Love and Sexuality in Hamlet

The aim of this paper is to analyze the themes of love and sexuality in one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, Hamlet. As a playwright, Shakespeare depicted human nature profoundly, therefore, in Hamlet we may find as many kinds of love as the number of relationships that are described and intermingled. There is romantic love, paternal and maternal love, and friendship, which is love among people of the same rank, class or sex. The love present in some of these relationships is sometimes connected or overlapped with sexuality, even in cases where it is not expected to. In the following pages we will try to illustrate how two attributes which all human beings posses are shown and experienced by the characters in Hamlet.

Let us discuss first the relationship between Gertrude and Claudius, which, undoubtedly, is the one that propels the course of the play. Although revenge may seem the main theme in the play, moral behavior also plays a very important role. Hamlet is ashamed of his mother?s hasty marriage, but this shame grows into hatred when he learns that the man his mother married is responsible for his father?s murder. As a consequence, all sorts of situations arise.

For us readers, the queen and old Hamlet?s brother?s relationship starts with their marriage after the king?s death. But when saying:

Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,

With witchcraft of his wits, with traitorous gifts ?

O wicked wit and gifts that have the power

So seduce ? won to his shameful lust

The will of my most seeming virtuous queen. (I.5.42:46)

the Ghost may be giving us some hints of a pre-existing relationship. Firstly because Old Hamlet refers to Claudius as adulterate, which denotes two persons who have sex, one of whom is marrie...

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...ly one left standing. He was the only one left alive.

In conclusion, we have seen that, although all the relationships described above are complex, encircling a wide range of emotions as the plot progresses, there is a recurring theme of love threaded throughout the play. This theme of love takes on a number of faces which we may observe through the relationships among the characters. We see filial love and romantic love, sometimes tainted by sexuality. However, it is Hamlet's bond with Horatio that proves to be the strongest tie of all. While emotions, relationships and loyalties are constantly changing, it is the love of friendship and loyalty, shared by Hamlet and Horatio, that remains unchanged and unchallenged.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The New Cambridge Shakespeare: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Philip Edwards. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1985.