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vladik1
vladik1
Student
High School - 9th Grade

In "Hamlet" why does Hamlet tell Ophelia to go "to a nunnery"?  What reasons does he give when he says it?

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Posted by vladik1 on Wednesday March 4, 2009 at 4:23 PM and tagged with hamlet, nunnery, ophelia.

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  1. mrs-campbell Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    When he states "get thee to a nunnery" to Ophelia, he is expressing pent-up anger towards his mother, who he feels has been unfaithful and incestuous when she married his uncle.  At the beginning of the play itself, we see a brooding Hamlet who seems almost more upset by his mother's marriage than by his father's death.  He speaks of it with such bitter disgust:  "She married, O, most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" (I.ii.156-7) and is so upset with his mother that he pronounces a curse on ALL women, not just her:  "Frailty, thy name is woman!" (I.ii.147).  So, that curse includes Ophelia, and from that point on, he avoids her.  Then, when she confronts him, he lets out a huge rant on all women in general-it is a way to indirectly vent his rage at his mother, since he suspects she is listening.

    So, think of a nunnery.  There, women cannot marry at all; they cannot be under the influence of any men, or influence men in any way.  Hamlet feels that is where a woman has a best chance at being faithful, and where she will cause the least amount of damage.  After all, as he tells Ophelia also, "why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?"; in a nunnery, she won't have children and bear wicked men-like his uncle-that do awful things.  A nunnery will keep her from marrying, but if she were to marry, Hamlet says, "be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow...[or] marry a fool" who doesn't know "what monsters you make of them" (III.i.122-146).

    I hope that explanation helps a bit!  Good luck!

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/hamlet-text/act-i-scene-i
    http://www.enotes.com/hamlet-text/act-i-scene-ii
    http://www.enotes.com/hamlet/themes

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    Posted by mrs-campbell on Wednesday March 4, 2009 at 4:47 PM

  2. ray-eston-smith-jr
    ray-eston-smith-jr

    "Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a
    breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest;
    but yet I could accuse me of such things that it
    were better my mother had not borne me."

    Hamlet began courting Ophelia when he was a Wittenberg scholar, with some hope of escaping the "voice of Denmark."  But then in obedience to his mother, he obeyed his uncle's command to "be as ourself in Denmark" ("Denmark is a prison"), where he was "subject to his birth" and could not "carve for himself."

    Because he loved Opehlia, he did not want to draw her into his prison.  He did not want to make her "a breeder of sinners" - the bloody-thinking line of warlike princes and kings like Claudius and Hamlet and his father (who was the "question of these wars").

    Another possible source of the nunnery remark is the influence of James VI of Scotland.  The Stewart line of kings began with a baby ripped from the womb of Margaret Bruce after she had died from a broken neck.  ("good kissing carrion"..."breed maggots"..."as your daughter may conceive")  From age 11 to 17, Margaret had been a captive of the Edward II, who had her confined to a nunnery.  For more details, see "Did James VI of Scotland Write Ur-Hamlet?" in Literature Network Forums:

    http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41482&highlight=Ur-Hamlet

     

     

    Sources:
    http://academia.wikia.com/wiki/Motifs_in_Hamlet

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    Posted by ray-eston-smith-jr on Thursday March 5, 2009 at 6:05 AM


  3. jillyfish Student
    Doctorate

    Hamlet suspects Ophelia has betrayed him by being willing 'bait' for her father's spytrap. 

    A few minutes before, Hamlet was very close to killing himself, so think about his emotional state, he's feeling a total fragile wreck. Then along comes Ophelia, his much-loved girlfriend. ... and she finishes with him. She returns his love-letters and poems and gifts. Ouch! That's not good timing.

    Then, Hamlet realises they are being spyed on. He suddenly suspects Ophelia is a willing accomplice to this covert operation and that she's cheerfully dumped him in public to get a reaction.

    He does what many love-sick, unhappy, rejected ex-boyfriends do when they can't have the girl they love. He rages. For some reason, we reserve the worst insults for the ones we love. He calls her names and tries to hurt her feelings.

    Also, he may be 'playing to the gallery', aware that they are being spied on, he may be exagerating his 'madness'. But considering he was moments from suicide and his girlfriend just dumped him, he probably didn't need to act too hard.

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    Posted by jillyfish on Thursday March 5, 2009 at 6:37 AM