Hamlet

EXPLAIN WHY HAMLET TREATS OPHELIA SO CRUELLY WHY DOES HE SUGGEST THAT SHE ENTER A NUNNERY? ACT 3 SCENE 1

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Hamlet's cruelty to Ophelia has everything to do with his mother's marriage to Claudius and little to do with Ophelia herself. It's almost as if Ophelia is in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is no reasoning with Hamlet at this point..... he's looking for faults in everyone, and Ophelia has put herself in a position to be the object of his wrath.

He tells Ophelia to enter a nunnery rather than have children and marry...... he likens women to monsters...... he makes it seems as if without women, dishonesty wouldn't exist. Again, he is using her to vent his frustrations with his mother..... what he sees as her dishonesty and disloyalty to his father.

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Hamlet