Poor Ophelia!

Hamlet is so consumed by revenge that the enamored Ophelia has become a victim of his rage. He has chosen to undermine all his past efforts at wooing her to further his plot, though his plan is clever. I cannot help but appreciate the way he subtly turns the arts to further his own purposes, in a rapid and reasoned manner. But his lack of regard for Ophelia is, I think, a large clue to what can only be acknowledged as Hamlet's deepening madness. What sane man would totally disregard love in favor of hate? His thoughts of the world and his self-worth seem to be declining as rapidly as his mental stability. He chased off Ophelia by declaring, "What should such fellows as I do crawling between heaven and earth? We are arrant knaves all. Believe none of us." Hamlet can't stop at insulting his own sudden and drastic change of mind, but has to take all his fellow man down a peg at the same time! I, for one, wouldn't chose the increasingly insane Hamlet as the spokesman for my gender. If Hamlet's suggestion that Ophelia "marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them" is accurate, then I'd rather be a foolish monster with an adoring wife than a man blinded to love by his desire for revenge.