Hamlet's Love for Ophelia In Hamlet, we are introduced to the complexities of a man who is struggling to kill his uncle while trying to understand his mother's motives. His inner turmoil has left him emotionally unavailable and completely disenchanted with humanity in general. Hamlet seems to be at his best when he is cruel, which may reveal a deeper method of self-medication in which he hurts those he loves most, especially his mother and daughter. Ophelia. However, while we can clearly discern her reasons for rejecting her mother, we are left with a kind of bitterness when it comes to Ophelia. Why does he treat her so cruelly? Through the same text in which he scolds her, we can discover some answers that reveal that the contempt he shows towards her is not really hatred but true love. I will also examine how this interpretation facilitates understanding other issues in Hamlet. Queen Gertrude is the first woman in Hamlet's life and as such remains the yardstick by which Hamlet measures the opposite sex. We have no doubt read the references made to his mother's infidelity and how this has made Hamlet bitter about the prospect of marriage and children (3.1.120-139). Thus, for Hamlet, Gertrude proves to be a fundamental representation of what a woman becomes when left to her own devices. Hamlet's displacement of his mother's actions then falls on the next woman in his life: Ophelia! Interestingly, it is through Hamlet's harmonious use of the phrase "go to the nunnery that we see his love for her." Ophelia in act 3, delivers her dia... halfway through the paper... the future holds but through her cruel method of being kind comes off as anything but lovable. Yet, as we have seen, it is a deeper love that forces him to push her away, as if by doing so she remains pure and uncontaminated. With this in mind, we can see that it is not his hatred for Ophelia but his unhappiness towards humanity -more specifically-. his mother's betrayal - which makes him believe that Ophelia would be better off without him. Works cited and consulted: Faucit, Helena On Some of Shakespeare's Female Characters 6th ed. Ophelia: madness is her only safe refuge." Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. of "Hamlet": a user's guide. New York: Limelight Editions, 1996 .Shakespeare, William Hamlet. Ed. TJB Spencer, 1996.