Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Does Hamlet Love Ophelia

I believe Hamlet at one time loved Ophelia. but he stopped loving Ophelia when he first generalizes women in line 146 act I scene II "Frailty, thy name is woman!", and now what I think he is doing, is that he using his acclaimed love for Ophelia to cover up his love for his mother. This can be shown in act 2 scene 2 when he talk to Ophelia as if she was his mother.
Another reason I believe that Hamlet is not in love anymore is the fact that hes has over listened on Polonious conversations with Ophelia about how she shouldn't love Hamlet becasue his love is temporary and he marries whoever his parents decide. Now it looks as if Hamlet has given up on Ophelia and still but yet still has hope for his mother. This again relates to why he talks to Ophelia as if she was his mother.
My Third view of this is that Hamlet is using Ophelia to convince Polonius that he has gone mad with love. This can be proven when Ophelia is describing Hamlets action in there encounter in the closet. This can show that he is using Ophelia to spread word of his recent acts of craziness. It is important to note that the king and queen have not seen Hamlets craziness first hand that is why he needs to use Ophelia as a target. Doing this she will most likely tell Polonious and then he will tell the king Hamlets gone mad and from there word will spread around the kingdom.

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