Defining Love in Hamlet

The following sample essay on “Hamlet’s Love”: discussing definition of love in Shakespeare’s  Hamlet.

Some might say love is a smooth roller coaster with no ups and downs, but that could not be any farther from the truth. Hamlet is a great example of what love and relationships can do to people. Although the author of Hamlet, Shakespeare, might make Prince Hamlet come across as harsh towards Ophelia, that does not weaken his love for her. There are times in the play where Hamlet might have crossed the line, but his actions are only due to his feelings towards his father’s death.

Love can make people deranged and mad to a certain extent, which is proven multiple times through-out Hamlet.

First, Prince Hamlet expresses his love towards Ophelia at her funeral. As he sees Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, jump into her grave, Prince Hamlet refuses to let her brother suck up to his sister. This is revealed when he states I” loved Ophelia.

Forty thousand brothers/ Could not with all their quantity of love/ Make up my sum. What wilt thou d for her. “(IV.I. 276-278). Some might say Hamlet was trying to make a scene, but he would not have expressed his love so harshly at her funeral if it was not genuine.

Secondly, Hamlet shows his affection towards Ophelia through love letters. This not only reveals his fondness of Ophelia, but also that he was willing to take the time to write to her. Many men would hide their feelings, but Hamlet takes an extra step to express his feelings toward her in written form.

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As soon as Ophelia’s father gets hold of the letters he thinks Hamlet has become insane due to his obsession with Ophelia but “They are guess work of shrewd observers who merely lack knowledge of Hamlets awful truth.” (David Bevington). This quote reveals how clueless everyone is about Hamlet’s situation, since he is trying to figure out how to deal with his father’s death and his command to kill Claudius, the present king.Some people would argue that he treats Ophelia harshly, but he does this because of his agitated mind from his father’s death. The fact that Hamlet is able to be secure with his emotions towards Ophelia and express how he feels is a true sign of trust and love. When Hamlet is talking about his mother and states “Possess it merely. That it should come to this/But two months dead – nay, not so much, not two/So excellent a king, that was to this. “(I. II. 139-141) it reveals that his dad’s death is the source of his discomfort.

Some people would agree with Prince Hamlet’s love towards Ophelia, while others would say that Ophelia did not have the same feelings as Prince Hamlet. Although there are people who think Ophelia does not like Hamlet, this is disproved many times through-out the play. When Ophelia is talking to her father about Hamlet she states “My lord, he hath importuned me with love/In honorable fashion” which reveals her compassion for Hamlet.” (!. III. 118 – 119) This scene impacts Ophelia most of the play, and she has a hard time resisting attention from Prince Hamlet.

Love is a mysterious thing that can sometimes make someone’s emotions disturbed.

When you love someone as much as Prince Hamlet loved Ophelia, it can be hard to control your emotions at times. It is hard to say exactly why Prince Hamlet took some unnecessary precautions against Ophelia, but it is safe to say that it was love driving his acts, not hatred. Prince Hamlet shows that sometimes love isn’t perfect and that there can be rough spots, but that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Work Cited

• Bevington, David. “Criticism by David Bevington.” DISCovering Authors, Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context,  Accessed 5 Dec. 2018.
• Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice–Hall, 2010