Ophelia Hamlet Rhetorical Analysis

In a world full of hopelessness and horror, Ophelia represents a diming beacon of hope in Hamlet’s life. It is clear from the beginning that Ophelia's love for Hamlet is real and reciprocated in strength. Even after Laertes and Polonius try and convince her that even if Hamlet’s feelings for her were real, things between them could never work out, Ophelia insists that he “hath given countenance to his speech, [...] with almost all the holy vows of heaven” (11). She is convinced that Hamlet’s love for her is so real his feelings couldn’t be faked. Reluctantly Ophelia agrees to call things off with Hamlet at her father’s request even if it means pretending she doesn’t love him. From the beginning Hamlet conveys his dismal attitude towards the world through his devaluation of life; but Ophelia’s presence represents a light in Hamlet’s never ending darkness. …show more content…

She finds him alone one day and returns to him the “remembrances, that [she] had long to redeliver”. Upon receiving his own love letters back, Hamlet responds with “No, not I. I never gave you aught” (32). Hamlet tries to protect himself by denying that he ever even sent those letters; and, with enough badgering, falsely confesses to Ophelia that “[he] loved [her] not” (33). Ophelia's betrayal of Hamlet hits him in his already vulnerable heart. As their interaction follows his most famous soliloquy in which he again denounces living, Hamlet is in a most unstable state. He yells to Ophelia “get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sins?” (33). Hamlet loves Ophelia. He once wanted to marry her and presumable have children with her. But the tole life has taken on him and the final beating from Ophelia's words is enough to mark the ending of hope for