In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare explores the different kinds of love in family, romance, friendship and the divine. He depicts the unreliability of human love through the demonstration of betrayal amongst Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, through Gertrude's hasty marriage to Claudius. However, there are moments within the play where human love is proven to be reliable, examples being Ophelia's love for Hamlet and her father alongside Horatio's brotherly love for Hamlet.

The world of Hamlet is one where familial love is shallow at the beginning of the play. This is displayed through Hamlet's strained relationship with Gertrude caused by her marriage to Claudius. This is portrayed through the hasty marriage of Claudius to Gertrude shortly after Old king Hamlet's funeral. The audience is informed of this hasty timeline as Hamlet exclaims "The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables." Shakespeare uses a sarcastic tone embedded with underlying bitterness to emphasize the tone of betrayal. New Historicist Greenblatt interprets the line as "a critique of societal thrift and bourgeois values" suggesting that Hamlet's sarcasm highlights the unsettling speed at which grief transitions to celebration. While Greenblatt poses a solid argument about the societal thrift, a romantic reading would dig deeper into Hamlet's personal emotions, understanding that his character hasn't just experienced an ordinary betrayal of love, but a betrayal of maternal love. His mother's love is proven to be unreliable, this lays the foundation for his trust in women. As seen later in the play, he reflects the distrust that stems from his mother's unreliable to love to Ophelia in his words, leading to a brutal rejection of her love for him.

Love is not just proven unreliable by his family, but also his friends; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Their actions are not motivated by affection for Hamlet but simply to remain in Claudius's favour. The superficiality of their relationship is highlighted when Hamlet asks them "were you sent for? Is it your own inclining? Is it a free visitation?". The tri-colon of questions derives from the pair's inability to connect with Hamlet on a deeper level as one would expect friends should do. Feminist critic Marilyn French argues that "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sacrifice the bond of human friendship for social propriety", suggesting that their willingness to acts as tools for Claudius highlights their betrayal of Hamlet's trust. Others might argue that their actions could have been inspired by fear of Claudius. In Elsinore loyalty is transactional and love is a liability, and because this culture has already been established, it serves as a valid motive for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's actions. The audience can discern that the court is a political environment and in such environments, love isn't paramount, but loyalty is. However, the betrayal has already taken its toll and begins Hamlet's descent into paranoia and rightfully so, as human love consistently proves to be unreliable, he is forced to question who he can trust.

The unreliability of human love is a common motif in the play Hamlet. However, there are also some relationships that prove that human love can be reliable. Ophelia's love for her father perfectly portrays this when she runs mad after finding out about her father's death. This is evident in her lyrics "He is dead and gone. Lady, he is dead and gone". Her repetition of the nouns "dead" and "gone" highlights her deepened sense of grief and pain. This is emphasized by her singing, intentionally done by Shakespeare to capture the intensity of her emotions and accurately portray her emotional state. Simon Godwin's production of Hamlet portrays Ophelia in this scene in a very tattered state, scattered hair with scratch marks on her arms to indicate self-harm as she aggressively screams the song to Gertrude with tears in her eyes. This intentional portrayal depicts Ophelia's torn apart state and in it, through a psychoanalytic lens, lies a broken soul unable to comprehend the loss of a love she could always rely on. The depth of Ophelia's relationship is captured through her insanity. However, this interpretation might enforce the stereotype of the fragile woman. A feminist reading might challenge this, questioning why grief always strips female characters of their agency while Hamlet's madness is treated as philosophical.