Hamlet Explication Essay

This quote shows her being innocent because Hamlet denies ever loving her even though right before he said that he did love her at one point. She is innocent so she doesn’t think it through

He dismisses Hamlet’s overtures as “Affection, puh!” Polonius considers Ophelia a “green girl,” incapable of recognizing true love: “These blazes . . . you must not take for fire.” He gets her assurance that she will not talk with Hamlet anymore. Ophelia shows herself to be pliable and obedient to family members. Grace Latham, in her critical essay “O Poor Ophelia,” comments on the sheltered existence of the young Ophelia:

Polonius is appalled and states, "Affection? Pooh! You speak like a green girl . . ." (1.3.102). Polionus' quick judgment of their love for each other has caused him to speak this way. He claims that their love is unreal and he belittles her by saying she talks like she is immature and does not know anything. He states, "Think yourself a baby that you have ta'en these tenders for true pay which are not sterling" (1.3.106-108). Polonius tries to convince Ophelia not to accept love like any baby would, because babies are unaware of what kind of love they are being presented. Polonius is not interested in what Ophelia wants, "Tender yourself more dearly, or—not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, running it thus—you'll tender me a fool" (1.3.108-110). He believes she should offer herself more costly to someone else because he does not want to be embarrassed by their relationship. Ophelia disagrees, but he threatens her by saying, "Have you so slander any moment leisure as to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. Look to't, I charge you" (1.3.134-136). He forbids her from seeing Hamlet at all, and if she even speaks to him, Polonius will punish her. In Shakespeare A to Z, Charles Boyce states, "He bars Ophelia from any contact with Hamlet, presuming that the prince's professions of love cannot be truthful . . ." (509). Polonius comes up with the conclusion that Hamlet's feelings are wrong and that she cannot see him

During the era in which Hamlet was written women were called to be submissive and obedient to the men in their lives. From the first moment Ophelia is introduced she clearly demonstrates these characteristics. When her father and brother learn of her interactions with Hamlet they tell her that she is naive and that her behavior is unsuitable. Polonius says in 1,3, “Affection! Pooh, you speak like such a green girl, / unsifted in such perilous circumstance. / Do you believe his “tenders”, as you call them?” In this quote, Polonius harshly puts to rest Ophelia’s hopes that Hamlet truly does love her. Some might view Polonius as trying to be a protective father. Although, in Polonius’ next line his true motive for such speech can be assumed. In 1,3, he says, “Tender yourself more dearly, / or—not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, / running it thus—you’ll tender me a fool.” Polonius fears that the actions of his daughter will hurt his reputation.

Polonius’s plan to spy on Ophelia and Hamlet will bring Claudius and Polonius into a closer relationship as they devise future plans in later scenes. Polonius is simply seeking to be as useful to the new king as he can making him grossly

Hamlet and Ophelia were spending a lot of time together and Hamlet had told Ophelia the affection he had for her. Ophelia didn’t know how to feel about Hamlet’s affection for her because she knew how her father would feel about it. Somehow her father, Polonius, found out about the time they were spending together and the affection Hamlet had for Ophelia. “He ordered Ophelia to spend no more time with hamlet and to not even speak to him. She said she would obey her father’s orders to stay away from Lord Hamlet”.

Polonius goes as far as to forbid Ophelia from being with Hamlet. He says, “This is for all:/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” (I.iii.132-135). Polonius suggests any time spent with Hamlet is a waste, unequivocally stating his opinion on the matter and essentially making Ophelia’s mind up for her. Yet Ophelia holds on, perhaps desperately, to the romanticized notion that Hamlet is, in fact, in

With just a few lines from Hamlet, the audience gets the full spectrum picture of how Hamlet views Polonius, as a vile and traitorous man who whores out his daughter. While Polonius is entirely oblivious to this fact and continues to think superior of himself and his detective skills as he believes that Hamlet is actually, “Still harping on my daughter.” While Polonius failed to comprehend Hamlet’s judgmental comments by admitting, “Yet he knew me not at first; he said I was a fishmonger” (2.2 204-206). With the first exchange of words, these characters show that Hamlet is an intelligent man who is used to talking in double meanings. While Polonius becomes an arrogant and dense

Ophelia, Polonius’s daughter, is a beautiful young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love. She is a sweet and innocent that obeys her father and brother. Dependent on men to tell her how to behave, she gives Polonius schemes to spy on Hamlet. Even in her lapse into madness and death,

Then, true to his suspicious nature, he dispatches a spy to ensure report on his son's actions. Polonius again delivers false information when he advises Ophelia to leave Hamlet's love unrequited and tells her it is only lust, not love. Polonius portrays himself as a respectable man full of wisdom and grace when in truth he is untrusting, unscrupulous, and uncaring of all but himself.

He went and talked to Hamlet but Hamlet uses madness to mock Polonius. In Act 2 Scene 2 the noisy Polonius says “though this be madness, yet there's method in’t” he’s assertion is ironic because he’s right and wrong. Right because there is reason behind Hamlet’s madness which no one knows why except for him and wrong because Hamlet wasn’t mad because of his undying love for Ophelia. As much as the self-absorbed man wanted to be right about everything, it led him to his

Hamlet's problems In Hamlet act 1 and act 2 there are many problems. There seems to be three main problems for hamlet. These ]problems are, first hamlets father is dead, two hamlet's mother remarried too quickly. Finally the third is that hamlet's father have come back as a ghost.

Polonius asks Ophelia, talking about Hamlet “Is he crazy with love for you?” Ophelia replys “I’m not sure, but I’m afraid he might be (Hamlet, 83).” Polonius is Ophelia’s father and he says he has seen many girls fall for Hamlet's tricks and they all end up with a broken heart. He was warning his daughter to stay away from Hamlet and to send all of letters back and not give him the time of day. This is when Hamlet started acting crazy towards Ophelia and his main weakness in this part was love.

After Hamlet tells Ophelia that he did love her, but doesn’t anymore, she responds, “Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so” (III, i, 117-118). This shows how Hamlet is telling Ophelia that she misread his feelings for her, because of her ignorance as to the social ladder and his status as a Prince. In addition, Polonius is speaking to Ophelia when he cruelly states, “Affection, puh! You speak like a green girl Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. Do you believe his ‘tenders,’ as you call them?”

Polonius is always in a constant struggle trying to antagonize Hamlet and father Ophelia; he gets around this by blaming Hamlet’s “insanity” on the fact that he likes Ophelia and tries to “protect” her by trying to split Hamlet and Ophelia. Polonius says Hamlet is crazy for Ophelia just like he did when he “suffered much extremity for love, very near this” (2.2). If you look at the quote he says “suffered” almost like Ophelia is a disease. This comparison shows how polonius doesn’t know how to father his daughter. After he blames Hamlet’s “insanity” on his love for Ophelia he tries to split them “to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man” (1.3). Polonius is trying to split the couple by saying Ophelia should stay a virgin and not to be around Hamlet. Polonius believes that this is the best way to protect Ophelia because he thinks Hamlet is a just trying to sleep with Ophelia. Polonius also reinforces this fact by saying “be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence’ (1.3). This quote backs up the fact that Polonius doesn’t want Ophelia to talk to Hamlet. This also shows how Polonius sees his daughter as a valuable possession.