Does Hamlet consider suicide? Why is Hamlet so cruel to Ophelia? Why does Ophelia go mad? Does Ophelia actually kill herself? What is the significance of the gravediggers? Characters Character List. Hamlet The Prince of Denmark, the title character, and the protagonist. Osric The foolish courtier who summons Hamlet to his duel with Laertes.
Voltimand and Cornelius Courtiers whom Claudius sends to Norway to persuade the king to prevent Fortinbras from attacking. Marcellus and Bernardo The officers who first see the ghost walking the ramparts of Elsinore and who summon Horatio to witness it.
Francisco A soldier and guardsman at Elsinore. Next section Hamlet. Popular pages: Hamlet. Based on the letters and gifts Hamlet gave his once-cherished Ophelia, it is apparent that he did love the girl, and likely felt those feelings of sweet devotion that his father felt for his mother. But, whether due to some overwhelming desire to become the mouthpiece for his father who cannot himself chastise his traitorous wife, or due to the sad fact that all the love in him has truly dried up, Hamlet turns on Ophelia and destroys her, with cruelty almost unimaginable: I have heard of your paintings well enough God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, you nick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance.
Lying down at Ophelia's feet. Ophelia : No, my lord. Hamlet : I mean, my head upon your lap? Ophelia : Ay, my lord. Hamlet : Do you think I meant country matters? Ophelia : I think nothing, my lord. Hamlet : That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs. But Hamlet is not expressing his desire for Ophelia; he is not lost in the fog of his own madness. Although he does not, this time, lash out at her with overt cruelty, he is nevertheless once again heartlessly mistreating her with demeaning and disrespectful behavior.
And Hamlet obviously is using Ophelia to further his facade of insanity -- his actions are clearly for the benefit of old Polonius, who already believes that Hamlet has gone mad for want of Ophelia's love. Hamlet must be held accountable for his treatment of Ophelia. He is not incoherent or paranoid; his ferocity cannot be blamed on insanity. In his destruction of his beloved creature Hamlet is lucid and brilliant, fueled by rage and thoughts of Gertrude's betrayal.
Ophelia is the only outlet for the hostility that he must keep secret from the King. The belief that Hamlet still genuinely loves Ophelia, and that his deep sensitivity and hunger for justice compel him to behave the way he does, allows us to conclude that Hamlet is at once so heartless and yet so virtuous. The actual recognition of his love for Ophelia can only come when Hamlet realizes that she is dead, and free from her tainted womanly trappings: I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers Could not, with all their quantity of love, Make up my sum.
Even when he confronts his mother and is so relentless that the Ghost must intercede on her behalf, we know that Hamlet longs to show her affection; to comfort her and to be comforted by her.
But love, pleasure, and tenderness all have disappeared behind Hamlet's encompassing wall of depression and overwhelming responsibility.
The royal couple's actions have destroyed his faith in humanity, and he contemplates suicide. He declares "I do not set my life at a pin's fee" I. To die; to sleep, No more, and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; III. Although Hamlet himself desires to see Claudius pay for his crime, he realizes the evil in the deed of killing the King, prompted by both "heaven and hell" II.
The Ghost has placed Hamlet in a most unnatural position by asking him to commit murder. Hamlet : Do you think I meant country matters? Ophelia : I think nothing, my lord. Other Free Papers from this subject:. For colored girls who have considered suicide. Interpretation of the story Rock Springs. Edward Taylor, Benjamin Franklin, and Nathaniel Hawthorne all write from a conviction of human nature…. Symbolism of Narnia in Lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by C. Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart.
Prejudice in Frankenstein. The things they carried by Tim Obrien. Appearance vs. Amor vincit omnia. The Enuma Elish and Genesis — an Analysis. Setting, Identity and Theme in Hemingway and Cisneros. The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Gems of Literature. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Assimilationism in A Raisin in the Sun. Frankenstein: creator and creation. Cultural Significance of Ralph Waldo Ellison.
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