Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Does Hamlet really love Ophelia?

In my mind, Hamlet did not love Ophelia. For the most part the reason I think this is based on Hamlet's encouter with Ophelia in Act 2 Scene 1. Shakespeare did not even give us the firsthand account of the interaction, instead the reader was told through Ophelia's conversation with her father Polonius. For this reason, i think Hamlet's odd behavior toward Ophelia was because he knew Ohpelia would tell her father, and it could help further his case of madness. Hamlet also knew that after Ophelia told polonius about the encounter, the first thing he would do was go to King Claudius. To really understand this, you have to think about Hamlet's motivations, what he is untimatly trying to do throughout the play, and take that into consideration when judging his actions.

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