In William Shakespeare’s, Hamlet, the author brings to life, a story of revenge, betrayal, love, hate and friendship. Polonius, although seen as a conniving old man, deeply loves his children. Polonius is constantly giving his children the sound advice that we would give our own children. He is only looking out for the best interest of his children, although not always seen that way. He is viewed as the bad guy, only because Hamlet is the good guy and we all take Hamlet’s side throughout the play.
His daughter, Ophelia is mesmerized by Hamlet’s love and always runs to her father with her problems. Although she doesn’t see anything wrong with the way Hamlet feels about her, Polonius sees it differently. He thinks that Hamlet has gone mad, and that what he is feeling for Ophelia is a result of that, not love. After a confrontation with Hamlet, Ophelia comes to her father, seeming scared, and says that “To speak of horrors / he comes before me” (2.1.92). Polonius sees that she has been frightened and in an attempt to protect his daughter, he apologizes to her for what has happened an...
... every chance he gets, he belittles her, and basically states that she is nothing more of a possession of his, who will act as he wishes. What kind of a father treats their daughter like that? Or any parent for that matter? A child, young or old, is never a possession, but an extension of who the parents are (or were, whatever the case may be). By keeping Ophelia away from Hamlet, or at least demanding she not have anything to do with him, Polonius is keeping his kingdom at peace … and in the dark. Through keeping his daughter from love, he is killing two birds with one stone. He is keeping his daughter from Hamlet and thus away from him, but he is also keeping Hamlet from being happy as well. Again, what kind of a parent would deny their child love?
The bond between father and daughter is something that some consider sacred. Polonious uses this bond with Ophelia to please Claudius and Gertrude in finding our what is wrong with Hamlet. The King and Queen were very upset at Hamlet's seeming insanity. They tell Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that finding out what is wrong with Hamlet would be "the supply and profit of [their] hope (P.34)." They are obviously disenchanted at his behavior, and Polonious knows this, and tries to use his daughter to prove his theory. When Ophelia came and described to him her meeting with Hamlet in Act I, Polonious immediately took her to the King. Polonious, acting on his duty to "both [his] God and to [his] gracious king (P. 34)" took Ophelia to Claudius to see if he could be any help in trying to find out what is wrong with Hamlet. He quickly tells the king that he will ".loose [his] daughter to [Hamlet] (p. 38)" and concocts an elaborate plan t...
First of we need to keep in mind the fact that Polonius is chief advisor to the Dane, this puts him in a great position to give an insight into one of the primary characters, Claudius. The conversations held between the king and Polonius gives the reader a more vivid picture of just how twisted the mind of Claudius is and adds to the tragic atmosphere of the play. From these dialogues Polonius exhibits that he is not as simple minded, as he seems. There is a whole lot more going on in the head of the bumbling fool than it appears to be. To show this you would have to consider the faces of Polonius, devotion to his family and loyalty to the king.
Even though Polonius is a comical character, he has a functional relation to the main themes of the play and helps us gain insight on other characters. The stupidity of his advisor stresses one more time that Claudius is not as able a king as King Hamlet was before him. "Madam, I swear I use no art at all," (II. ii 104) says Polonius, and the readers laugh to the absurdity of this statement. This unfortunately is very characteristic of his personality - to use "art" and to act as a "lawful espial" (III. i. 35). The artificiality of Polonius suggests the kind of world in which Hamlet and the other characters are now living - full of deceit, pretense and masks.
In the first scene of Act II, Polonius and Ophelia discuss the meaning of Hamlet's odd behavior. Though the two characters agree his actions arise out of the torment of spurned love, they arrive at that point through very different means. At the beginning of the dialogue, Ophelia says that she has been "affrighted" by Hamlet in her bed chamber. (II,i 75) Her encounter with the Prince left her scared about his real intentions. She says that he looks like he has been,"loosed out of hell/To speak of horrors". (II,i 83-4) The very fact that Hamlet does not speak one word to Ophelia makes him look even more intimidating. By not speaking anything, Hamlet at once strengthens his image as a madman, as well as shrouding his real intentions towards those around him. Just following this passage comes a place in the text where we can see how the character of Ophelia has been manipulated by Polonius. After his "hint" that he might be doing this out of frustrated love, Ophelia says that that is what she truly does fear. (87) Her feelings of pity and concern are shaped by her father in order to fit his case of madness against Hamlet.
There are many parents who are too strict and do not let their children do things that might embarrass them. Other times a parent may use their child to do certain things in order to gain social prestige. Polonius demonstrates a similar type of behavior in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Polonius is "a domestic tyrant wreaking on his son and his daughter revenge for his own spoiled life" (Bloom 111) and "is an elderly and longwinded courtier and chief counselor" (Dominic 96) to the king. Polonius is in a high position in the Danish court, and he has a problem with talking too much. He is only concerned about his reputation, not Ophelia, "the young and innocent daughter of Polonius . . . ("Polonius" Benet). The main character, Hamlet, is the son of Queen Gertrude and King Hamlet of Denmark. King Hamlet has recently died, supposedly from natural causes. Hamlet despises the fact that his mother has remarried his uncle, now King Claudius, so soon after the death of King Hamlet. Later Hamlet sees the ghost of his father and King Hamlet tells him Claudius murdered him by putting poison in his ear. The ghost wants Hamlet to kill the new king, but to not harm his mother. Meanwhile, Hamlet is in love with Ophelia, but Polonius refuses to let her see him. Ophelia believes this obedience to her father has caused Hamlet's madness. However, in order for Polonius to please Claudius, he uses her to figure out the cause of Hamlet's abnormal behavior. After Polonius' death, Ophelia dies, and her death was because of her father's selfishness and poor decisions in doing all he could to satisfy Claudius.
After being verbally abused by the man she loves, there is no sympathy from her own father. Polonius just tells his daughter he and the King heard it all, that she should not worry about explaining: "—How now, Ophelia? You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said, we heard it all—My Lord do as you please..." (3.1.174-176). The little concern Polonius shows towards his daughter 's feelings, not only shows his selfishness,
Ophelia is a beautiful disaster. She is simply two faced, wearing a mask on the outside to elongate her delicateness and niceness, yet on the inside, she has a dark and twisted beauty to her showing that she has everyone fooled and is very much sane. Submissive, naive, and disturbed, seem to represent Ophelia perfectly. She stands in marked contrast to the schemings and manipulations of the Danish court. Polonius, her father, has shielded Ophelia with his love and compassion. She tells her overbearing father, "I shall obey my Lord" (1.4.10) when he tells her she can no longer see Hamlet, her lover. Ophelia has been in love with Hamlet before any of Hamlet's numerous tragedies occur, yet her father comes first. She is obedient to him because she places family above others. Since she is naive and innocent, she is frightened and disillusioned by Hamlet's inexplicable behavior and persuaded by her father's urgency in the need for her to help establish what Hamlet's condition and motives are...
Hamlet – the Wise Polonius The older gent in Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, namely Polonius, is no type character. Rather he is quite rounded and complex. This essay will explore his character.
The causes of Ophelia's decent into madness start long before she is raving and signing rude songs. It is a madness brought of mistreatment; a mistreatment that started with her father. Upon first hearing of Hamlet's affection for her Polonius is very dismissive of it. He even tells her not to waste her time with him as a result "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." (Shakespeare & Bevington, 2009, pp. P1105 L133-135) This is given as an order, which Ophelia says she will obey. The earlier exchange is quite dismissive of the affection between Ophelia and Hamlet, despite her defending it in terms of Hamlet having shown that love both in words and gifts and the defense of him courting her in an honorable fashion. Polonius is again quick to dismiss his daughter's view of the world saying "Affection? Pooh! you speak like a green ...
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.
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.
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive!". This quote by
good-bye in his chambers, Polonius tells his son: Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but,
He is essentially telling Ophelia how she should be behaving and reacting to her own situations. This is portraying her as a woman who cannot think for herself and is dependant on Polonius. In addition, Polonius’ death is the trigger to Ophelia’s insanity, because she depended upon him a great deal. When Ophelia is told by Polonius to never contact Hamlet again, she obeys Polonius, but Hamlet acts crazy in reaction to her denial. Ophelia says, “No, my good lord; but, as you did command, / I did repel his letters and denied / His actions to me.” (2.1.109-111) By doing everything Polonius tell her to do, she makes matters for herself worse. Ophelia cannot stand up for her...