Love and pain will irrevocably be connected, for “This is the very ecstasy of love, who violence affects property fordoes itself and leads the will to desperate undertakings as oft as any passion under heaven that does afflict our natures” (II.i.102-106). Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, is a tragedy set in Denmark shadowing Prince Hamlet as he takes the revenge for his father’s death. King Hamlet has been murdered by his own brother, Claudius who seized the throne by marrying his deceased brother's wife. Hamlet is one of the longest plays written by Shakespeare and is incredibly powerful and influential. Hamlet discovers a psychological attachment that shadows him while he’s in love with Ophelia, causing him to act irrationally. Through expressing the betrayal he feels with his mother and the loss of a strong bond with his father which cause him to act out of character, Shakespeare presents the complexities of love and lust with moral blindness, which everyone needs to learn in order to understand love and the complications one can face.
To begin with, the complexities of love and lust can cause moral blindness when one’s love is faced with rejection. Throughout the play, Hamlet makes many irrational decisions based on his love for Ophelia. “I loved Ophelia. 40 thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum.” (5.1.255). Once Ophelia commits suicide towards the end of the play, Hamlet sincerely feels as if his love cannot be compared to forty thousand men because he loved her so much. One part of the rejection phase is the denial and confusion. Hamlet’s confusion causes him to act morally blind earlier on in Act 2 when he enters Ophelia’s room as explained: “Doublet all unbraced, no hat upon his head, and his stockings fouled, ungathered and down-gyved to his ankle, pale as his shirt his knees knocking.” (ii.i.77). Hamlet is clearly upset over Ophelia so he thinks he can charm her by entering half undressed but instead causes her distress. Previous to Hamlet’s moral blindness, Polonius was convincing Ophelia of Hamlet fake love, and she should reject him when she seeks help because she is confused on what she should do. “I do not know, my lord, what should I think” (i.ii.104). Ophelia is in clear distraught, and instead of giving her reassurance, Polonius and Laertes, convince her to reject him because he is morally blind and is only with her to take her virginity. As the play moves forward, Hamlet’s irrational decisions will become worse due to the complications of love he feels, ultimately turning him morally blind.
Furthermore, Shakespeare makes Hamlet’s Moral blindness more evident when Hamlet is often found acting out of character due to many of his great losses. In the first soliloquy, Hamlet’s true characteristics are revealed. In Act 1 Scene 2 Prince Hamlet is depressed in a dear Melancholy state because of his love for his family that he lost. There are many reasons why Hamlet is Upset. Firstly, the death of his loving father, following the remarriage of his mother and then his uncle taking over the throne. The death of the king is fairly new at this point, and Hamlet is unsettled on why everyone in the court moved on so quickly. King Claudius and the Queen believe the court doesn’t have enough money to afford the mourning any longer. Hamlet refers to the world “[‘]tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed: things rank and gross in nature.” (i.ii.135-136). Hamlet refers to the people of the court as bad people because they hardly grieved over King Hamlet. Hamlet is morally blind because he is showing no manners to the older people, although the death of a parent is never an easy task to overcome, People won’t grieve the same amount as another might, due to the connection they had. Following the death of King Hamlet, Queen marries Claudius, who is Hamlet's uncle. This action added to Hamlet's melancholy, worsening Hamlet's depression and adding to his anger. He compares the queen to a beast saying “O’ God, a beast that wants discourse of reason would mourn longer.”(i.ii.150-151). Hamlet is clearly forgotten about his morality because he is comparing his mother to a beast claiming she mourned less amount of time than a supernatural animal. Hamlet is exceedingly upset with his mother over her unloyalty with King Hamlet. This affected hamlet greatly which influenced him acting out of character due to the immense love he had for his father. Hamlet is evidently acting out of character as he begins contemplating on committing suicide. In Hamlet's Soliloquy in Act Three, he starts with the most famous lines, “To be or Not to be, that is the question: whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” (iii.i.56-58). Hamlet is playing with the idea of suicide because he does not want to suffer through his depression. Hamlet is in a deep depression and wants to commit suicide to be free from all the sad fate has brought on him. Hamlet is unsure of what he wants because he wants to be free of all the misery he feels all the time but he is also terrified of death and what may come after it. Hamlet is acting out of character because he faced a tough loss which triggers his thoughts about suicide. It is clear that when a strong bond, full of love and compassion is broken, it can cause major effects on an individual.
Lastly, betrayal is revealed when Hamlet’s childhood best friends spy on him. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent by the King and Queen to find out what Hamlet knows and why he is acting out of madness. “We shall obey, were she ten times our mother. Have you any further trade us” (iii.ii.318-319). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern came to tell Hamlet his mom needs to talk to him and Hamlet said fine. Hamlet then dismisses Guildenstern and Rosencrantz and they become offended because they thought they were Hamlet’s friend. Hamlet accuses them of manipulating him and they act very insulted. Rosencrantz claims they can’t play the musicians recorder and then Hamlet asks them why they have been trying to play him. Following the interaction with his friends, Claudius backstabs Hamlet by trying to send him to England for his murder, covering it up with his safety. “Hamlet, this deed, for thine safety” (iiii.iii.38). Following their interaction, Claudius passes a letter to Guildenstern instructing that Hamlet is killed when he reaches England. Hamlet gets a hold of this letter and changes the names to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern so they are killed instead. Hamlet feels no remorse because he believes they deserve it for betraying him. On the other hand, Hamlet betrays his father’s ghost by not killing Claudius immediately as he has promised, and how he keeps contemplating over whether or not he should actually kill him. He also hurts his mother’s feelings, which were against the wishes of the ghost as well. “Do not forget: this visitation is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose” (3.4.110-111). King Hamlet is telling Hamlet to not forget the purpose of why his father visited him. Unfortunately, Hamlet doesn’t fulfill his promise of killing the king right away ultimately delaying the process. Hamlet over planned the murder resulting in a delay of action which could have possibly been inaction if he continued to dwell on it. Hamlet got caught up in his morality but also wanted to make his father happy because he loved him so much.
With love, comes many complications, tragedies, and heartbreaks ultimately causing moral blindness which can cause irrational behavior. In Hamlet, complications with love are very evident when Hamlet faces psychological attachment to Ophelia after the rejection of him, leading to his mother's betrayal for he no longer has faith in her after she married Claudius. Hamlet lost a strong bond with his father after his murder causing him to act out of character when he finds out Claudius murdered his Father. Love can be a lesson or a blessing, it just takes one person to make it so.