Does Hamlet Truly Love Ophelia

Simon Cowell, English television producer and reality television judge, once said, “People confuse ego, lust, insecurity with true love (“Simon Cowell Quotes”).” This misperception is commonly made in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Theatergoers and readers commonly misunderstand Hamlet’s complicated love for Ophelia as a passionate, true love. In reality, Hamlet, however, does truly love Ophelia and uses her as a stepping stone in his life.
Hamlet does not truly love Ophelia because he is not genuine in his confession of love for Ophelia, uses her for personal gain and does not view her as an individual.
In the first scene of Act three, Hamlet directly states that he once loved Ophelia, but does not currently and then goes on to say he never
At the end of the letter he states, “...never doubt, I love” (Shakespeare II. Ii. 119). Hamlet tells Ophelia that despite the many other falsities around her, his love for her will always be true. From this point on, Hamlet begins to act insane, which could be considered Hamlet’s way of protecting Ophelia. In reality, Hamlet acts mad in an attempt to get revenge on his father’s murderer, his uncle and step-father, King Claudius. Hamlet is driven by personal gain instead of protecting his “true love.” Hamlet is using Ophelia to get away with acting “crazy” in order to not receive the punishment a “sane” individual would receive. Because Ophelia is very obedient to her father, Hamlet knows he is able to manipulate her for maintaining his state of “madness.” Hamlet knows Ophelia will report everything to her father, who will relate all this information to the King (“Women in Hamlet”). By using Ophelia to get to the King, Hamlet is one step closer to proving Claudius murdered King Hamlet. Instead of protecting Ophelia, Hamlet user her obedience to maintain his “madness” and person
While in the graveyard, Hamlet confronts Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, about his allegations of Hamlet never truly loving Ophelia. Hamlet responds to these allegations with, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum” (Shakespeare V. i. 247-249). Hamlet testifies that he is saddened by the death of Ophelia and is just as distraught as Laertes is. When addressing Laertes, he says, “Be buried quick with her, and so will I” (Shakespeare V. i. 258). Hamlet is claiming that he has nothing to live for because Ophelia is gone. The main issue with this interpretation it the fact that Ophelia committed suicide because of the way Hamlet treated her. Ophelia believed Hamlet did not love her, which caused her to go mentally insane. Even through Hamlet said he loved Ophelia, his words do not matter because she has already killed herself. True love is seen in actions, not words. Instead of showing Ophelia his love, Hamlet was very rude and egotistical in his behavior toward Ophelia. If Hamlet truly loved Ophelia, he would have treated her with respect and kindness. In the third act of Hamlet, Hamlet even begins to take his frustration regarding his mother, Gertrude, and other duplicitous situations surrounding his father’s death, out on Ophelia.