Daddy Issues

I've been  left bewildered as to whether or not there is any love in Ophelia and Hamlet's roller coaster of a relationship simply because we are introduced to these two characters at a very odd point in their lives and they both do not ever listen to their own hearts. Hamlet's mind is being seduced by his father's sexist ghost and Ophelia, while being a strong female literary character for Shakespeare's time is still a very obedient, you could even say brainwashed daughter. The love letter Hamlet wrote to Ophelia which is revealed by Polonius, is beautifully written and very poetic. This was written while he was in Wittenberg, when his father was still alive. You can definitely tell they love each other here or at least that Hamlet loves Ophelia because the letter rhymes. Rhymes are associated with "verses of feigning love" because of this it is seen as the principal language of love, as well magic and spells and Shakespeare uses it as so. Ok, so their love is honest and true at one point but then Hamlet's world is turned upside down and the importance of his father's vengeance takes total control of his mind and subsequently his heart. You can see this is true when Hamlet goes all Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on Ophelia during Act 3 Scene 1." 'I did love you once." 'Indeed, my lord you made me believe so.' 'You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not.' " (III. i. 115-119) How could Hamlet of gone from being so mushy to such a jerk in such a short amount of time you may ask? Well that's what I asked too. I contemplated the well known fact that all men are assholes but then I thought that maybe the generalization of an entire gender may be a tad naive of me and also not a strong enough fact to be the basis of my opinion. Then I contemplated hormones which could have played a factor, but then I realized that Hamlet had already forgotten about his feigning love for Ophelia because he was too focused on his father's goals. Even if there was some hidden code embedded in his verses telling Ophelia not to believe what he was saying it does not matter because if he truly loved her he would not be messing with her head no matter the circumstance.

Love to the point of insanity

During the play Hamlet, we witness the young couple Hamlet and Ophelia share their stories with us, but to an extend, there are a lot of mixed emotions going on. Many may agree that Hamlet loves Ophelia, while some may disagree with that fact, I however, agree that Hamlet does love Ophelia.

Up to the 'Nunnery scene' everything that Hamlet did with Ophelia showed how much he truly loved her, for instance if we take a look at the letters he sent her, they show how crazy in love he was. 

 “Doubt thou the stars are fire,

 Doubt that the sun doth move,

 Doubt truth to be a liar,

 But never doubt I love.

 O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers. I have not art to reckon my groans, but that I love thee 

    best, oh, most best, believe it. Adieu." (Act II, Scene II, 115 - 121)

Till this point all we see from Hamlet is just pure love to Ophelia, but what's to come is the cause of us wondering if he truly ever loved her or not. During Act III, Scene 1, While Polonius and Claudius hang out in the back to creep on Ophelia and Hamlet, Hamlet mentions than he does NOT love Ophelia, but that he did once love her. "This was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof, I did love you once" (Act III, Scene I, 114 - 115). But as we all know, this is just Hamlet being the trickster he is, since he has doubts that her father is still watching them, he tells Ophelia to get to a nunnery, which to our perspective, is absolutely no act of love "Get thee to a nunnery, why, wouldst thou be a  breeder of sinners?" (Act III, Scene I, 121 - 122) But Hamlet asks her not to believe him several time throughout this scene "You should have not believed me" (Act III, Scene I, 117) "We are arrant knaves all, believe none of us." (Act III, Scene I, 129 - 130) , even before he started the nunnery scene and was ending  his soliloquy when he told her "The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remember'd" (Act III, Scene I, 89 - 90). Hamlet did all of this in order for him to protect Ophelia from what's about to happen, while maintaining his 'madness', he hints that something bad is going to happen to a married couple, except one of them, and him telling her to go to a nunnery was him trying to get her out of this whole situation, like putting her in a safe place. "I say we will have no mo marriage. Those that are married already--all but one--shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go." (Act III, Scene II, 149 - 151). Both of them loved each other, even during 'madness' Hamlet still pointed out that he loves her and their love drove her to insanity too, even at her final moments, she was still mentioning Hamlet and how he said he loved her. 

I agree with a point that Drew mentioned " Hamlet sounds like he's telling Ophelia she is crazy and she should never have babies for they will be evil. That is what Ophelia perceives until later on in the play when she realized that Hamlet meant that he cares for her and would let no man love her, but himself. " this explains how Hamlet always really never meant to hurt her but it was all just a huge misunderstanding that lead to Ophelia's death.


Yo Breaton, I have no idea what's up with the formatting and why it has a white background sort of thing there, I tried fixing it but nothing's really changing.

Ophelia.. We feel ya

Young love is always tricky. Most adolescents are figuring themselves out, and are unsure of what they truly want. Even the brightest of them can find themselves perplexed when it comes to the love game. In Shakespeare's Hamlet we see this complexity in the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. Their relationship is questionable, and a question that arises from the play is whether or not Hamlet and Ophelia are truly in love with one another. I am of the opinion that their love is true.

Their relationship is first introduces in Act 1 Scene 3 when Laertes is advising her sister to stay away from Hamlet because guys only want one thing. Her response unfortunately doesn't help us in answering the big question. She doesn't defend Hamlet or his intentions, all she does is tell Laertes not to be a hypocrite.  Later in the scene when her father offers her the same advice she says "My lord, he hath importun'd me with love in honourable fashion"(I.iii.110-111). Ophelia has no reason to lie to her father about Hamlets love at this moment. The next important scene in the nunnery scene. Here it can be argued that Hamlet is either trying to protect Ophelia because he loves her or that he is ending things with her. There are a couple reasons I believe in the prior theory. First off, before Hamlet begins his assault he says "Soft you now, the fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remember'd"(III.i.88-90). If Hamlet truly meant what he said why would he pray for her. Likewise, Hamlet tells Ophelia several times not to believe him and that he is a liar. Hamlet is no fool, he was sent here and he has his suspicions that he is being spied on, that's why he asks Ophelia where her father is.

The nunnery scene alone is not enough to answer the question of whether or not Hamlet and Ophelia are truly in love. In that scene the two lacked the privacy to speak honestly. In the next scene however we see the two going back in forth during the privacy of the play. Hamlet and Ophelia share sexual innuendos and inappropriate banter that at the time could of gotten them in a lot of trouble. Especially Ophelia. Yet she takes the risk and engages Hamlet and flirts with him. They have a clear attraction and there is even evidence to suggest that they might have a sexual relationship. Ophelia is told numerous times to hold onto her chastity, however she might have already lost it to Hamlet.
Their is evidence to suggest this when we see Ophelia go crazy after Hamlet kills her father. She sings "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day...and I a maid at your window, to be your Valentine...let in the maid that out a maid never departed more"(IV.X.48-55). Here Ophelia could perhaps be alluding to her and Hamlet. She also sings "Young men will do't if they come to't-by Cock, they are to blame. Quoth she, 'Before you tumbled me you promis'd me to wed'. He answers, 'So I a done, by yonder sun, and thou hadst not come to my bed'"(IX.V.60-66). Ophelia could very well be retelling her past experiences with Hamlet. We know that whenever the "sun" is mentioned Hamlet is being referred to.
Ophelia clearly has a special place for Hamlet in her heart. As for Hamlet, at this point in the play it is harder to say for sure whether or not he feels the exact same. He tries to protect Ophelia, and seems to have a great time flirting with her. He also might have had sexual relations with her so it is not too far fetched to say that he loves her.

These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends

In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare demonstrates some interesting and complex relationships, the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia being the hardest to unravel. It is apparent that Hamlet did love Ophelia at one point, in his letters he says, 

        Doubt thou the stars are fire,

        Doubt that the sun doth move,

        Doubt truth to be a liar,

        But never doubt I love (II.ii.115-18)

The way that Hamlet speaks, of the stars, universe and sun, in such a conceptual manner is a stereotype of people in love. People in love speak of moving planets, and loving someone as much as the distance to the moon. Although it is possible that Hamlet is aware of this and writes this way on purpose, the structure of the letter is abnormal for Shakespeare. These four lines of Hamlet’s letter rhyme, which Shakespeare does not do very often, however rhyming is usually passed between lovers, as seen many times in Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet rhyme often when in the company of one another, including the balcony scene in which they say, “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow/That I shall say good night till it be morrow (II.ii.1888-189).” It is common knowledge that Romeo and Juliet are in love, and they rhyme more often than any other characters in Shakespeare’s plays, therefore we can attribute rhyming to being in love. Shakespeare has Hamlet rhyme in his letter to Ophelia, thus proving that he loves her in act II. Furthermore Hamlet says in his letter, “Doubt truth to be a liar (II.ii117)”.  This is foreshadowing that Hamlet is going to assure Ophelia that he is telling her the truth when in fact, he is actually lying to her. Many times in act III, scene I of Hamlet, Hamlet tells Ophelia not to believe him, which is a subtle hint that he hopes Polonius and Claudius will not pick up on. Also in scene ii, of act III, Hamlet and Ophelia share many dirty jokes implying that they have had sex. In this era, one only has pre-marital sex if they are a super-douche or plan to marry their partner. Although Hamlet is a self-absorbed, procrastinating brat, I would not go as far as to call Hamlet a super-douche. I believe that Hamlet does truly love Ophelia, but that he loves his father too, and during the play his priority is revenge for his father not his love for Ophelia. This would explain why he is so much more loving towards Ophelia in the letters which were supposedly written before Hamlet sr.’s murder, than during the actual play.

I agree with Toni’s point of view, when she says, “I think that Hamlet did love Ophelia at one point, but because of his quest to find out the truth about his fathers' death, he become so absorbed in himself that he lost touch with the people that really mattered to him.” Hamlet is not able to compartmentalize, so when he is focused on one thing, that is all he is focused on; meaning that when his father needs to be avenged, his love for anyone else is forgotten. This is also proven in III,iii, when Hamlet has to convince himself to not kill his mother. It seems from their exchange that Hamlet and Gertrude have a very close relationship, but Hamlet was almost willing to sacrifice his mother on the path to avenge his father.

For Is Thy Love Lost?

In the play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare we come to an opinionated predicament towards the love between Hamlet and Ophelia. Lost love, current love or future love, these are the many different opinions towards Hamlet and Ophelia’s love for each other. But what is love? We have all asked this question to ourselves at one point or another in our lives. Love is the intimate emotional connection between human’s, with the result of an intense feeling of deep affection. After further investigation in the text I believe, despite Hamlet and Ophelia’s primary motives, that they do truly love each other.

Before Hamlet learned of his father’s murder, he and Ophelia were interested in each other. “He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders of his affection to me”(Act i,iii, 99-100).  Ophelia is telling her father that Hamlet has been showing his affection to her. This shows that Hamlet is interested in her and Ophelia in him. She asks her father for advice on the matter, while truly not knowing to pursue her love for Hamlet, for she does not know what to think. “I do not know, my lord, what I should think”(Act i,iii, 104). Despite their interest for one another Ophelia's primary focus is her loyalty to her father and once Hamlet learned about his father’s murder, his primary focus is revenge. This interferes with their love for one another, but their love shines through. The true start of their relationship begins with Hamlet’s love letters. With his primary focus in mind, Hamlet starts to write love letters to trick everyone into thinking he loves Ophelia. As he was writing, his true emotions emerged. “Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love ”(Act ii, ii, 115-118). This proves Hamlet’s deep love for Ophelia while still staying focused on his primary goal. Hamlet doubts many things including the sun, which can be argued to be highly looked upon when swearing against it, but never doubts his love for Ophelia. She did repel these letters as of the command of her father, but she did feel Hamlet’s love for her. “And with them words of so sweet breath compos’d as made the things more rich”(Act iii,i,98-99). During this scene Hamlet speaks in code, for he knows that this is a trap set up by Polonius and Claudius. Stilling having his main goal in mind, he appears to be expressing no love for Ophelia, but is secretly expressing his love for her. “Get thee to a nunnery. Why, wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?”(Act iii,i,121-122). Hamlet sounds like he's telling Ophelia she is crazy and she should never have babies for they will be evil. That is what Ophelia perceives until later on in the play when she realized that Hamlet meant that he cares for her and would let no man love her, but himself. Ophelia and Hamlet start to flirt with each other in Act iii scene ii during the mousetrap play. Therefore taking their relationship to the next more sexual level. “Lady, shall I lie in your lap?”(Act iii,ii,).

After reading through the text and analyzing Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship, I believe that they are in love. They may not put their primary motives aside for love, but their beautiful love shines through the madness. I just wish their was a happy ending. :)



Comment in response to Marcus: In Marcus's blog, he talked about how Hamlet and Ophelia could have been sleeping together before hand. "To be your valentine. Then up he rose, and donn'd his clo'es, and dupp'd the chamber door, Let in the maid that out a maid Never departed more" (IIII, iiiii, 51-55). I found this to be a great point, and I wish I thought of it and put in the beginning of my blog. Great thinking Marcus!!!!

Crazy In Love

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, two people have come together and fallen in love. Those two people are Hamlet and Ophelia. Although there are many instances where the reader could say that Hamlet does not love her and just uses her, there are even more instances where he shows his love for her. It may not be as direct as "I love you" but the thought is still there in Hamlet's mind. The first example of Hamlet's love for Ophelia is when he is speaking to her in Act three. It seems like he doesn't love her, but when he said "I did love you once" (III, i, 115). In this line, he is telling her that he loved her but after that, tells her that he never loved her. He seems to flip flop in this conversation. He knows he is being watched so he can't express his true feelings for Ophelia. Later in the conversation, Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery, "Go thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners" (III, i, 121-122). He seems like he is insulting her or mocking her but in reality, he is trying to protect her. A nunnery, by definition, is a place where a woman's chastity would be safe. If Ophelia were to bring a baby into that world, Hamlet was sure that the baby would be a sinner. If she is in a nunnery, she would be safe from the cruelties of the outside world and all of its negative influences. Throughout the entire play, Hamlet is trying to confuse everyone and make them believe things that aren't true so why would he treat Ophelia any different especially if he knows that everyone is watching them? A third piece of evidence is Hamlet's letter to Ophelia. Hamlet had said in the letter "never doubt I love" (II, ii, 118). He says tat he loves her. This was the last time that Hamlet revealed his true love for Ophelia in plain text before her death. He said in the letter that even though everything else may not seem true around her, that his love was true. After Ophelia showed the letter to Polonius, Hamlet knew that he had to hide his feelings from her and everyone else, but there is no doubt that his feelings were true. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, it is evident that Hamlet's love for Ophelia is true and unquestionable. It is seen when Hamlet was trying to protect her by requesting that she go to a nunnery, when he tells her that he did love her once, and through his love letters to her.  Although he might not have expressed it all the time, he feelings were always there between the lines.


Comment: I agree with what Toni said when she made the point of Hamlet and Ophelia at the end of Act 2 Scene 3 when the two lovers exchanged "dirty wordplay" and how Hamlet knew that Ophelia loved him but seems to have moved on because a woman's love is so brief. What I gathered from this point was that Hamlet was truly interested in knowing if Ophelia loved him or not because he loved her and hoped she felt the same.

Lovers gonna love love love

Love Between Two Human Vessels: Hamlet and Ophelia

       Love is found in many stories and plays throughout time. The play, "Hamlet", written by William Shakespeare demonstrates true love between Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet and Ophelia's love may be difficult to view at first but once you take a deeper look into the text you can see that it is a love pure and true. Hamlet demonstrates his love for Ophelia while in the foyer when he tells her that she must stay away from him. Hamlet specifically says, "I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have thought to put them in... We are arrant knaves all, believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery" (III. i. 124-130). Hamlet is trying to protect Ophelia from his revenge against the king. He warns her that he is proud, revengeful, ambitious and with many offences to come. He wishes to protect her from the repercussions that may occur succeeding murder. He protects her due to his love for her. He then says to believe no man and go to nunnery because he loves her and although he cannot have her with another man because it may send him into jealousy. He would like to protect her chastity assuming she still obtains it and have her safe from other males of this era. Hamlet throughout this scene wishes for her to remain chaste and pure. He tells her not to believe him while he tells her he does not love her, and before he tells Ophelia that she is a slut and naive he apologizes for what he must do. Hamlet says, "The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remember'd" (III.i.89-90). He wishes for her to forgive her and wishes for her not to believe what he is about to say. Ophelia demonstrates her love for Hamlet in the next scene which occurs but a few hours later. In the proceeding scene Hamlet and Ophelia flirt incessantly and Ophelia demonstrates no prolonged irritation towards Hamlet. Hamlet and Ophelia have a deep connection due to their love and she forgave him instantly because she quickly understood what was going on. Ophelia says, "You are naught, you are naught. I'll mark the play" (III. ii. 140). Ophelia throughout the scene is flirting with Hamlet and is now calling him naughty. If Ophelia was still angry with him, which she would be had she not be in love, she would not flirt with him, especially in public. Hamlet and Ophelia demonstrate their love throughout the play, particularly when Hamlet apologizes while trying to protect her, and Ophelia with her forgiveness and how open and the sexual innuendoes of which she shares throughout the mousetrap play. Their love is evident and persists throughout the play which is demonstrated with Hamlets madness when he cannot see her and continues until her death which is caused by madness due to Hamlet. Their love has driven them both mad at one point or another and is persistent.

Comment upon Brady's Blog:

I concur with Brady Harkness, when he states that Hamlet would not go to such lengths to protect Ophelia if he did not love her. Brady has a clear argument and is very logical. He also comments that Hamlet would not have asked for forgiveness had it been irrelevant. I agree because Hamlet is the smartest character and a master of words. He would not bother to have asked for forgiveness within his soliloquy had he not truly meant it.