Father-Child Relationships in Hamlet and Fences

In medieval times, the word of the man of the house, in this case being Polonius was to be obeyed by the women of the residence. Also the word of the husband is held to a similar standard. Therefore, Ophelia would have felt an obligation to obey both Hamlet and her father. This however, creates controversy within Ophelia herself due to her commitment to both her father and her unnecessary commitment to Hamlet. Her passion for Hamlet seems to be diffused by her greater sense of commitment to her father. Ophelia is not entirely true to Hamlet in that she lies to Hamlet and tells him that her father is at home when he is actually behind a curtain listening in on the conversation. This is evidence that Ophelia is not able to operate and maintain sanity under the pressure from both sources. In her choice of obedience to her father, she in a sense has chosen the course of her fate (which is inevitable doom). But does Ophelia fulfill the requirements of her day as a woman? One way of looking at the issue is the question that was Ophelia driven insane by her desire and love for Hamlet, or was she merely a casualty of a culture that creates unfeasible demands from women? Due to her incapability to create her own decisions, she is vulnerable to the influence of her father and brother and

It is obvious to the audience that Troy and Cory simply do not get along. The two are constantly bickering, mostly about Cory's dream to play football at the college level. Since playing baseball did not get Troy anywhere, he feels that football will not benefit Cory and that Cory should "get recruited in how to fix cars or something where he can make a living" (8). Troy constantly denounces Cory's dream and pressures his son to quit the highschool football team so that he can work at the local grocery store. The verbal abuse of Cory by Troy is enough to make Cory question whether or not his own father even likes him, but it is not until after Troy's affair with Alberta is out in the open that Troy and Cory's unhealthy relationship reaches a whole new level.

August Wilson’s Fences is a play about Troy Maxson, and how his values influence his family’s. The play takes place in 1950’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Troy Maxson is a black, middle aged man working for a garbage company. Each member of the Maxson family has a special relationship with Troy, that affects their behavior throughout the play. In life you learn the most from your parents. They teach you how to walk, speak, and respect one another. Your parents also give you a set of values for life. As you grow up as your own individual, your values will change from your parents. There will be things that are much more important to you, and not as important to them. In the play Fences Troy Maxson has a very strong set of values that he believes are true in how you should live life. Troy imposes these values on everyone in his family to the best of his ability. Each character in Fences is at a different stage in their life, so Troy can’t push his values onto characters that already have their own beliefs. The character that Troy has the most influence on in the play is Cory. Troy is in Cory’s life throughout his childhood, and as his father Cory must respect Troy. Troy is very firm with Cory, because he wants Cory to be successful. Cory has a dream of becoming a football player, and this does not follow Troy’s values. Troy influences Cory so much that Cory will always be like Troy whether he realizes it or not. “Your daddy wanted you to be everything he wasn’t … and at

There are volumes of critical analyses devoted to William Shakespeare's Hamlet. As the title indicates, Hamlet is the main character of the play, but there are other characters who are also important to the plot. So much attention has been given to Hamlet's antics that characters such as Ophelia remain relatively unexamined. Ophelia is a key figure in the play, and to understand her reactions to the patriarchal society in which she lives through her relationships with the men in her life adds more depth to the play. Ophelia's character is revealed through her relationships with her father, Polonius, her brother, Laertes, and her lover, Hamlet, and their characters in turn are revealed through their

The role parents play in a child’s development is critical. They are the people who have the most influence on them, effecting most aspects of even their adult life. When too controlling, the role of a parent can have lasting negative consequences for the child. In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the author shows that loss of an authoritative parent leaves people trying to replace the loss of that control in unhealthy ways that destroy the person. This can be seen in the lives of Ophelia, Hamlet and Laertes, who all loose a controlling father.

Using the law to aid Troy’s argument strips his claim of anything personal or emotional. Laws are rules that have nothing to do with love or family and they are made by complete strangers. Troy is saying that there is nothing personal about him liking or disliking his own son because there is not a law that forces him to “like” his son. This part of the speech is an important piece of support for Troy’s claim because it begins to challenge the largest, yet simplest and least questionable piece of evidence that Cory may have to counter argue his father’s objective. This also gives the reader insight into Troy’s views because he values the law over the fundamental caring that is expected of a father. Toward the end of this section of the speech, Troy mentions that he puts in hard work for his family that is in no way a token of how much he likes them and it would be foolish to think otherwise.

Cory is very aware that his father is envious of his athletic accomplishments. Troy also has no respect for Lyons and he does not support his dream to be a musician.

Both of them have the racism, discrimination, the generation conflicting. The hard period time in which Troy Maxson in Fences, he is an African-American. He has his dream to be a player in the Major Leagues. The racist segregated society destroys the dream of a man. The big suffering which he has to be from his child life until he has a family and the relationships in the rest of his life. A father of his children, a husband of Rose, he volunteers put the big responsibility on his shoulder. He is proud of his protection on his family to be safe. However, the conflict between Cory and Troy, that is a big picture of interculturalism in the relationship between father and son. Troy put the bad thought in his son's head about him by accident. Cory thinks his father never likes him because Troy stops Cory to play football and attend to college. Cory thinks Troy want Cory to be a stupid one, just working for a supermarket. Troy tries to explain the problem and make it clear to Cory. Troy wants his family to be safe. Troy wants to protect all people in his controlling because he knows this feudal society, is never fair and equal to African-American. The fear of Troy is so big to blind to see the future of his son. He is scared of people around him, the White people, America society. The fear of the Black American. they are always the lowest stream of this society. They were exploited labor, they being held as

Ophelia’s father, Polonius, wishes to keep his family’s honor in tact, and fears that Ophelia’s open regard for Hamlet will diminish his honor. Both Polonius and Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, believe that Ophelia’s preference for Hamlet will only end in disgrace for their family, as Hamlet would never marry her due to her lower social standing, therefore, they counsel her to break off any understanding with Hamlet. As a woman, Ophelia realizes her duty to her father and her brother, and therefore decides to disregard her own feelings about Hamlet and do as her father and brother wish.

Polonius teams up with King Claudius and once again places demands on Ophelia which require her to disregard her own self to fulfill their wishes of deceiving Hamlet into revealing the cause of his erratic behavior. And once again, it is Ophelia’s duty to her father and this time to the king to be obedient. Disobedience to the king and his advisor are not an option. Polonius wants the king to look on him in good favor and he is willing to step on his daughter to get this admiration. He neglects Ophelia’s feelings by not even thinking of how his requests will affect her. He feels at liberty to request whatever he would like. He is purely worried about himself. Polonius holds a position of unquestioning authority over his daughter. He treats her as though she is not intelligent enough to make her own decisions and he knows that she will inherently obey him. To him her feelings are irrelevant and immature which he states when saying “Affection, puh, you speak like a green girl.”(1.3.101) Following her fathers instructions, she loses her lover and a piece of her happiness.

In the play, Fences, Troy seems to have a complicated relationship with every other character in the play. This applies especially to his relationship with his son, Cory. Troy and Cory have many similarities and differences that complicate their relationship. There are many outside factors that also make matters worse.

Ophelia is Hamlet’s love interest throughout the entire play. However, in an attempt to be strategic, Hamlet feigns insanity in order to be deceiving and in turn breaks Ophelia's heart. His sudden disinterest towards her coupled with her father Polonius and brother Laertes’ commands to stay away from Hamlet composes a dire internal conflict within Ophelia's mind. She is torn between her undying love for Hamlet versus her desire to be an obedient daughter and sister. In addition, Hamlet unintentionally murders Polonius rather than Claudius, which also adds to Ophelia's insanity. To make matter worse, Ophelia has no mother figure within her life. So taken all together, she is stuck in a constant battle within herself with nobody who is there for her. “I hope all will be well. We must be patient/ but I cannot choose but weep/ to think they would lay him/ i' th' cold ground” (Hamlet v, iv). This quote from Ophelia demonstrates her deep sorrow towards her father's death, as well as the start of her path to insanity. Her lack of a maternal figure leaves her with nobody to discuss her feelings and troubles with. Because of this constant battle within her life, Ophelia finds herself in a confrontation with her emotions, which ends in her official decision of suicide. Which one could argue makes her decisive in the end which may be true, but her internal struggle leading to her choice of suicide is what makes her a great example of a character struggling with uncertainty during times of

Taken separately, these two characters have different agendas concerning the Prince. Polonius' preoccupation with power exists at the same time as Ophelia's true (but nevertheless easily controlled) concern. When looked at together, these two people form something larger. Ophelia's sentiments, when mixed with Polonius' desire for power, result in a double-edged sword aimed at Hamlet. Other scenes within the play have both of these characters trying to pull Hamlet in such a direction as to give the King the advantage he needs. In this scene, though Hamlet is not present, Polonius and Ophelia form a kind of anti-familial unit. On one level, this father-daughter team works well within itself. But on another level, these two figures symbolize the hazy separation Hamlet himself feels from any type of

Throughout the play “Fences” by August Wilson, the character of Troy is constantly trying to shape Cory into the person he wants Cory to be, rather than permit Cory to explore possibilities and make his own decisions. These dynamics compel Cory to take drastic measures in an attempt to create the change that he wants to experience and to become the person that he envisions. The drastic measures Cory employs involve verbal and physical violence against his father. Each episode of violence changes the dynamic between father and son, but also changes Cory himself. He begins to think that aggression is the only means of creating meaningful change. While he may be correct in thinking that violence changes situations and people, he does not fully understand the implications of change for everyone touched by the conflict and this shapes his character

           Ophelia allowed herself to become a sort of marionette in Polonius' schemes toward understanding the seemingly mad prince. While her relationship with Hamlet was on the line, she allowed Polonius to commandeer the strings that determined her actions. Polonius was determined that Hamlet's supposed madness stemmed from lovesickness for Ophelia. He convinced Ophelia that her betrayal of Hamlet was a necessary evil and she began to relay all of Hamlet's messages and attempts at communication to him. He told the king and queen: