The Cause of his Melancholy - Ophelia & the Tragedy of Hamlet
Hamlet
. . . . I have of late- but wherefore I know not- lost all my mirth . . . .Man delights not me- no, nor woman neither . . . .
Yet, within the last two months, since his return from Wittenberg, Hamlet has had “private time” with Ophelia and apparently she delighted him then.
Polonius
'Tis told me he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you . . . .
Ophelia.
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.
Of late, of late, of late. What had changed between the “of late” of the “private time” and the “of late” when Hamlet lost his mirth and his delight in woman? Not his father's death. That occurred before the private time.
When Hamlet was a scholar in Wittenberg, he had apparently been courting Ophelia via letters. When he returned from Wittenberg, he courted her in person in their “private time.” Hamlet wanted to go back to Wittenberg – perhaps to resume his long-distance courtship, or perhaps he hoped to take Ophelia with him, as the bride of a Wittenberg scholar. But then something changed.
Claudius
. . . .for let the world take note
You are the most immediate to our throne,
. . . . For your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most retrograde to our desire;
And we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
Gertrude.
Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet.
I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
Hamlet.
I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
Claudius.
Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply.
Be as ourself in Denmark. . . .
Bound by duty to his mother (and later by duty to his dead father), Hamlet is confined in the prison of Denmark, doomed to be as Claudius in Denmark, to inherit the throne. He is no longer the Wittenberg scholar, now he is the Prince of Denmark, heir to the throne. Now as Laertes had warned,
. . . Perhaps he loves you now,
. . . but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth.
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself, . . .
. . . .Then if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Laertes had feared that the daughter of the Steward would be considered an unsuitable match for the heir to the throne (but the Stewart line of kings had began when Walter Stewart, Sixth High Steward of Scotland, married Marjorie, daughter of King Bruce). However, Prince Hamlet could have married Ophelia – his mother was hoping for it:
Gertrude.
Sweets to the sweet! Farewell.
[Scatters flowers.]
I hop'd thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
But suddenly Prince Hamlet no longer wanted to make Ophelia his bride. Now that Hamlet was confined to the “prison” of Denmark, if he married Ophelia she would become not a scholar's wife but rather, like his mother, the “imperial jointress to this warlike state.” She would be a “breeder of sinners” - warlike princes and kings like Fortinbras, Claudius, and his own father, “the question of these wars.” Hamlet loved Ophelia too much to do that to her.
So in one stroke Hamlet had lost both his scholarly career and the love of his life. That was the cause of his melancholy and the tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
