1 Teresa Lihach English 151W Professor Jacobs 15 March 2011 To be or not to be: Hamlet and Ophelia The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare is an intense play with many themes and complex relationships between the characters. I found the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia to be particularly interesting because while he loves her, he must set this love aside to carry out another duty. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet pledged to avenge his father’s murder after speaking to the ghost of the dead King Hamlet. The protagonist concocts a plan to take on a new personality that destructively manipulates the court of Denmark by feigning madness so that he may kill his uncle without suspicion. Thus, Hamlet and Ophelia’s romance is doomed, as the consequences of the story and characters constantly threaten the chance for their love to survive. Some critics such as Carroll Camden in “On Ophelia’s Madness” argue that Hamlet and Ophelia’s love is doomed mainly because of Ophelia’s madness due to Hamlet’s cruel treatment of her during his feign of madness, while other critics such as John Draper in “The Hamlet of Shakespeare’s audience” argue that it is due to Hamlet’s murder of Polonius which drives Ophelia mad and dooms their relationship. While Hamlet has surely been cruel to Ophelia and murdered her father, neither of these are the sole causes of the destruction of their relationship, but rather it is a combination of both. In my opinion, the ghost’s request that 2 Hamlet avenge his murder causes a series of events that leads to the destruction of Hamlet and Ophelia’s love and among those events are Hamlet’s cruel treatment of Ophelia, Polonius’ forbiddance of Ophelia to Hamlet and Polonius’ murder. The ghost’s request of Hamlet which causes him to feign madness leads to the destruction of Hamlet and Ophelia’s love because although Hamlet deeply loves Ophelia, she must be among the characters that believe Hamlet is crazy in order for his plan to work. Aware that the court of Denmark is watching most of their encounters, Hamlet offends Ophelia in public. As he insults and demeans her as a part of his ploy, their romance becomes strained. Hamlet tells Ophelia “Get thee to a nunnery” with the intention of seeming mad, but this undoubtedly strains their relationship (III. 1. 121). He tells her that he never loved her in an attempt to upset by her and make it seem as if she caused his madness by denying him access to her (III.1.118-119). Thus, Hamlet sacrifices his love for Ophelia to carry out his vengeance plot. In an article entitled “Hamlet’s Precarious Emotional Balance” by Theodore Lidz, the author elaborates on this cruel and irrational behavior on behalf of Hamlet towards Ophelia: Even though we know that Hamlet has planned to feign insanity, it seems strange that he does so by entering Ophelia’s rooms in so disheveled a condition or that he would befoul his stockings to carry out the pretense. Perhaps he seeks to hide the meaning of his embittered and melancholic behavior under the guise of being depressed over Ophelia’s withdrawal of her affection, but it seems a cruel and deceitful way to threat his beloved. (Lidz 2) 3 Camden furthers this argument that Hamlet’s cruel treatment of Ophelia dooms their relationship because it is a contributing factor to her cause of madness. Although Polonius’ death at the hand of her suitor is a contributing factor to Ophelia’s insanity, Camden theorizes that Hamlet’s treatment of her as well as Ophelia’s guilt for believing she caused Hamlet’s madness was the larger cause of her mental state. This supports Ophelia’s madness as a contributing factor to the demise of her and Hamlet’s relationship. Ophelia comments on the sharpness of his repartee, only to receive the reply, “It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge". Although Hamlet's language may have been calculated to convince Claudius that he is mad for love, it certainly was the sort to disturb even more the delicate balance of the susceptible girl who saw herself to blame. (Camden 250) I believe Camden correctly asserts that Hamlet’s bawdy language towards Ophelia upsets her and further confuses her, causing her melancholic state and furthering the destruction of their relationship. If it were not for the ghost, Hamlet would not need to do this and therefore the ghost’s request of vengeance is the cause of Hamlet and Ophelia’s doomed relationship by initiating his cruel treatment of her to help carry out his plan. Hamlet insults Ophelia, but in hindsight he loves her. The Prince declares his love for Ophelia early on in the play as well as at the very end of the play. Hamlet sends Ophelia love letters and tells her that he loves her best. Upon learning of Ophelia’s death at the end of the play, Hamlet claims that his love for Ophelia was so deep and endless, that “…Forty thousand brothers Could not, with all their quantity of love, Make up my sum” (V.1.254-256). 4 In addition to the ghost’s request of Hamlet causing the demise of his romance with Ophelia because of his treatment of her, Hamlet’s feign of madness destroys his relationship with Ophelia because it leads to Polonius forbidding his daughter to be with the Prince. Although he had previously told her to stay away from Hamlet, his following actions reinforce Polonius’ opinions of the Prince. As previously mentioned, this predetermined act was necessary for Hamlet to seem mad. Soon after Hamlet has an encounter with the ghost of his father, he visits Ophelia while she is sewing in her closet and frightens her with his mad act. Hamlet first visits Ophelia because he believes that she will help spread the gossip of his insanity to the court of Denmark; and she being the source of this information will seem the cause of his madness. Ophelia urgently informs her father of Hamlet’s lunacy in Act 2, Scene I: Lord Hamlet, with is doublet all unbraced, No hat upon his head, his stockings fouled, Ungartered, and down-gyved to his ankle, Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look so piteous in purport As if he has been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors – he comes before me. (II.1.78-84) 5 Upon hearing this distraught appearance of Hamlet from his daughter, Polonius asks Ophelia if this madness is because of her love (II.1.84). The fair Ophelia continues to describe Hamlet’s actions after telling her father she does not know if her love is the cause of this madness. Hamlet’s strange behavior leads Polonius to believe that Ophelia’s action under his request to deny her access to Hamlet has made Hamlet mad: This is the very ecstasy of love; Whose violent property fordoes itself And leads the will to desperate undertakings, As oft as any passion under heaven That does afflict our natures. (II.1.102-106) Due to Hamlet’s necessity to feign madness, it makes it all the more difficult for he and Ophelia’s love to progress because his appearance towards her in the first scene of the second act not only make Ophelia frightened, but prove to Polonius that he should not be with Ophelia and thus Polonius forbids it. This is further supported in “Hamlet to Ophelia” by Harold C. Goddard, in which the author attempts to explain Ophelia’s obedience to Polonius and why this destructs Hamlet and Ophelia’s romance: Polonius is a domestic tyrant. Ophelia is a timid, docile and obedient child. That she should run to him when frightened, as when she tells of Hamlet’s visit to her closet; or obey a direct command, as when she denies her lover 6 access to her and repels his letters; or give up a letter if her father knew definitely of its existence or caught her with it in her hand: any of these things is quite in character. (Goddard 410) As Goddard explains, it is Ophelia’s nature to obey her father and when he tells her to deny Hamlet access to her; she obeys; therefore adding to the reasons for the damnation of Hamlet and Ophelia’s romance. The accidental death of Polonius by the hands of Hamlet is the final event that was a consequence of the ghost’s appearance to Hamlet that doomed Ophelia and the Prince’s relationship. Without the beckoning of the ghost of Hamlet’s father, Polonius would not have been murdered at the hands of the Prince and without the murder of her father, Ophelia would not have gone mad which was the last straw in the strained relationship between her and Hamlet. In “On Ophelia’s Madness”, in analyzing the character of Ophelia and the nature of her madness, Camden argues that Ophelia has been driven mad by arguably two acts: Hamlet’s madness and the murder of her father by the Prince (Camden 247). The murder of her father by her suitor clearly makes Ophelia upset and devastates her and Hamlet’s love: Ophelia now indeed speaks of her father, saying that she cannot help weeping "to think they should lay him i' the cold ground". After she makes her exit, the King repeats his first diagnosis, saying, "this is the poison of deep grief; it springs all from her father's death"'. (Camden 252) Furthermore, Lidz states that the murder of Polonius is the turning point of the play because in addition to the numerous affects it has on the relationships with the other 7 characters such as confirming Hamlet as a legitimate threat to Claudius, it transforms Ophelia’s suitor into her father’s murderer which obliges Ophelia to hate where she had loved (Hill 370). Soon after Polonius is killed and is denied a proper burial, because Hamlet has hidden the body, Ophelia goes mad. Shakespeare leads us to draw the conclusion that Hamlet’s accidental slaying of her father (which was caused by his madness) directly caused her madness. Ophelia recites hymns and songs, talking of flowers and daisies to the King and Gertrude. Soon after, while sitting on a swing by the water, Ophelia drowns. In Conclusion, although he deeply loves Ophelia, Hamlet’s undying loyalty to the ghost of his father prevents him from being with her because in order to avenge his father’s death, he must act insane and Ophelia must believe it. In his ploy to make those around him believe that he was mad, Hamlet sacrificed his love for Ophelia, hurting her when he did not want to hurt her. Hamlet's true feelings are revealed through his letters and his argument with Laertes after Ophelia's death. Although Camden and Draper are correct in their conclusions that Polonius’ murder and Hamlet’s cruel treatment of Ophelia cause her madness and thus destruct Ophelia and Hamlet’s relationship, neither of the events is the main cause of their failed relationship. It is evident that both authors are correct and combined with Polonius’ request to keep Hamlet away from his daughter are the reasons for their doomed relationship. Although these actions that led to Hamlet and Ophelia’s ruined love were triggered by a greater cause which was the ghost’s request that Hamlet avenge his murder because it enabled the all of the events that caused the demise of their relationship. 8 Works Cited Camden, Carroll. “On Ophelia's Madness.” Shakespeare Quarterly, 15.2 (Spring, 1964): 247255. JSTOR. Web 5 Mar 11. Goddard, Harold C. “Hamlet to Ophelia.” College English, 16.7 (Apr 1955): 403-415. JSTOR. Web 4 Mar 2011. Hill, W. Speed. “A Psychiatrist Examines Hamlet.” Shakespeare Quarterly, 28.3 (Summer, 1977): 369-371. JSTOR. Web 5 Mar 11. Lidz, Theordore. “Hamlet’s Precarious Emotional Balance.”