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
swears revenge on Hamlet, and the crossing of all the murderous plots ends with the death of every character except Horatio. There’s no denying that there was a relationship between the two. Ophelia's father even explicitly banned them from being together, however they aren't actually in love.
Hamlet and Ophelia aren't actually in love. The two are instead infatuated. They don’t seem to really know each other very well, Ophelia couldn’t tell whether or not Hamlet was truly insane, “And with a look so piteous in purport, As if he had been loosèd out of hell, To speak of horrors—he comes before me” (II.I.92-94). She seems genuinely afraid of Hamlet's behavior. If she knew him she’d see through this facade. Ophelia however does admit her love for Hamlet, Ophelia says, “My lord, I have remembrance of yours/ That I have longed long to redeliver/ I pray you now receive them” (III.I.92-94). Hamlet response is mixed at first claiming he did love her at one point, but no longer does. This statement is followed almost immediately with him claiming he never loved her, “No, not I. I never gave you aught” (III.I.98). Hamlets contradiction in his feelings for her indicates he does not truly know himself but doubts the ones he has. Act III, scene I also contains the Hamlets nunnery rant. He tells Ophelia to go off to a nunnery. Though there is a debate that he is asking her to go so she can find freedom from her father; otherwise he's telling he to go because she is sinful. This helps support the fact that they had been sleeping together.
Ophelia states that she is in fact in love with him, but in this mess of contradictions Hamlet makes any confession of love to be unrequited. Unrequited love is not true love, both parties have to be fully committed to their feelings, and the communication of those feelings. Ophelia was also a women in Elizabethan times, having sex out of wedlock would be a frightening idea, she would have found security by being “in love” with Hamlet. She may have been infatuated, the two grew up together, but none of this equates to love.
Ophelia's madness beings after Hamlet kills her father and is sent away.
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
infatuation. There is obviously a connection between the two; but infatuation, or shakespeare's tendency to write “lovers” who have fallen fast and hard only to land in bed, and then end up dead, are better explanations than pure romantic love. The pair could have had an ongoing sexual relationship and bond, but it’s not appropriate to call it love. Hamet always seems more reserved and in control of their communication. The time period suggests that this could have been a very controlling partnership, not indicative of the true love that shakespearian characters have been know for, yet very common in Elizabethan England. The other characters around them and audiences could construed love from some of their actions. The two had also been forbidden to be together by Ophelia's father because their difference of class was improper, but the King and Queen don’t seem to care. The royal family only saw her as a frivolous filing for the prince. Getrude claims at the funeral that she wished they would have married, “I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife; I thought thy bride-bed to have deck’d, sweet maid, And not have strew’d thy grave.(V.I.250)” This is something that isn't discussed till she is dead, and Hamlet is gone. It is probably for show, or out of passion than genuine regard for Ophelia.
Hamlet and Ophelia weren’t in love. The pair had obvious infatuation and lust, but true love wasn’t exhibited by either. Their lack of knowledge on eachother, reserved or confusing emotional communication, and lack of passion, prove it. Ophelia used her projection of love on Hamlet to consolidate their sexual relationship. While Hamlet used her as a convenient temporary partnership. Not that it truly matters, they are merely characters in a play, who end up dead after five seconds.