The Theme Of Betrayal In Hamlet

Everyone’s lives are distinct, are extremely different from each other. And that is how the world made up. However, that can not always be true. There are two poor souls, who both experience through betrayal, suffer from heartbreak, die with despair. Do they commit suicide because of their miserable lives? Yes, but not exactly. The ones they love also lay the “murderous hands” on them--- Ophelia and Gertrude, the characters from Hamlet. These two women believe without a doubt that the men they love feel the same for them. On the contrary, what they get in return are cheat, betrayal, and heartbreak instead of love. So in a way, these two characters are really similar through the whole play. Initially, they are both betrayed by the ones they

Right and loves him with all her heart. But everything changes after Hamlet begins to pretend to be mad. Hamlet acts madly even with Ophelia and says cruel things to her. “You should not have believed me: for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not.” (3.1.117-119) Poor Ophelia’s trust in Hamlet is totally destroyed by what Hamlet says. “ And I , of ladies most deject and wretched, That suck’d the honey of his music vows.” (3.1.157-158) Now Hamlet’s vows is only a crested paper to Ophelia and Ophelia’s trust is played by the one she thinks is going to be company with her for the rest of herlife. Just like Gertrude believes in Claudius, Ophelia believes in Hamlet. But their trust seems to be worthless to the two men and what they get in return is only endless betrayal. Another thing that these two characters shares is that they both accidentally fall in love with selfish men. Gertrude loves Claudius, but all Claudius wants is power and the crown, he does not even cares about how Gertrude feels. At the beginning, Claudius kills the Old King, so he has the reason to marry to Gertrude and gets his crown without people’s

Two pillars that support Ophelia’s world collapse continuously, then of course it will be death that welcomes Ophelia. Gertrude does not own love from the very beginning, at the mean time Ophelia loses her love. Love is their mental pillar. Without love, there is only death waiting for them, because they are just two fragile women, who can not see their future. Lacking of love, that is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. In conclusion, Gertrude and Ophelia are two really similar characters. They pay their true love, and in return, they get really a lot --- betrayal, cheat, selfishness, heartbreak, despair. Though Gertrude and Ophelia do not born the same, do not grow up the same, do not think the same. But they do live the same, experience the same, suffer the same. There are just two poor and fragile souls, struggling in the similar life and being dead for the similar reasons. So from all these, it can be told that Gertrude and Ophelia are truly closer in character than they first appear at first glance. Cause there are two souls, but just one