Critically examine the Nunnery Scene in Hamlet.

Critically examine the Nunnery Scene in Hamlet.

In ‘Shakespeare’s master piece Hamlet, the Nunnery Scene, which comes in the First scene of the third Act, is among the important scenes of the play. The scene gets its title from the hero’s repeated use of the word ‘nunnery.’ The scene contains a fine picture of Hamlet in his ‘antic disposition’ and also marks the final breach of the pair of lover, Hamlet and Ophelia. Let us see first in what state of mind Hamlet confronts Ophelia in the Nunnery scene when he comes to know from the assumed ghost of his father that the late king of Denmark has been poisoned to death by his own brother Claudius who has usurped the crown and marries the widow of the dead king, that is his mother, Hamlet faces a tremendous blow of fate. Further, he is waged by the ghost to avenge the murder of his father, but without hurting Gertrude, his mother. This burden is almost unbearable for him and he hides his real-self behind the mask of an ‘antic disposition.’ This drives Claudius, the newly crowned king, into a deep confusion and he, being conscious of his guilt is desperate to know the cause and motive behind it. Polonius, courtier to the king, argues that this madness in Hamlet is the effect of the frustration which he suffers after the rejection of his love by Ophelia, daughter of Polonius. To prove his argument he proposes to arrange a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia and further proposes to ‘loose’ his daughter at Hamlet.

At the beginning of this scene, when Hamlet mentions Ophelia as a ‘nymph,’ there is visible a faint possibility of reconciliation between the two. But word after word, they go far from each other and the last ray of hope of reconciliation is doomed to dashes. By this time the prince has undergone considerable transformation and is not the same lover which he once was. Ophelia is, essentially, a part of the whole plot deliberately designed by Polonius, but we are incapable to know her own intentions. In fact, she is too simple to properly follow the words of her ‘lord’ and get the real meaning out of them. Here, while speaking to Ophelia, Hamlet perhaps has yet another person constantly in mind, his mother. Infact, the central theme of the play is the effect of a mother’s guilt upon her son. Thus generalizing his vision of women as ‘frailty’- “frailty, thy name is woman,”- Hamlet suspects that Ophelia is dishonest. Now he is convinced that beauty and honesty cannot go hand in hand. Beauty is more powerful than honesty. And the next moment, when Hamlet says “I did love you once” he admits that he could not ignore the charms of Ophelia and could not avoid loving her..............................................................................................................................................................

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Milan Tomic

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