Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Did Hamlet Ever Love Ophelia?

I am under the impression that Hamlet, at least at one time, had loved Ophelia. In Act One, Scene three Ophelia dialogues with her father Polonius about her time spent with Hamlet. She says such things as, "He hath....of late made many tenders/Of his affection to me," or "He hath importuned me with love/In honorable fashion," (Lines 100-101, 111-112). It does not appear that Hamlet is insincere in his affection described in the lines above, but his generalization about woman being weak and frail in Act One, Scene two, line 146, gives evidence to the fact that maybe he is putting on a facade of love for Ophelia, being that she is weak and not worth his time. Yet, he does take the time to spend with Ophelia. The question is what would Hamlet's motivations be if he were faking his love for Ophelia? Polonius seems to think that Hamlet just wants to get some from his daughter, saying, "When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul/Lends the tongue vows," (Lines 117-118). Based upon Polonius's assumption, Hamlet's intentions might be sexual towards Ophelia. Polonius, though, is not the best source in regards to this situation. He may be so consumed with maintaining his own honor, that his perception of the situation might be tainted by that consumation. In other words, he automatically assumes that Hamlet's intentions are for sex instead of considering other options because it is the first thing that might be assumed to threaten his honor. Therefore, Hamlet's love for Ophelia, during this section of the play, in my opinion, is genuine. I have probably read into this waaaaaaay too much, but there you have it.

2 comments:

CaitlynSCSHamlet said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CaitlynSCSHamlet said...

I think your post is very insghtful, and I agree that Hamlet did, at one point in time, love ophelia genuinely. Polonius is just dumb andtoo self-centered to see anything besides a threat to himself in pretty much everything. Anyway, good job on your analysis!