Ophelia and Hamlet's relationship in 'Hamlet'

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  • Ophelia and Hamlet's relationship
    • Forbidden love
      • Laertes and Polonius warning Ophelia against Hamlet
      • "Froward but not permanent, sweet but not lasting, the perfume and suppliance of a minute. No more."-Laertes
      • AO5: Kerrigon:-Ophelia's memories of her father cause her to regret Hamlet
      • Warns her that he may just want her for her virginity and desire
        • Also a problematic relationship due to Hamlet's status as a princes as opposed to Ophelia's
    • Power dynamics
      • "Get thee to a nunnery"
        • Ophelia is an object of Hamlet's misogyny
          • A transferrence of spiteful emotion from the lack of maternal car from Gertrude
          • Begins to believe all women are a "breeder of sinners"
        • A transferrence of spiteful emotion from the lack of maternal car from Gertrude
      • Ophelia is submissive and caring in most circumstances
      • A03: Elizabethan times-women are mostly perceived as submissive and inferior
        • Misogynistic or exposing sexism?
    • Suggestive sexual relationship
      • A03: Women were meant to be sexually pure, especially before marriage
      • Shakespeare is revealing Ophelia's possible sins through Ophelia herself when she sings of the maid
        • "Never a maid departed more"
      • A05: Ernest Jones- Absence of sexual relationship with Ophelia due to his desire for this mother
    • True love?
      • His weakness at her funeral and his pure devotion turns onto her once she is dead
        • A03: Subverts stereotypical gender roles of men
      • His letters
        • AO5: Hamlet is a complex human who experiences complex human emotions
        • Could be argued to be a facade to manipulate Ophelia into opening her "chaste treasure"?
      • The nunnery scene
        • Misogynistic views reflect his lack of love and care for Ophelia
          • "I did love you once"
          • "Wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them"
          • "I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God has given you one face and you make yourselves another. "

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