The Hamlet Project

Hamlet talks about love
The others talk about duty and honor.
Hamlet tells them he will requite their loves
They tell him they will honor their duty to him.
He’s going to correct them in the next line
Remind them that it’s love he’s talking about
Not duty
Or honor.
As the prince, I guess, he has the freedom
To love whomever he wants
But those he loves have to be
A little more cautious about that line.
It’s actually a little sad though
That Hamlet loves and is met
With honor and duty
Which he requites with love.
While it certainly is a privilege to be able to express love
Where another cannot,
Is it not painful to be always loving first
To be making the space for love
To be bringing love out into the open
And never receive it?
This has no significance anywhere else in the play.