An individual in love is a selfish individual. Though love can be categorized into different feelings: from lust, the need to gain the same favour from another; to desire, a want that can be from a distance; to passion, the selfish and deceptive need to maintain the fire and illusion that is associated with love; all these subunits drive an individual to push past obstacles in order to gain a sense of certainty with another. An individual in love is a compromising individual. And though this can possess success, reality suggests it often leads to failure. However, failure has its own branches for it can be from either unrequited love or rejection. It can be said that an individual that is unsatisfied with every aspect of their life, cannot be expected to take rejection well. Rejection and unrequited love is explored by many through their own perspectives, given that it leads to the same conclusion-Hearts broken.
In Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet,’ Hamlet does not face the challenges of unrequited love but instead the rejection of it. It is known that Hamlet is still in love with Ophelia, even as he had said, “Take thee to a nunnery”. Through its multiple definitions and multiple repetitions it is used as more of a verbal discredit rather than care. This verbal abuse can be seen as his exertion over Ophelia because she is one of the few people he can truly control. Being conscious of the power he has over her, aggression allows him to cope with his actions for he does not see the repercussions of it; however, Ophelia takes this as a favour that is not returned and thus it leads to the similar yet different ways of coping with such separation. As Hamlet uses his anger and need for vengeance, Ophelia loses her sensibility in a much more self-deceptive way. By breaking the illusion and dishonouring not only her feelings but her role as a woman, but it had led her to lose her self will. One can say that love is as powerful as God itself for her use of the”They say the owl was a baker’s daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be. God be at your table.” which can indicate her renouncing of God. Through her madness she displays the traits of one who is unable to find an anchor to her love. Because she has compromised so much for the men she loved, one can say that through the death of her father and the rejection she faces from Hamlet, all love was lost. It is because a religion such as Christianity is based after such terms such as love, innocence, and chasteness that she was no longer in the light. It is through such that one can find Ophelia and Hamlet’s truths to be a reality for many other individuals; because under compelling circumstances, individuals will try to survive in any way possible; whether it be through rejecting love or insanity.
Often times, the illusion of love can bring forth a feeling like no other. You see it through Khalil Gibran’s ‘On Love’ as well as Tennessee William’s ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’ You see it through movies such as Interstellar, that say that, “Love is the one thing that we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.” And you see it in real life, where there isn’t soundtracks or poetry to go with it. I see it everywhere from the sparkly eyes of couples in grocery stores to my friends losing their free will to a boy. And though I have never been in a relationship or in love, I do understand that if free will is something that can be lost, is there really any free will? What forces people to consider suicide over a heartbreak? What pulls a person in to depression? What pulls them out? It must be love. It must be the different forms of love that can be the one to push a person to such thoughts and yet coax them out of it. I’ve never been one to fall in love but I have been the one to be rejected and face unrequited feelings. I hesitate to call it love but it could have been. I’ve seen relatives, separated and rejected by their husband or wife; facing divorce papers with a breathless look of defeat. I’ve seen the same people ask me to stay over at their place for they fear of the thoughts they may have alone. These people are faced with the impending and demanding insanity that has taken ahold of their mind. Slowly dissipating through their whole soul and in order to numb the feeling and suppress it- Pills are taken. I’ve been given the duty to cheer these people up. To completely destroy the reality of loneliness and offer the solution of my love to them. I’ve been on call with these people and have seen their messages light up my room at four. I, in my own way of coping, find that having a lesson from each heartbreak diminishes my will to do anything extreme. I try to see rejection as love. Unrequited feelings as love. I see my will to be there for others as love. I see that other people not returning the favour as my love. I see that my strength only grows through the love I have for everything. I see my small obsessions with poetry books and completed journals as love. Unlike Ophelia and Hamlet, I devote myself to the cause of living and breathing love. This is seen through the simple fact that if there is no love- Everything becomes a burden.
Ophelia displays the qualities many feel on the inside; though not everyone is singing to the same tune. It is through the Shakespearean play ‘Hamlet’,that an individual faced with unrequited love displays the physical signs of disorientation. This is a directly results from their ‘crutch’ being taken away. Because an individual is unable to cope with the loneliness and isolation associated with rejection and unrequited feelings, one can say that love is can create and destroy morality. And it is through love that the morality can be altered and changed; for, an individual in love is a unpredictable individual.
