The Theme of Playing with Emotions in William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Playing with someone's feelings is a very serious matter. Ophelia is innocent of any wrongdoing, and in return she is used as a tool so people can get what they want. Her father and Hamlet used her as a tool, which led her to madness and her loving brother was not there to save her. Ophelia was a good woman who was treated as a child and had no independence.
Laertes(Ophelia's brother) loves her with all of his heart. He is always worried with her well being and whatever choices she may decide on. He tells Ophelia to be cautious of Hamlet's love and words to her. Laertes tells her that Hamlet seeks not her but what she can offer. Laertes also points out that Hamlet is evil and that she should fear him instead of loving him. Laertes and Ophelia had a special bond between them and he never used her for his self-gain. He showed a lot of compassion towards her but where was he at the time of her death? Laertes should have taken care of Ophelia when she went crazy: he should not of let her run off knowing how ill she was. If Laertes was so concerned with her well being when she was in love with Hamlet then why didn't Laertes show concern with her life and protect her during her weak point of her life? I do believe that Laertes truly loved Ophelia and would do anything for her but at the time of her madness he was too concerned with the death of his father to pay attention to Ophelia.
Polonius acts toward Ophelia with dispise and disgust. Polonius uses her as a tool to become closer and get on Claudius' good side. Polonius cares nothing for Ophelia: she is considered as a pawn in a chess game only to protect the king, Polonius. He treats her like a child that knows nothing and can do nothing. He also tells her that Hamlet wants only her chastity and all of his love letters mean nothing. Polonius tells her to stay away from Hamlet only to drive him crazy for her: Polonius also tells Ophelia that she should not give into Hamlet, she should not negotiate with him but only demand a greater price for her love. Polonius is already using Ophelia as a tool to get what he wants which is power and also be a step closer to the king: Polonius wants his bloodline to be royal.
First there is the killing of Polonius. When he kills Polonius, the father of his girlfriend, he shows no sign of regret. No guilt. He is so caught up in his own little world of revenge, he doesn't even think of the fact that he just killed an innocent old man and the father of Ophelia. In fact, there is no point in the entire text in which he even mentions Ophelia. This just goes to show that he doesn’t truly care about Ophelia, which as state is the necessary component of love. The second deciding scene is that of Ophelia’s funeral. Hamlet has gone the whole text since the play in act three scene two without a word about Ophelia. Then *bang* Ophelia is dead and he's seeing her funeral. He observes as a distraught Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, throws himself into her grave in grief. Hamlet’s response to this is not a of shared sorrow but of competition. He starts by saying to Laertes “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum” (5.1.284-287). Rather than just grieve for her, he fights with her grieving brother about who loved her more. While this may seem like a loving gesture, there has been no other proof of his love for her throughout the play which make this seem a bit strange. It is as if he wants to have loved her so that he can have emotions that are more important than everyone else’s. Hamlet even accuses Laertes of just trying “to outface” him “with leaping in her grave” (5.1.295). Hamlet would actually be grieve the lose of Ophelia and not fighting over whose emotions matter more if he had truly loved
He believed that Hamlet was only with her out of lust and Hamlet said that he wanted to marry her only so she would sleep with him. Laertes told her that Hamlet comes from a royal family and she does not, therefore Hamlet will not marry her, nor does he love her. Ophelia disregarded most of what Laertes had said about Hamlet. Right after that Polonius came to speak to Laertes before he had gone to England. They spoke briefly and Polonius gave him advice to follow. Before saying farewell, Laertes told Ophelia to remember what he had said. Curious of...
... every chance he gets, he belittles her, and basically states that she is nothing more of a possession of his, who will act as he wishes. What kind of a father treats their daughter like that? Or any parent for that matter? A child, young or old, is never a possession, but an extension of who the parents are (or were, whatever the case may be). By keeping Ophelia away from Hamlet, or at least demanding she not have anything to do with him, Polonius is keeping his kingdom at peace … and in the dark. Through keeping his daughter from love, he is killing two birds with one stone. He is keeping his daughter from Hamlet and thus away from him, but he is also keeping Hamlet from being happy as well. Again, what kind of a parent would deny their child love?
Before Laertes left for France, he gave Ophelia advice on her relationship with hamlet. Laertes tried to warn Ophelia on Hamlet’s real feelings and his true intentions towards her, and tells her to be a little wary of Hamlet and his affections. Hamlet’s feelings towards Ophelia seem to die after she rejects him. Not only his feelings, but his own appearance seems to decay after the rejection. He is described as being “Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other” (line 82). To make matters worse, Ophelia dies. Both Hamlet and Laertes are so shocked and distressed over her death, that they both decide to jump into her grave and begin to fight each other. Even though both Hamlet and Laertes hated each other, they both loved Ophelia deeply. Hamlet was obviously very infatuated with Ophelia, as too it hard at her death. Laertes on the other hand seemed to have more of a brotherly connection and bond with her, as was evident when he tried to advise her against
Hamlet truly loved Ophelia, In my eyes, and I do believe that if his mind was not clouded with anger, he would’ve done nothing to ever harm her. Hamlet without even realizing, because of his insanity used Ophelia as a release for his anger, and eventually drove her mad. He basically tortured Ophelia without even knowing, not only by the progression of anger and rejection towards her, but also by killing her own father.
In the first scene of Act II, Polonius and Ophelia discuss the meaning of Hamlet's odd behavior. Though the two characters agree his actions arise out of the torment of spurned love, they arrive at that point through very different means. At the beginning of the dialogue, Ophelia says that she has been "affrighted" by Hamlet in her bed chamber. (II,i 75) Her encounter with the Prince left her scared about his real intentions. She says that he looks like he has been,"loosed out of hell/To speak of horrors". (II,i 83-4) The very fact that Hamlet does not speak one word to Ophelia makes him look even more intimidating. By not speaking anything, Hamlet at once strengthens his image as a madman, as well as shrouding his real intentions towards those around him. Just following this passage comes a place in the text where we can see how the character of Ophelia has been manipulated by Polonius. After his "hint" that he might be doing this out of frustrated love, Ophelia says that that is what she truly does fear. (87) Her feelings of pity and concern are shaped by her father in order to fit his case of madness against Hamlet.
Hamlet and Laertes share a different but deep love and concern for Ophelia. Laertes advises her to retain from seeing and being involved with Hamlet because of his social status. He didn’t want her to get her heart broken by Hamlet, since he believed that his marriage would be arranged to someone of his social status, and that he would only use and hurt Ophelia. Hamlet on the other hand, was madly in love with Ophelia but it languishes after she rejects him. Ophelia’s death caused distress in both Hamlet and Laertes and it also made Laertes more hostile towards Hamlet.
The causes of Ophelia's decent into madness start long before she is raving and signing rude songs. It is a madness brought of mistreatment; a mistreatment that started with her father. Upon first hearing of Hamlet's affection for her Polonius is very dismissive of it. He even tells her not to waste her time with him as a result "I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth Have you so slander any moment leisure As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet." (Shakespeare & Bevington, 2009, pp. P1105 L133-135) This is given as an order, which Ophelia says she will obey. The earlier exchange is quite dismissive of the affection between Ophelia and Hamlet, despite her defending it in terms of Hamlet having shown that love both in words and gifts and the defense of him courting her in an honorable fashion. Polonius is again quick to dismiss his daughter's view of the world saying "Affection? Pooh! you speak like a green ...
Throughout Hamlet, Shakespeare makes it evident that Ophelia is very unstable. She continuously changes her mind about the way she feels. Laertes and Polonius command her to do things that she does not agree with, but she does them with no argument. Afraid to stand up for herself, she stands back and watches everyone else control her life. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia is treated as a marionette with her strings in the hands of the people around her; however, Kenneth Branagh portrays her as independent and innocent, ignoring Shakespeare's representation of her as feeble-minded through complete male dominance in her thoughts and actions, her indecisiveness, and digression into madness.
The way that Polonius acts as a good father towards Ophelia is mostly how he doesn’t want her to get hurt by Hamlet. Ophelia tells Polonius all about what Hamlet has said and given her. She tells her father that Hamlet gives her presents and tells her nice things out of affection.
In Elizabethan times, Ophelia is restricted as a woman. She is obedient to the commands of the men in her life although she often attempts to do the right thing. Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet all have a grasp on Ophelia and who she is. She does not have the freedom to change her fate as Hamlet does. Shawna Maki states, “Ophelia’s life is determined by the whims of men who control her” (1). Polonius takes advantage of his relationship with Ophelia by using her to achieve a better relationship with Claudius. Polonius and Laertes teach Ophelia how to behave, therefore, abusing their power in allowing Ophelia to become who she wants to be (Brown 2).
Hamlet treats Ophelia like property and because he does not care for her. This is proven because he insults Ophelia, uses her to get his revenge on Claudius and uses her as a way to get attention. To begin with, Hamlet abuses Ophelia by accusing her of having impure motives. To him she “jig[s]… amble and …lisp” (3.1.145) to seduce other men. He also accuses her of being deceitful because she changes the “one face [that]…God hath given” to her by putting on cosmetics. Hamlet verbally abuses Ophelia because he believes that she is worthless. Hamlet is not concerned about the effect that these insult have on Ophelia’s psyche. In addition to verbally abusing Ophelia, Hamlet uses Ophelia as a pawn. Hamlet uses Ophelia as a way to get to Claudius by also physically abusing her. Ophelia description of Hamlet’s abuse exhibits Hamlet’s unruly behaviour towards her: “He took me by the wrist and held me hard; then goes he to the length of all his arm” (2.1.88-89). Hamlet physically abuses Ophelia because he knows that Ophelia will report it to her father who in turn will tell Claudius. By doing this, Claudius will think Hamlet is insane and will then lower his guard and will not suspect that Hamlet intents to kill him. Hamlet does not stop to consider what kind mental toll will take on Ophelia, all he cares about is to finishing what his father asked of him. It is apparent
As the play opened, Hamlet and Ophelia appeared as lovers experiencing a time of turbulence. Hamlet had just returned home from his schooling in Saxony to find that his mother had quickly remarried her dead husband's brother, and this gravely upset him. Hamlet was sincerely devoted to the idea of bloodline loyalty and sought revenge upon learning that Claudius had killed his father. Ophelia, though it seems her relationship with Hamlet is in either the developmental stage or the finalizing stage, became the prime choice as a lure for Hamlet. Laertes inadvertently opened Ophelia up to this role when he spoke with Ophelia about Hamlet before leaving for France. He allowed Polonius to find out about Hamlet's courtship of Ophelia, which led to Polonius' misguided attempts at taking care of Ophelia and obeying the king's command to find the root of Hamlet's problems. Ophelia, placed in the middle against her wishes, obeyed her father and brother's commands with little disagreement. The only time she argued was when Laertes advised her against making decisions incompatible with the expectations of Elizabethan women. Ophelia tells him, in her boldest lines of the play:
The obedient Ophelia has followed her father's injunctions and repelled Hamlets letters and denied him access to her. Polonius is certain that these rebuffs have driven Hamlet mad. His only action is to inform the king and queen, and to let them decide what the next move will be. In Polonius lengthy discussion with the king and queen he explain the situation:
He is essentially telling Ophelia how she should be behaving and reacting to her own situations. This is portraying her as a woman who cannot think for herself and is dependant on Polonius. In addition, Polonius’ death is the trigger to Ophelia’s insanity, because she depended upon him a great deal. When Ophelia is told by Polonius to never contact Hamlet again, she obeys Polonius, but Hamlet acts crazy in reaction to her denial. Ophelia says, “No, my good lord; but, as you did command, / I did repel his letters and denied / His actions to me.” (2.1.109-111) By doing everything Polonius tell her to do, she makes matters for herself worse. Ophelia cannot stand up for her...