Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Act III --Hamlet's Treatment of Ophelia
Throughout Act 3, Hamlet treats Ophelia particularly harshly. Why? She told her father earlier that Hamlet said he had loved her and showered her with affection. Why the sudden change? What could Hamlet possibly gain from verbally attacking Ophelia? Check the text for the types of things he says to her and support your opinion about why Hamlet is so brutal to Ophelia.
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Hamlet told Ophelia, “God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another.” Hamlet is generalizing with this statement, insinuating that all women are two faced and will eventually "cuckol" their man. This shows how his mothers actions have made him fearful of Ophelia because of the potential for betrayal. By attacking Ophelia, the one Hamlet is supposed to love, verbally, it makes Hamlet appear to be far more crazy than before speculated.
Hamlet may very well be projecting anger he has for his mother onto Ophelia. He may envision in his mind that somewhere down the road Ophelia will be in the same position as Gertrude was in when her husband died. It is obvious that Hamlet lost a lot of trust in his mother when she quickly married his uncle. Hamlet is trying to guard himself from the pain a women may cause him. Hamlet says “Frailty, thy name is woman.” This gives insight to Hamlet seeing all women as the same. Hamlet was able to blame his mother for the “lost love interest” in Ophelia. This is another great opportunity for Hamlet to appear as though he is going mad.
Marissa
I think Hamlet treats Ophelia in such a harsh manner throughout the play for multiple reasons. First, I think he is truly in love with Ophelia, but considering the extremely complex situation he is presently in, he can't pursue a relationship with her. He tries, albeit in very harsh terms, to convince her to stay away from all men because she will only end up in a worse situation. Next, he takes the oppurtunity to take out on Ophelia the anger he feels towards his mother. He does eventually confront his mother, but beforehand, he settles for yelling at Ophelia. Finally, this is another oppurtunity to convince all observers of his madness. Everyone believes he is madly in love with Ophelia, so when he suddenly begins yelling at her they are all certain he has lost his senses. All in all, he continues to see through all plots against him, but its feels like he is starting to lose control; his act of madness seems to have started becoming real.
Ethan
Hamlet, I feel is the typical make and isn't sure what he wants. Sometimes he wants Ophelia but he is sort of busy with Claudias trying to kill him. During Ophelia's funeral he goes up to her and apoligizes in his own way. He feels somewhat responsible for her suicide.It was simple to take his frustrations out on her because she loved him and she put up with his random bursts of anger but when he left for England and never said goodbye to her it was too much for her.
Ali
Hamlet's initial intention was to pretend to be crazy so he could plan his revenge, but his pretending is no longer pretend. He treated Ophelia terribly because he needed very few people to know about his plan and couldn't tell her. In addition, his mom is ignorant, which frustrates him further, so he puts this on Ophelia. When Ophelia commits suicide, Hamlet says, "I loved Ophelia more than 40 thousand brothers." He really did love her, but he's turned himself crazy.
Paige
Because of his mother betraying his father, Hamlet thinks that all women are backstabbers and selfish. He believes they are "breeders of sinners" and he displaces his anger on the women he loves. He is fearful to make a commitment now because he doesn't know whether or not he can trust her.
Kaylie
Hamlet treats Ophelia badly because he is using her to vent about his mother's behavior after his father's death. Or he could just be in love with her. I think he was trying to act strong even though he was upset with his father's death and how his mom just married his uncle a little after the death and thinks Ophelia would do the same so, she's not to trust any man. He could get relief from finally venting about everything he needed to get off his chest. "breeders of sinners" and "love lost interest" show what he's saying to Ophelia by all woman are the same and the he lost the interest of love because of his mother.
Kaitlyn Pierce
Hamlet changed his action for two reasons. He's become jaded toward women because of his mother's actions and he is trying to act crazy with out become it. Ophelia is being used and controlled by her father and Hamlet is trying to navigate all the intrigues. He talks about how mothers are breeders of liars. Hamlet seems to disdain women in general. Some of the words he were yelling at Ophelia weren't really for her but a message for others. She seems rather slow and easily manipulated.
Caitlin
Throughout the play, Hamlet has treated Ophelia with no respect. Even though Hamlet doesn't treat her the way she should be treated, deep down Hamlet is in love with her. However, he is unable to carry on a relationship for multiple reasons. For one he is busy with Claudius, who is trying to kill him. Also, he is angered with his mother which may also have an affect on why he doesn't tell Ophelia the way he really feels. By "verbally attacking" Ophelia, Hamlet is not gaining any respect from her or the others. The other characters might wonder if he may be crazy.
Brett
Initially Hamlet's harsh demeanor towards Ophelia was all part of his ploy to play himself off as being crazy. Ophelia was an integral part in this because Hamlet was aware that Claudius and Polonious thought the cause of Hamlet's "madness" was the result of Polonious' advice to Ophelia to deter Hamlet's advances. However, what originated as a ploy has become reality in Hamlet's mind. He projects a lot of his anger towards his mother on womankind as a whole with comments such as "frailty, thou name is a woman" or "God gives you one face and you make yourself another." However, beneath this facade I believe Hamlet truly does love Ophelia but because of the exasperating situation he is in, he has a lot of pent up anger and distress that he has to release, and Ophelia is often times put in the line of fire.
Greg
I think that Hamlet really loves Ophelia but is trying to preotect himself from being hurt by lashing ouat at her in a very harsh manner. His mother was able to get over his father very quickly and I think that he may be worrying about the same thing. I feel like it's all just a cover up for how he really feels about her. He wants to make a generalization about all women because he is scared of his feelings for Ophelia.
Jasmine
When Ophelia hands back the necklace I think it kind of surprised and hurt Hamlet. So Hamlet started to deny ever loving her to protect himself and to seem crazy knowing that Polonius and Claudius were watching. Also I think Hamlet just uses this oppurtunity to vent some anger he has towards women.
Quinn
Hamlets first idea was to act as if he was going mad from his father's death. Hamlet needed everyone one to believe that he is going crazy even Ophelia. I don't think attacking someone verbally will help Hamlet get in touch with Ophelia, but maybe Ophelia likes bad boys.
Throughout Hamlet's meeting with Ophelia he tells her of his mistrust of women due to their changing of men into monsters. He also talks about them being two-faced and trying to hide themselves behind a mask of make-up. He goes on a rampage of how she should get herself to a nunnery. Although he once did love her, and still probably does, he knows that by acting upset with her, onlookers will sense even more a madness about Hamlet. Also, sometimes people like to try to hurt the people they love when they themselves are in pain and hurting because its the easiest to do. He knew that Ophelia would stand there and take it, and Hamlet saw it as a little part of a fix to his horrible situation.
ABOVE IS STEPH :)
I think that Hamlet does love Ophelia but he is purposely trying to create drama between them. If he acts harshly towards Ophelia, then the king, queen, Polonius, etc. will think that he is not mourning his father's death anymore. He insults Ophelia saying "God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another." He insults her to increase the tension between them. Once they forget his despair over the death of his father, then Hamlet can move in and take revenge on Claudius.
Matt
Hamlet treats Ophelia harshly because he knows that Polonius thinks that Hamlet is mad because he loves Ophelia. Hamlet lashes out at Ophelia to convince everyone that his love for Ophelia is not the cause of his "madness".
ln.143-44 HAMLET: Let the doors be shut upon [Polonius] that he may play the fool nowhere but in's own house.
Ben
Hamlet treats Ophelia badly to stop Polonius's theory that Hamlet is going mad because he loves Ophelia. He tells her that he never loved her. He knows Polonius and the King are trying to get Hamlet to confess his love to Ophelia to prove that that's the cause of his madness. When he tells Ophelia to become a nun so that she may not breed sinners such as himself, in a way he's trying to make up for his harsh treatment towards her because he does still love her, although it is not the cause of his fake madness. Also, if Claudius and Polonius cannot find the reason of Hamlet's madness, it will buy Hamlet time to fulfill his revenge.
-Maddy-
Hamlet treats Ophelia harshly for two reasons. The first is because Hamlet is still pretending to act crazy. By telling Ophelia that he never really loved her when it is obviously not true could gain Hamlet more time in Claudius thinking that Hamlet is going insane. Secondly, he treats Ophelia with such disdain because at the moment he is still extremely angry with his mother. Therefore he is taking out his anger Ophelia. He continues his brutality onto insulting the whole womankind which is an even lower blow to Ophelia.
In his first encounter with Ophelia in the play, I think Hamlet actually wanted to try to convince her that he was not mad and that he did truly love her. It is only natural that he would want to share his situation with someone he loved. However, he could not explain to her the reason for his apparent madness, and he only managed to further convince her that he was crazy. This of course just made things worse for Hamlet, and led him to become angry at her for not understanding. When this frustration was combined with his original conflict, it makes sense that he would react the way he did.
Because Polonius advised Ophelia to deny Hamlet, he probably has some built up anger or confusion towards her. This expected anger and confusion gives him an oppourtunity to appear as mad and buy himself more time, since generally if someone is screaming people will gather to see what's going on. When Hamlet says "God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another", he displays anger towards her sudden deny and also towards his mother for betraying his father.
Ah, so many of your comments get it wrong! They are derivative, probably parrot some professor's academic convolution, and most of all, reveals that although you are reading the text, you are not hearing what Hamlet is saying! I think he fears he's on a road to self destruction; knows it's dangerous for her to be around him, and, and in his voice, there is a kind of pleading with her to "Stay away!" He knows he cannot tell her his secrets. All these protests of womanhood have always seemed like over-kill to me. I think he's wracking his brain to come up with anything and everything that will make her stay away.
More from Anonymous: hamlet loved Ophelia. She has had a short but loving and happy relationship with him before the play begins; he tells Laertes he loved her passionately at her burial. Also remember, Hamlet has a tender, poetic soul. That's why the idea of murdering someone, even with rational motives, seems impossible for him till Act 5.
He kills Polonius in an irrational moment. It takes a sensitive, poetic, deeply feeling and thinking young actor to make the Ophelia scene work. It hurts him deeply to counterfeit all this cruelty to her.
Joe
I think Hamlet treats Ophelia cruelly and tells her to go to a nunnery partly because he loves her and wants to protect from what he knows is coming. His ordering her to go to a nunnery comes right after he witnesses Claudius' suspicious reaction to "The Mousetrap." He now knows Claudius is guilty and what will come next, which presents a danger to all those close to him. If Ophelia had obeyed his order and gone away, it is possible she would not have died. Either way, Hamlet sensed there was about to be a blood bath and wanted her far away from it. If he was honest about his love for her, she likely would have wanted to stay with him, which would increase the risk that she could be killed.
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