Student Essay on Did They Do the Deed or Did They Not Do the Deed? That Is the Question.

Did They Do the Deed or Did They Not Do the Deed? That Is the Question.

Summary:   William Shakespeare's defining work may in fact be the masterpiece named after its ambivalent main character Hamlet. In this play the poet-playwright artfully guides his audience through a tangled plot of murder, revenge, madness, and perhaps even love - sexual relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia.

William Shakespeare's defining work may in fact be the masterpiece named after its ambivalent main character Hamlet. In this play the poet-playwright artfully guides his audience through a tangled plot of murder, revenge, madness, and perhaps even love. Hamlet, the prince of Denmark has returned home for his father's funeral, and two months later must watch as his mother marries his uncle. Hamlet is told by the ghost of his father that Hamlets uncle, Claudius, is guilty of the murder. The ghost then tells Hamlet to avenge his murder. Hamlet decides to pretend to be crazy in order to throw people off, and this is the where things get especially interesting. During the time Hamlet is pretending to be crazy some interesting things happen between him and his lady friend Ophelia. The intimate nature of Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship leads to Ophelia's ultimate demise.

The first mention of the nature of Hamlets relationship with Ophelia comes from Polonius, Ophelia's father. He says, "'Tis told to me, he hath very oft of late/Given private time to you, and you yourself /Have of your audience been most free and bounteous." Polonius is afraid of what might be happening while his daughter is giving "audience" to prince Hamlet. Polonius then warns Ophelia that Hamlet's intentions may be "Giving more light than heat," that he is possibly in lust rather than in love. Polonius then instructs Ophelia not to "give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet" and she agrees to obey this command. Ophelia's father makes her feel guilty about her physical relationship with Hamlet. She agrees to follow her father's command because he has convinced her that she should not "believe his vows" (1.3).

Later Ophelia comes running in to her fathers' room shouting that she has been "affrighted" by a recent visit from Hamlet. Ophelia explains to her father that Hamlet came into her room looking disheveled, with "his knees knocking each other...as if he had been loosed out of hell." Polonius suspects that Hamlet was "Mad for [her] love" and Ophelia agrees that he must have been. She then goes on to explain an encounter that could only happen between two people who were intimate with one another. Hamlet grabs her by the waist, and then steps back from her "to the length of all his arm." He stares at her for a long time before he gently shakes her arm. He then nods his head as if he is acknowledging something profound, he seems to fall apart, and then he leaves the room. Ophelia then admits that she has obeyed her fathers' wishes and denied Hamlet any further intimacy. She rejected Hamlets letters and denied him "access to [her] (2.1). In this scene we witness a quarrel between lovers. Hamlet is genuinely hurt by Ophelia's rejection of his letters. One could argue that Ophelia was just reacting as we would expect a virgin of this era to act; she is frightened by Hamlet's advances, and then seeks protection from her father. I suspect, however, that Hamlet would have never been allowed entry to Ophelia's room had they not already been lovers.

During his supposed madness Hamlet gives us strong evidence that he has been intimate with Ophelia, he admits to Polonius that, "[Ophelia] may conceive" (2.2). What else could this mean other than the obvious? Hamlet, through a mask of madness, is telling Polonius that he has already been intimate with his daughter. Shakespeare is a deliberate writer and his words have many layers. One can find a thousand meanings in a single line if one takes the time to dissect it. Shakespeare's words are never just fillers; there is a reason for each and every syllable. The layers in this bit of dialogue are many, but one thing is certain, Hamlet is toying with Polonius through the guise of madness.

At the end of what is perhaps the most famous of Shakespeare's monologues, the "to be, or not to be" speech, Hamlet tells Ophelia to remember his sins in her prayers. Which sins is Hamlet referring to? And why should Ophelia remember Hamlets' sins in her prayers? The only logical conclusion is that Hamlet's sins are Ophelia's sins as well. Hamlet then goes on to say, "the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty 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 proof. I did love you once" (3.1). Hamlet is saying that their love has become superficial; something ugly and defiled. The fact that it was once beautiful, that Hamlet did at one time truly love Ophelia, is not enough to save the relationship. She has ruined it by playing games, by following her father's wishes instead of her own. Then Hamlet tells her to "Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such that it were better my mother had not borne me" (3.1). Hamlet is being cruel to Ophelia, he tells her that she is used up and her only logical course is to go off to a nunnery. He asks her if she wants to be the mother of a child conceived in sin, then adds that he could argue in favor of abortion, using his life as an example. Ophelia is pregnant with his child and he is either asking her to go off somewhere far away to give birth in secret, or is he telling her to abort the fetus which was conceived in sin.

Ophelia has apparently gone mad from the stress of losing her lover compounded with the death of her father. She is in a room with the King and Queen when she begins to sing in nonsense rhymes. But, as we have already established, Shakespeare is a purposeful writer. In her apparent madness Ophelia is singing songs that give us hints to the nature of her relationship with Hamlet. Ophelia sings, "All in the morning bedtime, /And I a maid at your window, /to be your Valentine. /Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes, /And [opened] the chamber door, /Let in the maid, that out a maid /Never departed more" (4.5). Shakespeare is dropping us clues through Ophelia's songs. Ophelia came to Hamlet a maiden in love, offering herself as a Valentine. She walked in, her maidenhood intact; when she went out, she was no longer a maiden, she belonged to him, she was a part of him, and she "never departed more." Then Ophelia goes on to sing an even more revealing tune. "Quoth she, 'Before you tumbled me, /You promised me to wed'" (4.5). Ophelia is defending herself by saying that she only gave herself to a man who promised to marry her. One could argue that these were merely popular songs of the time, and that Shakespeare may have had Ophelia singing them for shock value, to further drive home the fact that she was mad. Taken out of context that might be plausible, but with so much evidence pointing to the fact that these two were lovers, one can not ignore the implications.

Ophelia apparently dies by her own hand, and her death is possibly witnessed by the Queen who describes the final moments of Ophelia's life. The Queen says that Ophelia was adorned with flowers and singing as she fell into the river. She describes Ophelia as "like a creature native and indued /Unto that element" (4.7). Ophelia was in such a way that she could no longer live in this world; the Queen confirms that Ophelia was pregnant. Then, to further prove that Ophelia was pregnant with Hamlet's child, the priest who is at the gravesite during the burial scene shows his anger that "she is allow'd her virgin [garlands], /Her maiden [flowers] and the bringing home / Of bell and burial" (5.1). Even the priest is aware of Ophelia's condition and he is reluctant to give her a proper Christian burial. It is only her place in the royal court that allows her to be buried in the churchyard.

I can't help but sympathize with Ophelia. Her trusting, innocent love for Hamlet comes into conflict with her duty to her over-protective brother and her over-bearing father. She loves Hamlet, and she gives herself to him body and soul, but to what end? She pays the ultimate price for love, gives up her life as a testament to her fidelity; she will have no other man but Hamlet. If Hamlet hadn't been so caught up in his own misery, he might have been able to recognize the melancholy in Ophelia, and perhaps he could have saved her from herself; and Ophelia might have been able to save him as well.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Stanley Appelbaum, New York: Dover,1992.