To What Extent Does Hamlet Love Ophelia

When most people think about love and Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet comes to mind first. However there is another portrayal of love in works called Hamlet. WHen recalling Hamlet most people think about the relationship between Hamlet and his father, not the love story between Hamlet and Ophelia. Although there is much evidence arguing that Hamlet never loved Ophelia and that he was just using her, there is even more evidence refuting that argument. By the way he acts around Ophelia when he is alone with her, he shows that his feelings for her are true. Hamlet shows throughout the play that he is really in love with Ophelia.

In the play the audience comes to recognize that there is a relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia; whether it is a loving one, no one can know for sure. However there are examples in the play of Hamlet expressing his love to Ophelia through words and actions. Even Ophelia truly believed in Hamlet’s love for her

After Hamlet returned from England he came across the gravedigger and attempted to ascertain who the grave was being dug for. After coming to the realization that the grave was being dug for Ophelia, Hamlet reacted as most people would when faced with the loss of the loved one. Hamlet accuses the attendees of not caring for Ophelia as much as he did, proclaiming, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers Could not, with all their quantity of love, Make up my sum”(V, i, 269-271). A.C. Bradley believes that this quote is controversial because the past tense of “loved” could be taken as Hamlet using the past tense because of her passing or because once loved her but does not anymore. He believes Shakespeare wrote this line in this way for a reason, to make the reader think about the relationship in a different light. It could also be assumed from the rest of the quote that Hamlet was deeply in love with Ophelia, even more so than her own brother, he