The Relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia - Literature review Example

The Relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia Hamlet is one of the most celebrated tragedies by William Shakespeare, the most prominent literary figurein British literature as well as the world literature and, set in the kingdom of Denmark, recounts Prince Hamlet's revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered his father and taken the throne of the kingdom by marrying his mother Gertrude. This important tragedy intensely deals with a number of themes such as treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption and narrates the course of real and affected madness. Another major element of the play has been the playwright's treatment of the characters and themes to suit the demands of a classical tragedy and a profound analysis of the major characters in the play confirms that Shakespeare is the most skilled master-craftsman of characterization. The specific aspects of each character of the play as well as the relationships among these different characters have attracted critics to undertake vital studies which bring out essential truths about the play. Thus, the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is one of the essential topics of discussion with regard to the characterization in Hamlet which can help the readers comprehend the influential aspects of the characterization in the play. There are conflicting views among the critics regarding the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. While there is an important argument by several critics that the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia was true and a true love story, while another strong view which suggests that it was not true love story. There have been several complex elements in the character of Hamlet as well as Ophelia which make it even more complicated to understand the relationship between the two characters. Along with the complexities in the two characters, the intricacy concerning the most important theme of the play, i.e. revenge, also make it difficult to make a straightforward conclusion about the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. There are essential ambiguities in the references to the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia and it is important to make a clear judgment about the kind of relationship between the two. "The ambiguity of Shakespeare's cryptic and contradictory references to the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia can never be resolved to the satisfaction of everyone May Shakespeare have been purposely ambiguous Hamlet is not a love story. Who first rejected whom is not crucial to the central dramatic issue. Polonius has ordered Ophelia to deny Hamlet access, and she says she has done so. Hamlet has said he would cut himself off from all normal ties, and Ophelia reports that he has, in effect, said good-bye to her, an implication that is confirmed by Hamlet's detached control at the opening of the Nunnery Scene." 1Therefore, it is significant to comprehend the facts about the true nature of the relationship between the two characters. This paper makes a reflective analysis of the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia which is essential to comprehend some of the fundamental aspects of the characterization as well as the overall plot of the play Hamlet. In the play Hamlet, the development of the characters has a major role in determining the plot and themes of the play and the relationship among the various characters is the central factor contributing to the credibility of the tragic elements in the play. Thus, the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is the single most important factor illustrating the developments of the characters and characterization. There is essential love relationship between the two, though there are critics who disagree with this argument. "He [Hamlet] is in love with Ophelia, and the two lovers are in harmony with one another and with the purest and highest impulses of their own hearts. They are a pair of 'star-crossed lovers,' like Romeo and Juliet, who fell in an unequal strife, from the circumstances of the outer world. Hamlet struggles betwixt love and duty; his malady is as deep-seated in his sensibilities and in his heart as it is in his brain. His intellect, however, together with his deep and abiding sense of the moral qualities of things, distinguishes him from Romeo." (Preston) Therefore, the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is built n the strength of their love for each other and this is an undeniable fact which comes to be proven in a profound analysis of the characters. There are some essential evidences that suggest the love relation between the protagonist and Ophelia and, in spite of the limited occasions of their joint sessions, the play emphasizes the cordial relationship between the two. As there are only few opportunities for Hamlet and Ophelia to be together, the scenes in which they are together have an ultimate role in providing a realistic picture about the relationship between the two. There are several scenes in the play which offer significant opportunities to enhance Ophelia's status and all these scenes are important in understanding the relationship between the two. Thus, in act 2, scene 2, when Polonius tells the king about Hamlet's love for her, Ophelia is asked about the realities of the matter and it is in honor of this character. "In the nunnery scene she signals with a gesture that her father, whom she says is at home, is actually present unseen. Hamlet's anger is directed at her father more than at her, though he faults her also for playing a part in this entrapment. After the nunnery scene, realizing that their relationship is over, she reads, then tears, the letters she had tried to return to him, then tenderly places them in her reticule; she will later withdraw these fragments and hand them out as flowers. The relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is deep and poignant, much of it depending on gestures and blocking rather than on text." 2 Therefore, it becomes lucid that the dramatist has been specifically interested in bringing out the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia as the central association which results in the ultimate course of the story. However, there are important arguments which claim that the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is not a true love story. Accordingly, these critics argue that this relationship, on the other hand, is the sort of relationship that everyone has long assumed and that has never developed to the degree others believe it has or perhaps wish it had. The mother of Hamlet makes such a remark which expresses a similar feeling at the time of Ophelia's funeral. "Sweets to the sweet: farewell! / I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife; / I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid, / And not have strew'd thy grave."3 There is another occasion when Hamlet is pretending madness and wishes to squeeze Laertes. Here, his words prove his love for Ophelia, though his actions rarely do. "I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers / Could not, with all their quantity of love, / Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her"4 Therefore, there are obvious manifestations in the play which presume that the love between Hamlet and Ophelia is not true. In this background, it is significant to relate to the argument that the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia has been destined to failure as they are too similar. Significantly, there are several similarities between the two characters which could strengthen their relationship. However, there are stronger and more obvious dissimilarities between Hamlet and Ophelia and these differences in the two characters are fundamental to the failure in their relationship. Also, central to the factors that discourage the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia are a number of other issues that result in the failure of their relationship. Thus, a careful reader understands that Laertes, the only brother to Ophelia, and Polonuis, her father, advise Ophelia against her relationship with Hamlet. "Then if he says he loves you, / It fits your wisdom so far to believe it / As he in his particular act and place / May give his saying deed; which is no further / Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal. / Then weigh what loss your honor may sustain, / If with too credent ear you list his songs, / Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open / To his unmaster'd importunity. / Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister, / And keep you in the rear of your affection, / Out of the shot and danger of desire."5 These words by Laertes, Ophelia's brother, point out to some of the external factors affecting the relationship between the prince and her. However, the interruption into this relationship by Ophelia's father is more evident and influential and he even takes the matter into the king and the queen. "That hath made him mad. / I am sorry that with better heed and judgment / I had not quoted him: I fear'd he did but trifle, / And meant to wreck thee; but, beshrew my jealousy! / By heaven, it is as proper to our age / To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions / As it is common for the younger sort / To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king: / This must be known; which, being kept close, might / move / More grief to hide than hate to utter love."6 Therefore, it is obvious that the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is influenced by the internal elements in their relationship as well as external factors such as the interferences of the father and brother of Ophelia who try to convince her that Hamlet's intentions are not good. The relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is also affected by the other major themes and motives of the play and the supremacy of the revenge theme over the love theme best explains the diminishing in the love relationship between the two. The dramatist has been more precautious about focusing on the theme of revenge and its development and working out than on the theme of love. It is significant to remember that even the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia has been made use by the author to develop the theme of revenge in the play. "We do not see Hamlet as a lover, nor as Ophelia first beheld him; for the days when he importuned her with love were before the opening of the drama, before his father's spirit revisited the earth; but we behold him at once in a sea of trouble, of perplexities, of agonies, of terrors. Without remorse he endures all its horrors; without guilt he endures all its shame. He hates the crime he is called upon to revenge; revenge is abhorrent to his nature, and he is consequently at strife with himself; the supernatural visitation has perturbed his soul to its inmost depths; all things else, all interests, all hopes, all affections, appear as futile, when the majestic shadow comes lamenting from its place of torment 'to shake him with thoughts beyond the reaches of his soul!'"7 Thus, by the time the revenge theme gets predominance in the play, Hamlet's love for Ophelia becomes utterly hopeless. Therefore, the circumstances of the plot widen and deepen the gulf between them in their relationship. It is here that the protagonist finds the differences between them and the theme of revenge has taken over the theme of love which has been very microscopic in treatment. "He cannot link his terrible destiny with hers; his great love forbids it: he cannot reveal to her--young, gentle, and innocent as she is--the terrific influences which have changed the whole current of his life and purposes. In his distraction he overacts the painful part to which he had tasked himself; he is like that judge of the Areopagus who, being occupied with graver matters, flung from him the little bird which had sought refuge in his bosom, and with such angry violence that unwittingly he killed it."8 In an investigation of the various other factors that contributed to the break down in the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia, one realizes that the nature of both the characters has a major influence. It is obvious that Hamlet loves Ophelia and expresses his love openly whereas she cannot just declare her love for him. He even expresses his love for Ophelia in the public. "I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers / Could not, with all their quantity of love, / Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her"9 Truth and frankness are central to Hamlet's love for Ophelia whereas there are loose-ends in her love for him. Therefore, there are significant differences in these characters which get reflected in their relationship. In conclusion, it becomes palpable in a close analysis of the characterization and the major themes of the play Hamlet that the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is of central importance to both the characterization as well as themes of the play. The relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia is one of the essential topics of importance with regard to the plot development of the play as well. Significantly, there have been conflicting views among the critics on the subject of the relationship between these two main characters. There are arguments suggesting that the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia was factual and a true love story as well as affirming that t was not true love story. The complex aspects in the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia make it even more convoluted to make a clear conclusion about the relationship between the two. A reader confronts essential ambiguities in the references to the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia which enhances the complexity in dealing with the topic. However, it is important to conclude that there is strong and loving relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia, though situations, external individuals, the predominance of other major themes such as revenge, etc has affected the progress of their relationship. Works Cited Dutton, Richard and Jean Elizabeth Howard. A Companion to Shakespeare's Works. Blackwell Publishing. 2003. P 144. Preston, South G. "Hamlet and Ophelia." Theatre History.com. 09 April, 2009. . Prosser, Eleanor. Hamlet and Revenge. Stanford University Press. 1971. P 148. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. 09 April, 2009. . Read More