Hamlet Ophelia Free Essays

Throughout the play of Hamlet, one constantly questions if Hamlet is actually in love with Aphelia. His intentions are difficult to determine: it often appears as though he is not in love with her at all, but is in fact repulsed by her. Hamlet even insists that Aphelia leave him, and everyone else in her life, in his immortal line, â€Å"Get thee to a nunnery’ (Ill. We will write a custom essay sample on Hamlet Ophelia or any similar topic only for you Order Now L. Pl 25), thus sending her away to lead a life of solitude. However, despite these statements from Hamlet, his other actions give way to the idea that Hamlet not only loves Aphelia, but also cares for her so deeply that he sees her as a liability. He treats her terribly and insists that she leave him in order to protect her from being hurt or killed by his enemies. It is here that we see that, indeed, Hamlet really does love Aphelia. The closest that Hamlet ever comes to stating his love is in Act Ill. Hamlet says to Aphelia, â€Å"l did love you† (Ill. L. Pl 25). However, he then goes on to tell her he does not love her. During this conversation, Hamlet believes someone may be eavesdropping on them. This is proven by Hamlet’s question, â€Å"Where’s your father? (Ill. L. IPPP). Aphelia states that he is at home. Hamlet replies with, â€Å"Let the doors be shut upon him that he may play the fool nowhere but in ‘s own house† (Ill. L. IPPP-44). This quote suggests that Polonium, Aphelion’s father, is eavesdropping on Hamlet and foreshadows that he may be planning something as a result. Hamlet would never want to give away his true intentions for Aphelia to one of his enemies, such as Polonium, and therefore lies to Aphelia about his intentions for her. His love for her is so deep that he is willing to make her believe that he does not love her in order to rote her. Another example of Hamlet admitting his love for Aphelia is in the letter that he sends her. Hamlet writes, â€Å"Never doubt I love. † (11. 11. IPPP). He tells her that among and between everything else around her, his love for her is real. This is the one time before Aphelion’s death that Hamlet reveals his true feelings. He feels he can do this in writing, as Hamlet believes only Aphelia will read the letter, as opposed to one of his enemies, such as Polonium. Hamlet knew he had to hide his love for Aphelia and act in a different manner to protect her. His plan backfires however when Aphelia chives the letter, as she gives it to her father. Not even in writing can Hamlet admit his true feelings for Aphelia without the information of his vulnerability slipping into the wrong hands. Throughout the play, Hamlet’s love for Aphelia is questioned. Hamlet acts as if he does not love Aphelia in order to trick everyone else into thinking that he does not care about her. Hamlet does not want Aphelia to become involved with him because if Claudia decides to get revenge on Hamlet, she would die. Hamlet shows his love for Aphelia when he confesses to her that he â€Å"loved† her, when he sends her the deter, and when he finds out that she has died. But many could argue that Hamlet never loved Aphelia – that he fell out of love with her or he never loved her in the first place but was simply driven insane by his father’s death and attempted to use her feelings for him to his advantage. Needless to say, there is concrete information pointing to Hamlet’s love being true. Hamlet simply was not able to state it bluntly in order to protect Aphelia. Rexes Manchester Mr.. Lowe Is Hamlet a misogynist? If so, what might be the pathology of this vile disorder? Throughout the play Hamlet accuses women of being adulterous, uncaring and soonest creatures. Hamlet’s misogynistic feelings towards women come from his mother, Gertrude, and, unfortunately, Aphelia becomes part of his thoughts as well. Hamlet’s mother is the cause for his suspicion towards women. Gertrude hasty, and incestuous, remarriage to Claudia, within a week of the kings death causes anguish, suffering and distress for Hamlet. This leads him to question the true heartiness of all women; â€Å"O most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor it cannot come to good, but break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue. (1. 11. Up 56-157) As the story goes on Gertrude becomes a cruel, adulterous and insupportable woman in Hamlet’s eyes. â€Å"Nay, but to live in the rank sweat of an misnamed bed, stew’s in corruption, honeying and making lovers the nasty In this climatic scene Hamlet finally shows an intense desire to save his mother’s soul by trying to convince her that she must repent for the marriage to Claudia. Hamlet attempts to teach Gertrude that celibacy becomes easier the more time goes on and the more one practices. As a consequence, it seems, the misogynist that is Hamlet egging to break down. Which is why Aphelia is so important with in the story, she becomes a victim of Hamlet’s anger that leads us to discover if he is truly a misogynist or not. It is Aphelia, the passive character in the relationship that has become the unlucky victim. Aphelia believed that Hamlet possessed real love for her, but so much to the point that he became â€Å"mad for her love. (2:2:84) She accepted his love letters and acknowledged his indications. However, Hamlet becomes so concerned with how vengeful women are to men, or that they are a considerable threat to myself, and that he cannot stop for a moment and realize the pain he is causing Aphelia because of it. In the end, classifying Hamlet as a misogynist does not suffice to the difficult and realistic character of Hamlet. For, as it turns o ut, the feelings of hatred towards women were only because of the moments that he was caring and concerned with Aphelia and his mother. Though it is irresolute that he would have ever trusted a woman again but at the end he does reveal his love for Gertrude and Aphelia. Does Claudia murder his brother for his throne or his wife? Claudia is Hamlet’s uncle, brother to king Hamlet. King Hamlet has been killed and a week after his death, Claudia became king and King Hamlet’s wife, Gertrude, remarries to Claudia. The murder of King Hamlet is much like what we see in the Bible. Cain commits the first murder by killing his brother Able while he is sleeping peacefully in a garden. Much like this murder, Claudia murders his brother by pouring poison in his ear while he is sleeping in his own garden. Throughout the story Claudia’ nerve is tested and finally he admits his â€Å"offense is rank and smells to heaven because it hath the primal eldest curse upon, a brother’s murder† (111. 11. 111). Claudia not only murdered King Hamlet for the throne but for his wife Gertrude as well. He always possessed the secondary role to his brother for quite sometime and because he was always second to King Hamlet, he became Jealous. The fact that King Hamlet was always busy in state affairs and fights could the reason for Gertrude loneliness, which brought her closer to Claudia. After the death of King Hamlet, support of Claudia gave Gertrude a way out to prevail over the situation and heartache. Weak moral strength in Gertrude made it simple for Claudia to convince her to marry him. After this it was simple for Claudia to have Gertrude become loyal to him, this also made him the father of Hamlet and brought his worries of revolt to a close as well as Hamlet’s royal right to become king. As Claudia took over the throne and married his brother’s wife, it also would make sense to say that he took over the throne so Hamlet would not be king. Also, Claudia had to ascend the throne nearly immediately since Denmark was on the brink of war with Norway. Finally, Claudia took the throne because if he had not, Hamlet would have become king and would have figured out that Claudia murdered is father and would have had him murdered anyways since that is the mandate of this story. Claudia married for two reasons. He wanted to solidify his image in the kingdom as king and he simply was in the dire need of romance. As the opportunity to do both of those came about he took advantage of it, but as he did that turned his newly owned kingdom into turmoil. Rexes Manchester The play opens in the dark. Two men a foot apart cannot see each other. A Ghost appears. Why has Shakespeare begun the play thus? What does it tell us about the nature of his audience? Shakespeare begins Hamlet in immediate suspense. There is no lighting and only two people on stage. The reason for this is to get the audience’s attention from the beginning, without a strong introduction of the play the audience will be bored and unhappy with the performance. The audience at the globe theatre is rather uncivilized. Throughout the play itself the audience is drinking, eating and standing. Everyone in the audience is mostly dirtying, smelly and not very intellectual. If the actors were not performing at their highest level, things would be thrown on stage, the audience would become irritated ND the situation would escalate very quickly to the point that there would be a riot. Shakespeare uses the tactic of introducing a ghost first because it conveys the overall setting of the play, which is suspense, mysteriousness, puzzlement and most of all, curiosity. Through this introduction there is no need for a narrator to come out on stage and say the play is beginning. Due to the mysteriousness the crowd becomes silent, as they are anxious to find out what the play is about. Without the beginning of the play starting as it does, there would be no way to have the audience cooperate for a long period of time. How to cite Hamlet Ophelia, Papers