Hamlet Character Post #4

Although people thought I had gone mad, I must admit that, “I lov’d Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not (with all their quantity of love) make up my sum” (4.1.90). I cannot believe that she is actually gone. Others do not believe that our love is true and think that I am the cause of her death is hurtful. She lost hope in me and was convinced I was a horrible person after her father's death however, she should have trusted me and been on my side instead of believing her lying brother. I cannot believe her own family would play her like that, “A violet in the youth of primy nature, forward, not permanent—sweet, not lasting” (1.3.15) Our love could have gone on but now, we both have nothing. All because Polonius and Laertes went too far, and ignored the signs that “the habit of mistrust, so ingrained in her father and brother, [was] something new to her” (Seng 220) when trying to convince her that I was no good. I know exactly what Polonius' true motives were. He never wanted Ophelia and I to be together so the second he got the chance, he turned her against me and drove her to her death. I know this hurt her because she loved me as much as I loved her, “Tender yourself more dearly, Or…you’ll tender me a fool” (1.3.18). However, I agree with this critic, because “indeed, she had believed [me]; and, as it turns out, though tragically and too late, her trust was not misplaced” (Seng 220-221). Her death had nothing to do with me. It was completely her father and brothers fault and even hers for believing them.  It was all due to Polonius who was “only too willing to sacrifice his morals to political expediency; and it is his spying, sneaking and eavesdropping that finally brings his own death” (Seng 221). I may have stabbed him however, if Polonius had not hidden behind the curtain, I would not have stabbed him, and then I would never have been sent away, and Ophelia would not have gone crazy. Polonius is the one who led her straight to her death.