Good vs. Evil Compex in Shakespeare's Hamlet Essay

In another scene, Polonius orders Ophelia to return the gifts that Hamlet gave her, and to make her rejection of him unmistakable and absolute. Polonius believes that if she is the cause of Hamlet’s madness, this would be the proof. “That Hamlet loses his mental stability is arguable from his behavior toward Ophelia…” (Foster, par.16) In Branagh’s version, we see how terribly this tears Ophelia’s heart. When Hamlet sees her, he walks up to her, telling her how much he loves her. After Hamlet kisses her, she returns the love letters that he wrote back to him. She sees how crushed he is, which makes her feel even worse; but she also believes she has to do this because her father ordered her to. Hamlet tells her “Get thee to a nunnery” (William

Polonius’ image and plans take precedence over his daughter’s physical and mental wellbeing. This leaves her vulnerable and in danger in regards to Hamlet. When Ophelia describes Hamlet accosting her, Polonius’ reacts by saying:

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.

           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:

He thinks men can be allowed to do as they please, but women are not allowed to do what they want because they are under a much more careful eye. Furthermore, regardless of what he actually knows about the relationship, she tells Ophelia to not mistake Hamlet’s “affections” for the “fire” of love, because they are both too young to find love despite being in their mid twenties. Ophelia never stands up to her father in any large way, in fact she mostly just gives in to her father’s demands thus fueling his ego. Polonius often micromanages Ophelia in order to extend power over her, and by her always submitting to his power trip, she reinforces his reign over her and exemplifies her inability to live under her own

Which brings Polonius to talk to Claudius about why Hamlet has gone crazy and seems depressed, which Polonius thinks is because Ophelia will not talk to him, so they want to make Ophelia talk to him, even though she has been ignoring him at her father's request. Polonius says, “I’ll loose my daughter to him / Be you and I behind an arras then, / mark the encounter, ” wanting a reply from the King that it was a good plan (II.ii. 163-165). Claudius replies, “we will try it,” thinking that the plan that Polonius suggestion was appropriate to find out why Hamlet had gone crazy (II.ii. 168). Polonius just gives up his daughter to Claudius’s request on finding out what is wrong with Hamlet.

To completely understand how someone is, the reasoning behind their person, you have to take into account the people around them. In William Shakespeare’s play “The Tragedy of Hamlet”, Ophelia and Laertes represent different aspects of prince Hamlets traits that further the understanding of his behaviour, thoughts, and over-all character.

Second, Polonius ignores how much hurt he causes the people who are close to him, in order to get an advantage through deception. While people were curious as to why Hamlet was behaving like a mad man, Polonius, with the help of his daughter Ophelia, discovers an idea which he is certain is the reason why Hamlet has gone crazy. Polonius believes that Hamlet is behaving like a mad man because he loves Ophelia, but she is not showing any interest in him because Polonius told her to do so. As Polonius is explaining his plan to find out if his idea on Hamlet’s madness really is true, he says, “At such a time I’ll loose my daughter to him./ Be you and I behind an arras then,/ Mark the encounter.” (Shakespeare, II, ii, 62-64). In this quote,

In order to substantiate his theory that Hamlet’s insanity is caused by Ophelia’s rejection, Polonius decides to sacrifice his daughter’s emotions. Polonius will “loose [his] daughter to [Hamlet]” so he can validate his point (II.II.161). His plot proves that he has no regard for the well-being of his children and that he is more concerned with his position in the

Polonius wishes for his daughter to stop seeing Hamlet and to have respect for herself. Even though Ophelia can make her own decisions, Polonius cares more about his family name. He simply cannot comprehend how quickly his daughter is giving into this man just by listening to his words. When Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet said he loved her he reacts by saying, She is such an innocent girl who isn’t capable of loving someone that quickly, and if she does, she’s crazy. Polonius knows the words he’s saying aren’t coming from his heart and that his “love” will disappear in a matter of time.

Individuals are often put into situations in which they must compromise their happiness to achieve what they desire. The loss of this happiness can be extremely detrimental to the individual's emotional state. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare explores the idea of how happiness can be conceded in the pursuit of ones’ goals and how conceding this happiness has negative impacts. Hamlet, the main character of the play, is pushed into a situation where he must murder his uncle to avenge his father. In Hamlets’ pursuit of this goal, he sacrifices his freedom, his love, and his overall well-being, leaving him an emotionally broken individual.

Polonius forces Ophelia, his daughter,to give him the love letters Hamlet sent her. Which makes Hamlet think she betrayed him. But in reality Polonius betrays his daughter by making her hand over Hamlet’s words and thoughts of love. Hamlet leads Ophelia to believe that he had never loved her, when in reality he did love her. “Hamlet: I loved you not.

Ophelia is shortly affected by the protagonist’s mad conduct. And immediately she goes to her father, Polonius, to explain how she is “so affrighted” as a result of Hamlet’s visit:

I was shocked by the selfish and irrational actions taken by Polonius in the court of the king and queen. He had taken these actions out of belief that they would secure his safety, and he was completely dismissive of the effect these reveals would have on his own children. In the actions he had taken, he fell short to pay truth to his own remarks of reputation and dignity, especially towards his daughter Ophelia, whose reputation he tarnishes. It’s ironic and irritating that earlier Polonius was so secretive of his daughter’s relationship with Hamlet, but now he so casually reads letters of Hamlet’s affection in front of the court. These actions of Polonius makes readers question his reliability as a father, since he takes actions that would

Over the course of the play Hamlet has a number of ongoing conflicts within himself. These conflicts, in my opinion, serve as Hamlet’s greatest