Hamlet Essay | Critical Essay #18

Hamlet Critical Essay #18

[Wilson provides a detailed interpretation of the "nunnery scene" between Hamlet and Ophelius Act III. scene i. The critic discusses Ophelias role as adecoy. describing how she makes the prince suspicious of aplot by overplaying her part when returning his love letters. Hamlet is disgusted by her role as a decoy, Dover Wilson maintains. for it mirrors his own mother's betrayal when she married Claudius. According to the critic. Hamlet tests Ophelia by asking where her father is, but when she lies. she provokes the frenry with which the prince concludes the scene. Wilson also emphasizes Hamlets repetition of the word "nunnery, maintaining that for Elizabethans the word not only meant a convent, but also carried the bawdy connotation of abrothel. For adtdense of Ophelia's character and motives in the "nunnery scene. See the essay by Harold Jenkins cited in the Sources for Further Study. For other commentary on Ophelia's...
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