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.
