are about to cover her body with dirt, he reveals himself. Laertes, who believes Hamlet to be the root cause of Ophelia’s death tries to strangle Hamlet, but some of the king’s attendants drag them apart. After Laertes speaks his accusations, Hamlet, in his grief, professes that “forty thousand brothers / could not (with all their quantity of love) / make up my sum” (V.1.270-273). When he and Laertes have been dragged from Ophelia’s grave, Hamlet, rife with grief, asks his mother, Queen Gertrude, how he should act and what he should do to handle his sadness at Ophelia’s death. Despite his earlier profession to the contrary in Act II scene i, Hamlet truly does love Ophelia, which is shown in his actions at her graveside.

Following Ophelia’s burial, Hamlet returns home and agrees to fight Laertes according to Claudius’ wishes. At the match, Hamlet contests with Laertes and they are both cut by Laertes’ poisoned blade. Even when he knows of his impending death, he fulfills his dead father’s wishes and murders Claudius. In the final pages of the play, Hamlet, Laertes, Gertrude, and Claudius die because of the King’s treachery. It seems that Hamlet isn’t distraught at his coming death, he just accepts it as though there is nothing left to live for. I think that Ophelia’s death was the last stone on Hamlet’s chest. After he learns of her death, he seems to become reckless and not care whether he lives or dies in his quest to murder his Uncle Claudius. His actions in the last Act are all the proof that is needed when asking whether Hamlet truly loved Ophelia and had her best interests in mind.

Work Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 7th ed. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2004. 1307-1406.

Comment:
This piece is my best work because I spent a long time on it, and I had a lot of evidence to support my argument. I did not really enjoy writing this essay because Hamlet is one of my least favorite Shakespearean plays. However, this essay was fairly easy to write because I had an ample supply of examples to support my claim that Hamlet did indeed love Ophelia.