Sunday, October 19, 2008
Hamlet and Ophelia
Before moving on to Richard III, I wanted to reflect on Hamlet a little bit. This play, like Romeo and Juliet, leaves me feeling frustrated for many reasons. The biggest problem I have with it, however, is the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia and how unresolved the whole thing is. Did Hamlet truly love Ophelia? This is the question I wonder about the most, and it is one that I can't come up with an answer to. In the scene where Hamlet rejects Ophelia, I almost felt that he was doing it to protect her from himself. Hamlet knew he was dealing with some serious issues, and it is possible that he just wanted to keep her out of it. If you were to take that view, then surely Hamlet does love her. Even so, the scene at Ophelia's funeral is an entirely different matter. Hamlet and Laertes end up looking like fools because they are competing over who is most impacted by Ophelia's death. To me, this contradicted Hamlet's earlier appearance. Basically, I'm confused. Any thoughts?
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2 comments:
Maybe Hamlet's tragic flaw is that he is too self absorbed, and his actions are unconsciously tailored to keep his ego safe. The accounts of Hamlets gestures towards ophelia seem obsessive, but then when he thinks she betrayed him by not answering his calls as her father suggested/having him behind the curtain, he has to avenge his own wounded pride and then tells her to get to the nunnery. Or perhaps he truly was trying to protect her by having him distance himself from her. He seems very bipolar though, with these moments of mania and then moments of depressing and self loathing. I think of Hamlet as more than a troubled goth kid in high school. I think after seeing the ghost any instabilities, grief, depression over the death of his father and the remarriage (which I think would piss anyone off) were just magnified to the point where he lost touch with reality and created his own, but in a bad way since motivational speakres are always saying "live life in your own reality". I think he goes insane but doesn't know that he goes insane, and because he doesn't know he thinks that he can act insane to further his plans. So basically a crazy person acting crazy. But the lack of resolution bothers me too, though in a different way than romeo and juliet bothered me. A midsummer nights dream has definitely been my favorite play so far.
Personally, I think that Hamlet really did love Ophelia. When he rejects her, he does so because he knows that he cannot give her what she deserves because his life is now dedicated to avenging his father. I agree that he is self-centered, though, and doesn't realize that what he does "for her own good" has very real effects on her as well. When he sees her funeral, he realizes that he has lost his love in spite of trying to protect her... and also that he himself was likely the cause, having killed her father. Though Hamlet does focus on himself and his revenge for the most part, I still believe that he loved Ophelia. His repetition of "get thee to a convent" implies more than just rejection, but a message to Ophelia that there is no man who is worthy, but that a life of celibacy in a convent is her only alternative. In a way, he expresses his cynicism for the whole world in his advice to her.
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