Falan, I agree that Ophelia and Laertes both respect their father very much and seem to be a close-knit family. Laertes respect for Polonius is evident when he’s about to leave for France, he says “A double blessing is a double grace. Occasion smiles upon a second leave” (I, iii, 53-54). Laertes is happy that his father is there once again to see him off to France and give him some final words of wisdom. Ophelia shows respect for her father because of her quick obedience in whatever he asks of her. “No, my good lord. But as you did command/I did repel his fetters and denied his access to me” (II, i, 8-10). It’s clear that both Ophelia and Laertes truly love their father and would do whatever it takes to please him. And as you said, Ophelia …show more content…
He could be classified as a bumbling fool because the long-winded speeches he gives shows that the love of his own voices leads to his constant chattering. He is described by Hamlet as acting like a “foolish prating knave” (III, iv, 221) but I believe he is this way to help secure his social position and keep his popularity safe. It is his way of covering up his ploy to gain social advancement. After Polonius hears of Hamlet’s mental state from Ophelia, he automatically concludes that his cause of madness must be his love for Ophelia. This is indeed foolish because he should have reasoned more thoroughly and been able to come up with different options as to the reasons for Hamlet’. Clearly, Hamlet had far better reasons to be in this mental state like his father’s premature murder and his mother’s disloyal incestuous marriage to his uncle. Polonius also demonstrates dedication and loyalty to the king by coming to him with the predicament of Hamlet’s insanity. He tells Queen Gertrude and King Claudius, “I will be brief: your noble son is mad. Mad call I it, for, to define true madness, what is ’t but to be nothing else but mad” (II, ii, 94-96)? Polonius also asks Claudius what his opinion of him is and the king answers, “As of a man faithful and honorable” (II, ii,
Although Polonius doesn’t have any infidelities, he treats Ophelia with the same respect that Willy treats Linda with. He uses Ophelia to help scheme with the King. Polonius says, “Ophelia, walk you here graciously, so please you” (3.1.43). Polonius tells Ophelia to do what he says so he can listen in on Hamlet’s conversation.
He also admits to his mother after he kills Polonius his lack of true insanity. While talking to his mother he says “I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft” (Act 3, Scene 4, Line 194-5). Others realize themselves that his madness may not be true, and that even if it is, he still has shred of sanity. Even Polonius catches on to his act and mentions “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” (Act 2, Scene 2, Line 205-6) Polonius feels as though Hamlet’s insanity is nothing more than possibly rudeness and sarcasm, instead of genuine loss of mind.
Leaving her only with the response saying “I shall obey, my lord”(1.3.145 ). Why Ophelia is unable to say more than a few simple words is made clear by societal expectations of the time. During this time daughters were the property of their fathers and were obligated to do their bidding. Campbell says “if she refuses Polonius, she risks social ostracism and grave insult to the man who capriciously controls her future” (58). Ophelia fears the backlash of disobeying her father, believing there is no other choice than doing what he has asked her to do. Even though a woman's virtue is a sacred and a very personal choice, her father leaves Ophelia with one option: to do what he says. “The issue of Ophelia’s chastity concerns Polonius as a parent and a politician—a virginal Ophelia has a better chance of attaining Hamlet’s hand in marriage” (Floyd-Wilson 401). This relationship Ophelia has between her father is very one-sided and unhealthy. It is formal and proper with very few emotions attached to each other. However, because Polonius is the only parental figure Ophelia has and loves him, his death was extremely difficult for her. Her father, hasn’t left her like Laertes and hasn’t rejected her like Hamlet. Making his unexpected death the final straw to her losing her sanity. Without someone to guide her, she is lost. She is unable to blindly follow a man but is to racked with emotion to think clearly.
The scene between Hamlet and Polonius took place in Act II Scene 2. In Hamlet's first encounter with Polonius, he immediately insulted the old man by calling him a "fishmonger". He then quickly changed his opinion and complemented Polonius by calling him an honest man. Hamlet said, "to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand". As we know Polonius definitely was not such a man. Hamlet was portrayed as a clever lad, who was playing a psychological game with an old fool. He asked Polonius whether or not he had a daughter, pretending he did not know that Ophelia was Polonius's daughter. When Hamlet was asked about what he was reading, he replied by saying, "words, words, words". Throughout this scene, Hamlet revealed himself to Polonius as a mentally unstable man. He was playing a fool himself, while ingeniously using this to make Polonius look like an even bigger fool. He cleverly insulted Polonius' appearances indirectly, by referring to the book he was reading. According to that book old men had grey beards, their faces were wrinkled, they had a plentiful lack of wit, and so on. He was describing Polonius exactly. Perhaps the most humorous part took place when Hamlet, while saying, "for yourself, sir, shall grow old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward", he advanced towards Polonius, causing him to walk backwards. Those words and the actions on the stage revealed Hamlet to be a daring young man. When Polonius finally left, Hamlet dropped his pretense and yelled, "These tedious old fools!". In Act III Scene 2, Hamlet used a recorder, the musical instrument, as a telescope when Polonius entered the scene. He asked Polonius, "Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?". Hamlet always pretended to be the madman in front of Polonius, while he actually made him look like an old fool.
During Hamlet, Polonius and Laertes use Ophelia for their own self-gain not taking her feelings in consideration. In the article “Jephthah's Daughter's Daughter: Ophelia,” Cameron Hunt reveals that Polonius disregards Ophelia’s wants for his ...
He tells Ophelia that no matter how good she is as a wife she will always be perceived as a harlot, and that if she was to marry she needed to marry a fool because no one else would believe her loyalty. This quotation is filled with rage towards the female sex. Polonius and Laertes also attack Ophelia many times during the play for being a women. Warning her that men (Hamlet) only want her for body and chastity. Gabrielle Dane in his paper, “Reading Ophelia’s Madness” relates the way they treat her as an incestous stranglehold. They have made themselves Ophelia’s decision makers in every matter. Polonius makes remarks such as, “You do not understand yourself so clearly” and “Think yourself a baby” (1. 3. 96, 105) to Ophelia. These show that even her own family treat Ophelia with no respect or dignity
Polonius treats his children quite differently based on the advice he gives them. In Act 1 Scene 3, it is evident how Polonius feels toward his son, Laertes, and his daughter, Ophelia. At the time of Laertes departure to return back to France, Polonius provides him with extensive advice to retain. As Polonius speaks, pride radiates through his words as he guides his son with meaningful recommendations. His last advice consisted of, “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Only a few acts later, he murders Polonius in cold blood, and has no reaction, saying ‘I took thee for thy better’ (L.34) suggesting how he mistook Polonius for the King. In contrast Hamlet spends most of the time, thinking and not acting; it could be considered strange behaviour that he should suddenly react in this way. It can be argued that these, are not the actions of a sane person, and the question of to what extent is Hamlet’s madness is feigned. The OED defines ‘Mad’ as when ones actions are ‘uncontrolled by reason or judgement; foolish, unwise’ which can be argued to encompass Hamlets behaviour, and it might be thought that from Polonius’s murder,
Polonius in Hamlet comes across as the “embarrassing dad” everyone talks about and laughs at. However, Lord Polonius is a manipulative, self-centered, and sneaky old man. Polonius cleverly uses his manipulative, self-centered, and sneaky traits to turn people and the play in many directions to cause sorrow, hardship, and ultimately, death. Lord Polonius is usually regarded as wrong in his every day judgment that he makes during this play, which ultimately gives him his edge in fooling many to make himself seem the best fit for the King’s chief counselor. Polonius is the one character who always wants things to go his way, all the time, and tries to make it happen in an almost controlling and manipulative way.
I thought Hamlet demonstrated his madness greatly here because it seemed like Polonius knew he was mad and just played along. Polonius didn't want Hamlet to get annoyed because Polonius disagreed with him. If Polonius didn't have any idea that Hamlet was going mad he probably would have said something about what Hamlet was talking about and would have asked him why he was acting like he was. Polonius also would have done something to change the way he had been acting or help him out.
Polonius states that he will "teach" Ophelia what to think in line 105. The power that Polonius has over Ophelia in this scene is enormous and infinite. Ophelia, almost embracing the demands, tells her father that she "shall obey (line 136)." Polonius is Ophelia's trusted person because she even shares her love life. Despite the possibility that she may have strong interests in Hamlet, she obeys Polonius' command to "repel his letters," and then "denied his access" to her in Act 2, scene 2, lines 108-109. Everything in Ophelia’s life is controlled by her father, this is same as the theme in the article, the role of man in a family is really important because man is the decision maker and it will never
The way that Polonius acts as a good father towards Ophelia is mostly how he doesn’t want her to get hurt by Hamlet. Ophelia tells Polonius all about what Hamlet has said and given her. She tells her father that Hamlet gives her presents and tells her nice things out of affection.
Overall, if Laertes and Ophelia did not experience the cognitive effects of life without their mother, their core issues would not be so toxic to their prosperity through life. In regard to Ophelia, if she had a mother figure to help her discover her place in the world and who could stand up against her brother and father’s pressures, maybe she could have developed her sense of self. If her mother was present to talk her through her rocky relationship with Hamlet, maybe Ophelia could have managed to walk away from a verbally abusive romance. If her low self esteem was less troubling in result of her mother’s love, it is possible that Ophelia could have held a stronger, less-obedient ground and allowed her to stay sane even through the obstacles
First introduced through conversation with her brother, Ophelia is asserted as a love interest of Hamlets. Within the conversation, Laertes proposes hypocritical advice which she quickly replies to with witty retort: "Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,/ Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;/ Whiles, like a puff 'd and reckless libertine,/ Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,/ And recks not his own rede." (I. iii.). Her introduction instills both her friendly relationship with her brother, as well as her comical, original nature. It asserts her neither passive nor aggressive. Within the same setting shortly after, her father asserts a protective command over Ophelia. "I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,/ Have you so slander any moment leisure,/ As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet./ Look to 't, I charge you: come your ways." (I. iii.). Being told to stay away from Hamlet to protect her honor as a woman, Ophelia accepts and complies; it is somewhat foolish yet primarily protective of her father, but also displays Ophelia 's attachment to family in respect and care.
Hamlet at this point is only pretending to be mad. He feigns madness by calling Polonius a “fishmonger” with one breath and then recalls he has a daughter with the next. Polonius calls his replies, “pregnant”. He means they are full of meaning and he claims that to be “a happiness that often madness hits on,” (II.ii.227-228). Polonius says, aside, that Hamlet’s lengthy replies are a sign of madness. Hamlet is revealed to be only pretending to be mad because as Polonius leaves Hamlet says aside, “These tedious old fools” (II.ii.237). This shows that Hamlet clearly knows and hates Polonius and was putting up an act. It is also a short remark and as Polonius stated, long remarks are signs of madness.