Similarities Between Romeo And Juliet And Hamlet
As we grow up we are bombarded with visions of what romance will look like. We see Romeo and Juliet, and read all of Shakespeare's chimarical sonnets and think these, out of their mind lovers, are the pinnacle of romantic love; but are these characters really truly in love? Romeo and Juliet both end up dead, and sensing a theme here, so do Hamlet and Ophelia from William Shakespeare's Hamlet. They are depicted as a couple in the play, but are they truly in love? Hamlet is a prince driven mad by the murder of his father, is swallowed up by avenging him by killing his uncle. In this exploit he murders Polonius, Ophelia and Laertes’s father, and advisor to the king. The loss of her father leads to Ophelia's own madness, and eventual death. Laertes
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To the reader's knowledge she doesn't know that Hamlet killed her father, so she is driven to insanity by the loss of both. She runs around singing songs about men's betrayal, yet again supporting the theory they were having sex out of wedlock and that Ophelia had planned on marrying him. Hamlet seems not to care about Ophelia at all, whether it’s the fact he killed her father or that he is leaving her in such a distraught state. The king does send him away but he doesn't even reach out to Ophelia. After Ophelia's death Hamlet reveals himself at her funeral, claiming to have loved her more then Laertes. This is a direct contradiction to his early statement, and if anything meant to enrage Laertes before their duel, or to save face to the family. Hamlets saying this to Laertes who has thrown himself onto her grave, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/ Could not with all their quantity of love/ Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?” (V.I.275-277). Claudius blames his madness for the outburst. However, in this scene before Hamlet reveals himself he doesn't seem distraught, he doesn't weep for her or appear to grieve. He only shows aggression towards Laertes, but he’s been a very emotional character with the death of his father. This points towards his feelings toward her not being love, but merely lust driven or an
To the reader's knowledge she doesn't know that Hamlet killed her father, so she is driven to insanity by the loss of both. She runs around singing songs about men's betrayal, yet again supporting the theory they were having sex out of wedlock and that Ophelia had planned on marrying him. Hamlet seems not to care about Ophelia at all, whether it’s the fact he killed her father or that he is leaving her in such a distraught state. The king does send him away but he doesn't even reach out to Ophelia. After Ophelia's death Hamlet reveals himself at her funeral, claiming to have loved her more then Laertes. This is a direct contradiction to his early statement, and if anything meant to enrage Laertes before their duel, or to save face to the family. Hamlets saying this to Laertes who has thrown himself onto her grave, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers/ Could not with all their quantity of love/ Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?” (V.I.275-277). Claudius blames his madness for the outburst. However, in this scene before Hamlet reveals himself he doesn't seem distraught, he doesn't weep for her or appear to grieve. He only shows aggression towards Laertes, but he’s been a very emotional character with the death of his father. This points towards his feelings toward her not being love, but merely lust driven or an