Hamlet's love

Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is a play that has been performed, produced, and read for over four hundred years. One reason this work is so popular is that Shakespeare relates his ideas using primitive and universal human emotions such as love, avarice, and revenge. The main plot is a bloody vengeance through Hamlet's plight and anguish. Intertwined throughout are subplots of betrayal and deception. Hamlet is an idealist who separates himself from the corrupt and insincere society …

…takes a different turn when he learns a grave is being dug to receive Ophelia's body. The finality of death may make him abandon the "antic disposition" and speak the truth when he says "I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers / Could not with all their quantity of love / Make up my sum (Ham. 5.1.234-236.1023). The dramatic function of Hamlet's feeling for Ophelia helps him resolve the indecision that characterizes and justifies Hamlet throughout the play.