One of the most striking debates still raging over Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is the question of whether or not Hamlet and Ophelia slept together. The most famous quote on the matter–an angry Hamlet, repeated “Take yourself to a convent”–would seem to accuse Ophelia of having rebuffed her advances…were it not for the fact that “convent” is also Elizabethan slang for ” brother.” The debate they / not them? it is unusual in that it involves much more backstory than most Shakespearean mysteries, and only a few key moments in the play address the issue directly.

In Act II, Scene III, Laertes warns Ophelia that although Hamlet’s confessions of love may be sincere, the fact that he has royal responsibilities jeopardizes his chances of a serious relationship. She then specifically instructs him not to “open” her “chaste treasure” to the boy, and since the warnings are usually, you know, preemptive, we get the impression that she hasn’t done that yet; after all, if Laertes isn’t shy about confronting his younger sister about his sex life in the 1600s, it’s very likely he wouldn’t exactly hold back if he thought something was really going on.

On the other hand, the fact that he broaches the subject in the first place suggests that their relationship is drawing people’s attention. Even his goofy father, Polonius, describes his “audience” with the prince as “free and generous,” which is never the way you want your father to describe you in regards to your boyfriend.

To complicate matters, Ophelia returns to Laertes with a warning not to preach what she does not practice “as some graceless pastors do.” Perhaps she takes this little jab simply so he can share her extreme discomfort, but if the name of the game is really a polite innuendo, her response strongly suggests that Laertes is just as guilty as she is (and her immediate change of subject would seem to support the theory). If this is the case, sidestepping the topic of sex makes sense, since neither has the moral clout to openly accuse the other.

Curiously, the audience doesn’t get to see Hamlet and Ophelia interact directly until Act III, Scene I, and by then, Hamlet is putting so much energy into being offensive, antagonistic, and self-contradictory that it’s impossible to accept anything he rants about. at face value. That said, he speaks honestly in his monologues as an aside. For example, at the end of his “To be or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet notices Ophelia enter the room and says to himself, “Nymph, in your prayers / Remember all my sins.”

Two things:
1) Why do you call her a nymph? Because nymphs are beautiful, or because they run around naked and form the root of the word “nymphomania”? 2) What are these “sins” that she mentions, and why is Ofelia aware of them? Since a sentence is a sentence and the sentence can indicate both mercy and guilt, he calls her a saint (and expects her to pray for him) or suggests that she has some serious forgiveness to ask for. Unfortunately, this double meaning is typical of Hamlet quotes and brings us back to our original “convent” dilemma.

Then comes the first conversation (on stage) of Ophelia and Hamlet. Ophelia returns his love notes on her family’s instructions, but instead of simply telling him that she’s no longer interested or that it’s not a good idea, she says, “Rich gifts are made poorer when those who give them aren’t kind.” “. So far Hamlet hasn’t done anything nasty with her that we know of (just put in a scene or two), and since breaking up with Hamlet is Polonius’s idea, it doesn’t make sense for Ophelia to lace up accusations like “you’re an idiot” just because she’s caught up in the theater of it all.

Thus, since she adds the statement of what is apparently her own will, and since Hamlet’s response doesn’t even come close to “Excuse me?” – the implication is that Hamlet has betrayed her in some secret way that 1) both acknowledge, 2) neither speaks, and 3) William Shakespeare does not explicitly write in the play. Not only is this an important moment for seduction theorists, it also tantalizingly hints at a narrative world that exists outside of Hamlet as a play.

After her father forces her to break up with her boyfriend, who accidentally murders him, Ophelia finally discovers an outlet for her considerable turmoil: go crazy and sing whatever comes to mind. This includes things like “They say the owl was the baker’s daughter” and “the”. However, it also includes things mostly about a) her father’s death and b) cheating bastards.

She announces that “young men won’t do it if they come to do it, / By the dick, they’re to blame” and then launches into a conversation between a fallen woman and her lover. The woman begins: “before you laid me down, / you promised to marry me” (translation: before we had sex, you said we’d get married!), to which her lover replies, “I would have too, for that sun , / and you wouldn’t have come to bed” (translation: I would have too, if you hadn’t been such a bum). The songs continue in the same vein until Ophelia’s death. While it’s impossible to know how much combined sense there is in her ramblings, everything she says about her father’s death seems pretty lucid, which makes us more inclined to believe that her love songs spurned her. they are actually based on facts.

After Ofelia drowns, the queen has the last word on her virtue by comparing Ofelia to a “mermaid”, the ultimate symbol of female unattainability. (Think about it for a second…) Whether this is Queen Gertrude’s final defense of Ophelia’s chastity or a flowery attempt to sugarcoat her death (much like, say, claiming that Ophelia accidentally fell into the brook) follows open for discussion.