The Unspoken Relationship of Ophelia and Hamlet

In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses literary speech and expressionism to deepen his characters while subtly revealing their inner personas. Through this use of language, Shakespeare can strongly present conflict or relationships between characters without fully presenting or stating them to his audience. As each character encounters personal and sometimes controversial struggles, Shakespeare hints at the readers to discover these issues through the way characters interact with each other. Although Hamlet’s speech reveals harsh and sinister after hearing about his father’s murderer, another speech fills the side of his mind that still lies in another relationship not physically presented. Ophelia, a woman refused the right to be with Hamlet by her father, faces the transformation of her lover, Hamlet, as he becomes an emotionally unstable man. As she tries to betray him and tell the court of his insanity, she proves incapable, revealing her love for Hamlet through the way she speaks. Hamlet’s tone as he speaks of Ophelia also gives away their romance as he speaks briefly but with strong emotion of her to her father. Although these two characters have not been put on stage together at this point, Shakespeare uses their language and emotions to imply their relationship and true feelings for each other, giving the reader insight through their language and not their actions.