Hamlet Case

Hamlet shows his affection for Ophelia through out the play in many instances. When he runs to her after seeing his fathers ghost, speaks of her to himself in a soliloquy, and speaks of not loving her anymore to protect her. When Ophelia is dean and gone he admits to loving her. Hamlet does not show his affection so that others can see it but he shows it in a way that is seen by the only one in the book that it needs to be seen by and that is Ophelia.

When Hamlet first encounters his fathers ghost he is trembling with fear and emotion that he cannot explain. With this fear and emotion one of the first people he came forward to was Ophelia. He ran to her and grabbed her by the wrist with a pale look in his face and knees shaking but said nothing due to his promise to his fathers spirit to not say a word. This is shown when Ophelia says to Polonius, " My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced, no hat upon his head, his stocking fouled, ungartered, and down-gyved to his ankle, and with a look so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors-he come before me" (2.1 pg79 lines 88-94) " He took me by the wrist and held me hard" (2.1 pg79 line 99). When she says this to Polonius it shows how deep in his heart that Hamlet wants to tell her everything. He wants to say what on his mind and get her help with making a decision, but he is torn. He is torn between telling the love of his life what had just happened and keeping the promise to his

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dead fathers spirit. This to me shows how much Hamlet really cares about Ophelia to be able to almost trust her with a few words that could put his life on the line.

In the soliloquy "To be or not to be--that is the question" (3.1 pg127-129 lines: 64-98). He not only talks of what he is going through but at the end of his personal speech he says, "Soft you now, the fair Ophelia" (3.1 pg129 line 96-97). To me this shows that no matter how hard it has become for young Hamlet he still finds it in himself to find recollection from Ophelia. Ophelia is his way out and his means of living. From what Hamlet says in his speech to himself it showed me that inside of him he not only is caring and thinking of Ophelia, but other than that he is wishing to be wither to find serenity in a world of madness.

Hamlet speaks to Ophelia of loving her once but no more. Hamlet says, "Ay, truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honestly from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once" (3.1 pg131 lines 121-125). Hamlet is trying to get through to Ophelia by convincing her that he does not love her anymore to protect her from what he is going through in his own life. I see this as he is