Theme Of Ophelia In Hamlet

The tragedy of Hamlet is said to be the most influential and powerful play Shakespeare’s written. It portrays themes of grief, revenge, death, sanity, suicide, and love. Under popular belief, it is believed that Hamlet loved Ophelia, and never stopped loving her. It poses an interesting stance since Hamlet has insulted, hurt, and degraded Ophelia quite often. I believe that Hamlet indeed loved Ophelia, but not truly. Because of the circumstances in Hamlet’s life, it weakened his love and therefore his relationship with Ophelia was hindered. If his life wasn’t so complicated, Hamlet would have paid more attention to Ophelia and loved her sincerely. One critic, Bradley, mentions that before the play started Hamlet was sincerely in love with …show more content…
Because this mission was intricate, it was successful at distracting Hamlet from Ophelia. The critic Brandes agrees, “Hamlet draws away from Ophelia from the moment when he feels himself the appointed minister of a sacred revenge,” (Brandes). As soon as he finds out Claudius killed his father, it’s as if nothing else matters anymore. His only goal is to seek revenge for his dead father. He simply didn’t have time for love. Brandes tries to blame Ophelia, claiming she didn’t understand Hamlet’s misery and hostility towards his mother. For example, “When, after seeing the Ghost, he approaches her in speechless agitation, she never guesses that anything terrible has happened to him,” (Brandes). Instead of comforting him or showing some empathy, considering he just saw a ghost of his father, she tries to lure him to speak with her. It’s not just Hamlet at fault here, but Ophelia as well. Perhaps she couldn’t understand Hamlet completely because he failed to tell her what was going in his life. He had lost his faith and trust in all woman, and believed if he told Ophelia anything, she would deceive him just like his own mother