Did Hamlet love Ophelia before?

I believe that Hamlet did, indeed, love Ophelia before he knew anything about his father's murder. For instance, in Act 1.3, Ophelia reveals to her over-controlling father that Hamlet had confessed his love for her. Isn't that obvious enough that he loved her deeply? But also there are the love letters. In Act 2.2, Polonius talks about the many love letters that his daughter had received from the lord Hamlet prior to his madness but only mentions the one where he purposefully wrote a terrible one for her. Though he was a complete jerk to her in Act 3.1, the repeated lines of "go thee to a nunnery" shows his wanting for her to be his and only his, right? This is ignoring the fact that he made two women into one person... which is just nasty.