"Why Hamlet is Unkind to Ophelia";This was an essay for English Lit On Hamlet that gives quotes that back-up Hamlet's unkind treatment of Ophelia.

When Hamlet behaves so cruelly toward Ophelia after his "To be or not to be" soliloquy, it shows the audience that he has given up on women and the idea of marriage entirely because of his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle, Claudius, who killed his father. Also, because her father had advised her to "be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence" to Hamlet, Ophelia had given him more support in his conclusion that "Frailty, thy name is woman!" which he had arrived at because of his mother.

In Act II Scene 1, Ophelia tells her father of the visit Hamlet had made to her. He seemed to be struggling with some mental anguish that was probably his want to confide in her is deepest secret, the plan of revenge for his father's murder. However, he did not tell her of it, because he had sworn to the Ghost that he would not.

David Garrick in Hamlet, I, 4

English: Mignon Nevada as "Ophelia", glass negativ...

„Ophelia“

This shows how much he had once cared for and had confided in Ophelia when they were once together, but he could no more.

When Ophelia tries to return "remembrances" that Hamlet had given her, he refused that he had ever given them to him. This was the final blow to his opinion of women. Just as his mother had so easily forgotten her love for his father and turned to his uncle, Ophelia had forgotten about how they had once been so close. He tells her that she, as all women are, is two faced, that "God has given you one face and you make yourselves another". The full extent of what his mother's actions has done to him is expressed when he says there will be "no more marriages", and his intent to avenge his father's death is expressed when he says...