My name is Ophelia, and I am an honorable woman. But I may not seem that way to you, but please... I am confused - and I seek your help.
My dear brother, Laertes, and even my father, Polonius, have forbidden me from pursuing my love, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Laertes told me Hamlet's love is "A violet in the youth of primy nature/Forward, not not permanent, sweet, not lasting" (1.3.7-8); but that cannot be true. I suppose "He may not, as unvalued persons do/Carve for himself, for on his choice depends/The safety and health of this whole state" (1.3.19-21), and I realize it is petty to constantly fixate on him and yearn for us to be one, despite "His greatness weighed" and that "he himself is subject to his birth" (1.3.17-19), but I myself am a subject to my daughterly duties. I want to oblige to my family, as a daughter should - but as my brother continually looks down upon me, and reminds me that I am young, and "youth to itself rebels, though none else near" (1.3.44), I want to break free even further. I asked Laertes to "not, as some ungracious pastors do/Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven/Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine/Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads/And recks not his own rede" (1.3.47-51). But assured me, and said "O, fear me not" (1.3.51).
Must I trust my brother's words? Please, I seek your advice - what path must I take? To honor the wishes of the family, or to honor the wishes of the heart?
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