Picture
Polonius is the councillor of the state of Denmark, who is also the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Polonius is the chief for King Claudius. At the beginning of Act 1, his relationship towards Claudius seems to be friendly, when they are talking about Laertes permission to go to France. I think of their relationship as easy going because, usually new Kings are aggressive and strict when they have the power in their hands. Polonius' relationship with Hamlet is weak and untrusted because of the actions Hamlet has chose towards his daughter, Ophelia. When Polonius discovers Hamlet's affair with Ophelia, he encourages her to not go near him and to ignore his letters that she receives from him. He finds it strange, when Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet told her that he loves her. Polonius thinks his daughter is crazy if she had believed him, because you can't love somebody easily quickly. In Act I.5.107, Polonius' reaction is, "Affection? Pooh, you speak like an immature girl." Although Ophelia is an adult, and can handle situations on her own, he still considers his daughter a young person that knows nothing about love. He advises her to not believe the foolish comments he is telling to her, as stated in I.5.132-133 by Polonius, "In a few, Ophelia, Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers." What Polonius means is that, the words he tells Ophelia are immature and to consider him as a young person. Polonius' thoughts on Hamlet's feelings towards Ophelia are not meant from his heart. After all, they are still young, and do not know the tiniest bit about love yet. A connection that could be made between Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship is to Romeo and Juliet. In the Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet, their love was a huge conflict because they were both from two different classes/groups. If their parents knew they were together, a huge problem will occur between the two families. For Ophelia, her father is telling her not to go to interact with him, so there won't be any problems. 

The reason he is telling his daughter this, is because he wants to protect her and doesn't want anything bad to happen to her. It is his daughter, and he has the right to say what is best for her. Also, after King Hamlet's death, maybe Polonius thought it wouldn't be safe for her to go talk to him, because Hamlet is mourning for his father. This shows that Polonius doesn't trust Hamlet and isn't really fond of him. If he had trusted him, he would have at least let his daughter have quick chat together, but he doesn't want them to interact at all whatsoever. He doesn't want his daughter to be hurt, because of him. He thinks that this “love,” will eventually disappear after, and won't last a long time. Another reason why he feels like this towards Ophelia and Hamlet's relationship is because, his son, Laertes is now leaving for France. In my opinion, maybe he does not want to feel alone if both of his children aren't here with him. But, he has told her not to communicate with him for her own benefit. His feelings are foreshadowing events in the future, like something bad will happen to the whole entire state of Denmark. He senses that conflicts will occur if they do get together and it won't be resolved easily. He doesn't approve of him to go after his daughter without even asking permission also. 

Later on, into Act 2, Hamlet takes it too far with his actions towards Ophelia. He then thinks that Hamlet has gone crazy and insists on telling the King, which also happens to be his uncle, on his crazy behaviour. This scares Ophelia and is dearly concerned about her. He quickly goes to King Claudius to tell him what happened. He thinks that maybe the way Hamlet is feeling after his father's death is because of being rejected by Ophelia. This shows a closer relationship between Claudius and Polonius because, he didn't choose to do any harmful actions towards Hamlet, but rather go straight to the King and talk about it.  

Amanjot
7/15/2013 11:44:09 am

Hello Julie, I agree with what you said that when Laertes leaves for France, that maybe he would feel disconnected from his children. You brought up a very excellent point, I had not thought of this situation like that, I had just assumed that he was being too overprotective and controlling. But this idea gives it a deeper look onto his feelings about the situations that are occurring with his children. An excellent point you had made that I had not realized, was the foreshadowing themes that are present. Good job in seeing this. Also, I was wondering, what is your perspective of Polonious as to what kind of parent he is? Whether or not you agree with what he is doing to Ophelia is for the good of her, or is it for her fathers' own self-ish reasons? Just relating to her class?

Reply
Julie
7/15/2013 11:57:54 am

Polonius seems to be a caring parent because of the rules he has set on his children. I guess because it is his daughter, he feels the need to protect her from Hamlet's crazy behaviour lately. For Ophelia, she has no other choice but to obey her father's requests. But if I put myself into Ophelia's shoes, I would feel like Polonius is overacting, and being too protective. Since Ophelia is an adult now, she should have the freedom and make her own decisions whether it is good or bad. This will make Ophelia as a more stronger. I wouldn't say that the father is doing this because he is being self fish. character. Thank you for taking the time to comment on this response.

Reply
Anissa
7/15/2013 12:45:36 pm

Hey Julie! I agree with what you said about Polonius, and how he seemed kind before. He appeared to be concerned with his children, giving them advice; to Laertes, Polonius sends his son his blessing, advises him to spend his money wisely, "beware/ of entrance to a quarrel, but being in/ bear't that th'oppsoed may be aware of thee/Give every man they ear but few they voice..."(I.iii.96-72) and so on and so forth. He gives his son a lot of advice; he clearly cares a lot about his son and trusts him to go to France by himself. As for Ophelia, her father expresses his opinions about love to her, saying that he knows more about love than her, and instructs her to stay away from him; don't you agree that, despite his harsh commanding, it seems that he would do anything for his daughter and has her in his best in his best interest. However, I disagree about what you said concerning Polonius' feelings of mistrust toward Hamlet; I think that Polonius is neutral towards him. It seems as if he respects Hamlet, but only because he is Prince. As soon as Polonius finds out that Hamlet and his daughter are in love, he seems to dislike Hamlet, but rather cautions on love itself, and how Ophelia is too young to understand it. When he mentions Hamlet, it is only for her to stay away from him. In the next Act, we see that Polonius has changed; we discover that Polonius doesn’t trust his son at all, and he sends someone to spy on Laertes-and in a most cunning way to so as to not arouse suspicion. In terms of Ophelia, when she comes to her father telling him of Hamlet's odd behaviour and his insanity, the first thing he does is go to the King, read the letter that Hamlet sent to Ophelia, and develop a sly ruse to test Hamlet's love for Ophelia. I found this somewhat cold; he does not really give anymore advice to Ophelia, but simply uses her against Hamlet. She obviously doesn't want to provoke her lover, but her father is forcing her to meet with him "be accident." I think that Polonius is using his daughter simply to get approval from the King; for centuries, power has always been attractive, and being close to people who have power is something that people want as well. Polonius is trying to help the King, but not for Ophelia nor Hamlet's sake, but rather for his own. He is already known to the King as being "the father of good news" (II.ii.45); now he is simply polishing his appearance to Claudius. Thus, I agree with you when you say that Claudius and Polonius have become closer. Besides this, I really enjoyed reading your response!

Reply
Julie
7/16/2013 02:44:31 am

Hey, but if you think about, why would Polonius not let his daughter near Hamlet then? In my opinion, it seems like he doesn't trust him. In the story, it doesn't give us much further detail about why he wouldn't want his daughter to interact with him. I guess it is for her own benefit, and I agree with you,when you have stated that. You brought a great point how he disliked him ever since Ophelia has told her father, that he loves her. Another point to add to your comment is that, it seemed like Polonius has felt like,Hamlet has disrespected his daughter, because of his actions. For your last part, I agree with what you have said. In the next act, Polonius seems oblvious towards his daughter when he is trying to help the King as to find out what is the reason behind Hamlet's weird behaviour. It is like he wants the King to like him even more. Thank you for taking the time to comment on my response.

Reply
Julia
7/18/2013 05:25:11 am

Hi Julie! I agree with most of the points you have brought up. One thing I disagree with is that Polonius has to right to stop her from seeing Hamlet. I believe Ophelia is old enough to make her own decision's and wise enough to see what kind of person Hamlet is on her own. Besides that I think you did a great job at explaining how Polonius feels. You have strong points and you made connections that I never realized before, such as this foreshadowing later events. I enjoyed reading it!

Reply
Julie
7/19/2013 07:29:27 am

Hi Julia. You do bring up a very good point where Ophelia should make her own decisions, however, Polonius should still look after her from time to time to keep her well protected. But thank you for mentioning that up. Thank you as well for taking the time to comment on my blog!

Reply
11/29/2015 10:12:50 pm

Polonius' relationship with Hamlet is weak and untrusted because of the actions Hamlet has chose towards his daughter, Ophelia. When Polonius discovers Hamlet's affair with Ophelia, he encourages her to not go near him and to ignore his letters that she receives from him. He finds it strange, when Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet told her that he loves her. Polonius thinks his daughter is crazy if she had believed him, because you can't love somebody easily quickly. In Act I.5.107, Polonius' reaction is,

Reply
Stroke
3/5/2018 07:28:41 am

People make too much of simple advice. Polonius is telling his daughter not to trust Hamlet because a young man will say anything to get into a girls pants. I think it is that simple.

Reply
Anon
6/5/2018 12:28:30 pm

I agree, its not that deep.

Reply
Guest User
12/12/2019 10:21:22 am

d

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    July 2013

    Categories

    All