Conflict In Hamlet And Ophelia

Improved Essays
The love story of Hamlet and Ophelia was terribly devastating. These two lovers, who could’ve been together; died in tragedy apart. There were many conflicts and reasons why Hamlet and Ophelia kept growing apart throughout the story. It was mostly because of Hamlet hostility towards Ophelia throughout Act 3. The reasons he acted cruelly to her because of his mother, Gertrude who recently married her brother-in-law Claudius in a short period of time after her husband’s death. Due to this, he displaces his anger towards Ophelia in Act 3, Scene 1.
The second reason could be, it just all an act. In the play, there were people spying on him throughout the story, for example; Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. He was worried; his ‘pretending
…show more content…
Dover Wilson, Hamlet 's sudden rudeness towards Ophelia started during Act 2, scene 2. He stated, Hamlet overheard Polonius 's scheme about letting his daughter go to him and find out what’s actually wrong with him. According to this, Hamlet would be aware that there is spies’ presence behind the arras in the Nunnery scene. Therefore, he knew his meeting with Ophelia was a plan by the King and Polonius. This lead to his distrust and hostility against Ophelia personally because he knew she was a decoy all along. Hamlet already trusted Ophelia with his love, but she basically broke it by listening to her father. Since, Hamlet expected so much from her, but without knowing she basically fails him by deceiving him. Thus, creates Hamlet bitterness against Ophelia …show more content…
Gertrude marriage was wrong for many reasons, due to her current husband being her former brother-in-law and marrying less than a month. However, it doesn’t make it ok to be mean to Ophelia. He should’ve known not all women are like his mother and should’ve had faith in his love. Although, Hamlet’s behavior towards Ophelia wasn’t acceptable, it’s understandable during this modern time as a teenager. No teenager would be fine, if their mother or father get married less than a month after their other parent’s death. They will be mean and hostile to everyone like Hamlet. They’ll mostly hate the new person their parents got married to, but will not displace their anger to their friends or girlfriend like Prince Hamlet. Hamlet’s feeling about his mother marriage is understandable in this modern age, if a teenager is going through what he went through. But, they would’ve done it differently or act in another way. Teenagers today, would’ve probably only been rude to their parent and step-parents. Also, rebel against them like Hamlet been doing in the play by talking back to Gertrude and

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet Impulsive In Hamlet

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages

    He seems to be incredibly disappointed in his mother for marrying Claudius so soon after the King’s death, and makes this obvious at multiple occasions. The first of these happens during one of Hamlet’s soliloquies: “And yet, within a month (Let me not think on’t; frailty, thy name is woman!), a little month…O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer, married with my uncle, my father’s brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules (1.2.149-157). Hamlet expresses his displeasure with his mother for not only marrying his late father’s brother, but for doing it so soon after he has passed, and feels that she didn’t give him the dignity he deserves by doing so. I have a feeling that Gertrude had done this so early because she wanted to alleviate her grief and try to become happier as her own person. Another part of the play that shows Hamlet’s melancholy feeling is when he repudiates Ophelia in the harshest way possible. In Act Three Scene One, Hamlet and Ophelia have this interaction: “(Hamlet) 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 but we shall relish of it. I loved you not. (Ophelia) I was the more deceived” (Shakespeare 3.1.125-130). Hamlet’s flood of pessimistic emotions throughout the play allows for the…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet's Love For Ophelia

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The anger that Hamlet shows towards Ophelia throughout the play isn’t truly an anger for her but a bitter result of his anger for others. Because of his cowardice, he had difficulties confronting those that he’s actually…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hamlet denying his love for Ophelia commences her emotional instability. When Ophelia approaches Hamlet rejecting his love, for the sake of her father’s wishes and plan to determine the source of Hamlet’s insanity, he replies, “You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so [inoculate] our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not,” (Shakespeare 3.1. 127-9). She still loves him, yet he is acting as if what they once had meant absolutely nothing to him. The only reason that Hamlet is treating Ophelia this way is because of the act he is putting on in order to fulfill his revenge. If Claudius would not have murdered the King, Hamlet would not be acting insane and Ophelia would not feel worthless. Literary scholar, David Bevington, describes the confrontation between the two, “Ophelia, ignorant of the murder, cannot fathom the sudden and vindictive hostility of one who had professed love to her ‘In honorable fashion’. Passively becoming part of a scheme designed, as far as she can tell, to help Hamlet recover wits, Ophelia instead loses her own,” (20). Ophelia unintentionally becomes a victim of Hamlet’s sudden attack and reaps the outcome. Hamlet’s harsh words spark a downward spiral in Ophelia’s state of mind. Laertes being away worsens Ophelia’s emotional state. Considering Polonius’ loyalty to the King, Laertes has…

    • 1990 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Coupled with the idea that Hamlet has gone mad as well and his and Laertes departure from Denmark, Ophelia has lost all males figures in her life, and thus; her sanity. Ophelia’s relationship with Hamlet can be one of the causes to her madness. Although Hamlet is seen to trample upon Ophelia’s feelings, seen when he pleads for ophelia to “get thee to a nunnery” (III, i, 123), the severity of the wounds he inflicts to Ophelia is because Hamlet “loved Ophelia” (V, i, 255). Because of the love the two have for each other, the words that Hamlet spews at Ophelia are like daggers dipped with the most vile poisons. Ophelia is unable to come to terms with her situation and is consumed by her lunacy. Ophelia’s lunacy drives her to suicide, as Ophelia is unable to live a life where the supposed love of her life goes mad and murders her father, then abandons her. With her brother gone as well, she has no one to console her she drowns in sorrow and drowns herself in a…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    His girlfriend Ophelia betrays him as well. While there were few occasions where Hamlet spoke about whether or not he actually loves Ophelia, he does show how much he really loved her after she died. Hamlet and Laertes are fighting in Ophelia’s grave about how much each of them loved Ophelia and Hamlet states “I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers/Could not, with all their quantity of love,/Make up my sum.” and that he would “weep”, “fight”, “fast” “,”tear thyself” “drink up eisel” and “eat a crocodile” for Ophelia (Shakespeare V i 270-77). However, in an earlier scene Hamlet learns that Ophelia betrayed him by luring him so that Polonius and Claudius could spy on him. His reaction shows a darker side of Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship. He tells her multiple times to get to a nunnery, implying that she is as worthless as a prostitute. He tells her that she breeds sinners and that she turns wise men into monsters. This behaviour, in contrast to the later scene, demonstrates two very different sides of Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship. This is all rooted in the fact that Ophelia betrayed Hamlet’s trust. Had she not betrayed his trust, Hamlet would not have lashed out at her. Since she did betray him, Hamlet turns from having the trait of a loving boyfriend to an angry and rude…

    • 1737 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet and Ophelia 's relationship in the play "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare is very passionate, confusing, violent, and tragic. Many claim that Hamlet fooled her and that he never really loved Ophelia, however I disagree. Hamlet surely loved Ophelia, and Ophelia felt the same. They definitely cared for one another, for Ophelia claims to her father, Polonius, that he "hath importuned [her] with love in honorable fashion", and if he had not loved her then he wouldn 't have gone to all that trouble to make her believe he did; especially with all the family issues going on in his life at the time, revenge and love are too much for him to handle together (act 1, scene 3, page 23, lines 110-111).…

    • 1058 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, despite the fact that Hamlet lied and used Ophelia for the good of himself, he truly was in love with her. Throughout the play we notice a dramatic change from beginning to end, in regards to Hamlet’s relationship with Ophelia. In the beginning of the play we see Hamlet having feelings for Ophelia, but then we see him talk down to Ophelia and start to deny his feelings towards her. We see Hamlet writing love letters to Ophelia, in the middle of the play when Ophelia begins to go crazy she reminisces on Valentine’s day and how Hamlet betrayed her. The end of the play when Hamlet realizes Ophelia is dead the readers learn that Hamlet was indeed truly in love with Ophelia, when he confesses…

    • 1018 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ophelia In Hamlet

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout life people go through bad breakups, and continue to fall in love, its human nature. Even God created Eve for Adam in the bible, and he created someone for everyone. That leads into Charles Boyce’s article about Ophelia. He states, “Ophelia's nature is abundantly affectionate; her wounded but faithful love—both for her father and for Hamlet—makes her one of the most touching of Shakespeare's characters” (Boyce 1). This suggests that Ophelia too has a “wounded love” for Hamlet, meaning she does love him but something is standing in the way. Whether this is because of her father, or Hamlets own madness is unclear but nonetheless show that Hamlet means something to her and is related to her downfall. If she didn’t love someone would it matter if they themselves were mad? Why would it matter if Hamlet was insane, how would that affect her if she didn’t care for him? For whatever reason that Ophelia did not love hamlet, he began to think of her less and less. In the beginning of the play Hamlet’s love is rejected by Ophelia, and then through the play “she has become for him simply a stimulus for his disgust with women and sex, and he no longer really sees her as an actual person” (Boyce 1). Ophelia's “fall” into madness is a direct result of Hamlet's emotions towards her. Ophelia's insanity is triggered by the crushing of her love for Hamlet and then…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As she often strived to obey what her father asked of her, she was frequently placed in uncomfortable situations. As Hamlet was her male companion, her father had requested her to stay away from him, Polonius said, “ I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth Have you so slander any moment leisure As to give words or talk with Lord Hamlet.” (1.3. 32-34). Ophelia being the devoted daughter she is, kept her word. But due to the fact the Hamlet was feigning madness, he made this task particularly challenging for her by playing on her conscience and her heart, “You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish it. I loved you not.” (3.1.117-119) Hamlet speaking like this to Ophelia caused her to feel even more confused, and wounded by the complete harshness of his words. Though Ophelia did as she was asked by keeping her distance from Hamlet, the disregard of their romantic history was an emotional blow. The frustration and confusion disarrayed poor Ophelia’s mind, as she was feeling a horrible amount of uncertainty of what she should do in many instances, but always kept doing what she had been ordered. Caught between having her emotions manipulated by Hamlet, and being taken advantage of by the King and Polonious for her reliable tendencies, she eventually undergoes insanity. This can be displayed when Ophelia enters scene five…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    After Hamlet’s close encounter with the ghost, he gains a distrust and distaste for women. Hamlet’s fake madness let Hamlet express hatred emotions towards Ophelia as stated, “ Get thee to a nunnery, / farewell. Or if thou wilt needs marry, marry a / fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters / you make of them. . . . (3;1. 138-141). This vulgar language was needed to be said by Hamlet to Ophelia because it would not have been at all possible for him to be her loving “beau” while trying to avenge his father’s…

    • 1740 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Hamlet was emotions were very unstable and he believed so strongly that the world was out to get him. The way he treats Ophelia is a way to show that he may be actually mad. After Hamlet speaks with the ghost, he stumbles into Ophelia’s room like a mad man saying how desperate and torn up he is about her rejection. However, this is Hamlet pretending to be crazy. Later on in the play, Hamlet is speaking to Ophelia and figures out that they are being spied on and becomes outraged. He is so quick to call Ophelia such harsh names and speak cruel words, that it makes the reader question whether or not this situation has made Hamlet actually unstable. And then, when they are burying Ophelia into her grave, Hamlet shows up and realizes what has happened. He is so upset and yells “I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers/ Could not, with all their quantity of love/ Make up my sum” (5. 1. 241-243). He jumps into her grave and says he does not know what he will do without her.He is angry with Laertes, because Hamlet solely believes that no one, not even her father or brother, loved Ophelia as much as Hamlet did. He claims his love for her was so grand that Laertes’ love could be multiplied by four thousand and still would not compare. However, earlier in the play, he had been so quick to tell her to go to a whorehouse, how could he possibly love her or…

    • 1419 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ophelia is used, much like a piece in a game and especially by Hamlet, for a number of hidden motives and plots. Linda Welshimer explains: "When it is convenient for Hamlet to assume madness, his motivation is the lost love. This he emphasizes in the scene in Ophelia 's room, a visit at least partly contrived." (Welshimer 95) Hamlet has the intention of pretending to be insane in order to effectively execute his vengeful plan against Claudius and Gertrude. Hamlet decides to use Ophelia, making her believe that he is madly in love with her, so that he can more perfectly implement his plan. "These scenes give him a perfect explanation for his madness, and supposedly keep Claudius from alarm." (Welshimer 95) More of this is seen, notably when Hamlet is with Ophelia and watching the performance that will reveal if Claudius is guilty of his father 's murder or not. "When Hamlet is near Ophelia during the player 's ' performance, his attitude changes significantly. Obviously, his attention is on Claudius ' reaction to the play; yet, he must, as a love-maddened wretch, pay court to-or insult-Ophelia." (Welshimer 95) All these actions towards Ophelia contribute to her character, forcing her deeper into the hole of submission and making her less and less her own person, but…

    • 1362 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He was affected and saddened with his father 's death. His mother just married his uncle recently after the death and thinks Ophelia would do the same thing his mother did so; he becomes aggressive towards her. This is his way of relieving himself of anger and everything he wants to release himself of negative energy. Hamlet also shows his disgust by calling women "breeders of sinners". This means women who breed girls are sinners. He calls Ophelia that because he thinks all women are the same. He used his negative feelings towards Ophelia to show his anger towards the…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As he finishes desire to know that he just killed a man, as he like to make him covetous. He knows that the king had a plan to exile him out the town, but Hamlet had a plan as well to counter punch the message to scare him a little bit to get out of his way because he had a mission to know who killed his father’s death. Once it was there, the short distinguish plan led Ophelia’s death. She doesn’t want to feel the feeling of distress and the tool to be hurt for more. While Hamlet was busy being adventurous, of course the death Ophelia was a lack love being not there since it was a long time ago when they made love together. Right after Ophelia had gone, Hamlet had an important remarks is that she needed to go to brothel and avoid any relationship if she can, because Hamlet will marry her, but “If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee plague…”Get thee to a nunnery. Go, farewell”(iii-i133). This actually led to Ophelia’s death, Hamlet indeed gone through an extent of moments that he was overthink the situation, completely ignored her in the entire way, since she had support for him through the end of the…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ophelia Obedient

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Supposedly, Hamlet did love Ophelia as he says, "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers, if you added all their love together, couldn't match mine" (Act 5) but that was more to the end of the play. In the play, Hamlet treats Ophelia more like a doormat than anything else. Numerous times Hamlet went to Ophelia’s chambers to sleep with her with his pants down he would call her many cruel names. Ophelia possibly did love Hamlet and if it weren’t for being under the commands and ownership of both her father and he brother, she might have been able to influence Hamlet in many…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays