Characters in Hamlet Essays

Characters in Hamlet Essays Characters in Hamlet Essay Characters in Hamlet Essay Aphelions descent into madness is the ultimate tragedy of Hamlet when considering her family distrust of her worth and virtue, and her lovers betrayal and cruelty. The first of the many unfortunate series of events which resulted in Aphelions madness was her fathers insensitive advice in Act I SC. , which in other words was him mocking her and installing into her dead the misogynistic idea that all her worth as a woman will ever be is what man she marries. He warns her that if she fools around with Hamlet and lets her supposed silly girlish fantasies get the best of her, she will be deemed a where and her chances at ever maiming a decent man will be diminished. He puts it best in lines 1 10-1 18 of this scene; Affection, pup! You speak like a green girl insisted in such perilous circumstance. Do you believe his tenders, as you call them? Tender yourself more dearly or youll tender me a fool. pretty harsh, to say the least. He is more worried about his reputation Han he is about his daughters feelings. He had just finished giving her brother, Alerter, such wonderful and useful advice, and he then speaks to her as if she were a naive young girl submerged in lust disguised as love for her beloved Hamlet. This is exactly where the self destructive road begins for the ill-fated Aphelia; consequently leading to her lunacy and loss of self worth. Furthermore into Aphelions heartbreak, her lover proves her fathers lecture to be true when all her heart really wanted was for him to be proven wrong. In Act 3 Sc. 1 Hamlet begins with an extremely malicious sarcasm towards her. He thanks her for her initial pleasantries (l humbly thank you, well, well, well,). He then readily denies that he ever truly cared for her. Since she wasnt expecting this from her dear lover, she is left in shock when her once charming prince demands Get thee to a nunnery (168). The connotations of the meaning of nunnery is enough in and of itself to be a cruel wake up call to her. Aphelions sanity begins to unravel itself even more at this point. Hamlets melancholy grants him the flexibility to convey manic-depressive measures, while Aphelions is much more painful and overwhelming. The sat straw for Aphelia was without a doubt her father, Polonium, death. This is where she shares a common connection with Hamlet: the loss of a parental figure. The difference here is that Hamlet actually causes this despair and remorse, and even after he accidentally murders Polonium it doesnt appear to occur to him the potential effects of his actions to Aphelia. Hamlets slaying of Polonium is what spurs Aphelia into psychosis, and it isnt pretty. She has now lost all hope, and has come to the bitter realization that love is more painful than it is beautiful. She is left utterly alone in the world; her lover has abandoned her and her father dead. All the pain and sorrow she has encountered has given her a deeper perspective on everything.