Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Does Hamlet love Ophelia before Act 3?

I do believe that Hamlet used to love Ophelia. This is mainly because of the letters he wrote to her, one of which we read in Act 2 scene 2. These love letters were written before Hamlet's encounter with his father's ghost, thus before he knew his father was murdered. This means that the silent quarrel between Hamlet and Polonius had also not started yet, and this is specifically why I believe Hamlet used to love Ophelia. For those who may not agree with me, Polonius's warnings to Ophelia about Hamlet's love not being legitimate or possible in lines 102-104 and 116-132 of Act 1 scene 3 might come to mind. Frankly, I'm not sure any of that text can be considered proof that Hamlet never truly loved Ophelia, because Polonius, as we have come to find, is purely manipulative and only cares about his life, job, and reputation. So, in looking at Polonius's character, many of the things Polonius says about Hamlet's character are not necessarily true. And as for Hamlet's encounter of insanity with Ophelia, I do agree that it was just an act to help solidify his insanity cover to hide his true intensions. Even though this means Hamlet did not go insane out of love, it doesn't mean he didn't love Ophelia at all, or ever. Granted, Hamlet does not love her anymore, probably as of Act 2, but I find it quite possible and rather easy to support that Hamlet did, in fact, love Ophelia at one point in time.

I think Hamlet doesn't love Ophelia anymore starting in Act 2 because at the end of Act 1 scene 3, Hamlet may have overheard Polonius's conversation with Ophelia, as portrayed in the movie, and since Ophelia obeyed her father, Hamlet probably feels betrayed that Ophelia would not see him against her father's wishes, out of love for him.

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