Intelligence is an important factor when being a king. In order for a king to keep his kingdom safe he has to plan ahead, and outwit his enemies. In order for Hamlet to plan ahead and outsmart Claudius, he has to use his intelligence. Hamlet uses his intelligence to through off his enemy by acting mad so he wouldn't notice his to plan to seek revenge. "Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,/How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself/As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/To put an antic disposition on,/That you, at such times seeing me, never shall..."(I.v.177-181). This quotation above shows Hamlet telling his friend Horatio that no matter how strange he may seem , don't mind it and don't say anything because it is all an act. Hamlet uses his intelligent to formulate a plot to act crazy and mess with everyone's mind, while secretly he is sane and is just planning his revenge out on Claudius.…
Hamlet decides to get more information / prove what the ghost was saying before doing…
However, in reality Polonius is an evil, greedy selfish man, who serves not his kingdom but himself. One example of this is how Polonius appears to be happy, concerned and supportive of his son, Laerte’s, journey to France. He seems to be supportive of his son until he sends Reynaldo as an emissary, in order to detect what sort of mischief he stumbles upon in France. In addition, Polonius, again, displays his devious characteristics when he spies on Hamlet and Ophelia in an attempt to analyze Hamlet’s madness. He soon orders Ophelia to stop seeing Hamlet, as he brainwashes her with lies about Hamlets motives, when in reality Hamlet is truly in love with Ophelia. Once again, Polonius proves his scheming behavior when he listens in on Hamlet and Gertrude’s conversation while in the bedchamber. Hamlet finally teaches him his lesson when he unexpectedly murders the “rat.” In reality Polonius is anything but a loving father watching out for his children, he uses everyone to his advantage and for his own purposes; this proves as evidence for his sneaky…
This short piece of the story of Hamlet, talks about how Polonius is giving some good advice to his son Leartes who is the king of Denmark and he teaches him three basic things before he leaves to travel to a foreign country. These three concepts are money, friendship and self-confidence.…
This is a reaction to what occurred in Scene 2 when Claudius and Hamlet actually talk to each other. Claudius opens the scene with a long monologue to the court and in it I get the sense that he is trying to behave as an appropriate new kings who had just came to the throne. But, he only has the throne because he married his brother’s widow, Gertrude. He says all the right things under the circumstances, but it is all still a bit off-putting to me. For example, when he says thank you for “going with this affair along” almost acknowledging the inappropriate mature of the situation.…
Whether it’d be Hamlet, Claudius or Polonius, all the male characters of the play dominate each other in one way or the other. For example, Claudius controls most of the characters in the play by manipulating them. Claudius tricks Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia into doing things he wants them to do. for instance, he tricks Gertrude into wooing him, Laertes into plotting against Hamlet, Ophelia and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern into spying on Hamlet. “Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern./…/ That opened lies within our remedy. /” (II.ii.1-18) This conversation between Claudius and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is a proof of Claudius’s manipulation and domination. He cleverly convinces them into helping him spy on Hamlet. He knows that they have been best friends with Prince Hamlet since childhood and they wouldn’t spy on their friend but, Claudius traps them so skilfully that they agree. He makes it seem like he cares for Hamlet’s well-being and if they help figure out the reason behind his mad behaviour it’ll be beneficial for Hamlet. Although, Claudius’s real intentions are totally opposite. He doesn’t care about Hamlet’s safety, he wants his throne safe. Claudius justifies being a man by wearing this manipulative nature. He enhances Shakespeare’s gender roles and shows that men hold the power to control anyone’s emotions. Someone who guiltlessly…
He is always plotting a scheme and eavesdropping. Polonius seems the type of man that only speaks but doesn’t mean it, since he says unhesitantly, that one should be true to oneself and never deceive another man, which is ironic due to the fact he is always up to something and planning his next move to trap someone just like…
|Polonius|I do not feel any of those towards this character|I do not feel anything towards this character ,because he does not know the true, he was just trying to find out why hamlet was acting that way.|Polonius does not know the true ,he was told by his daughter that Hamlet was acting weird ,and he thought that was Hamlet’s love towards his daughter the cause of…
Weakness can be brought upon a person in many ways. Poloniuss weakness is thehis inability to control his actions towards other people. Polonius has a controlling personality that ultimately causes his downfall. Poloniuss uncontrollable personality causes him to spy and manipulate the people he cares about. Right from the beginning we observed that Polonius manipulates Ophelia into spying on Hamlet. Polonius demonstrates that he is capable and willing to use his family as pawns, as well as do anything to keep Claudius happy. Polonius relationship with Claudius is nothing more than servant to a king. Polonius is used as a servant to retrieve information for Claudius. Since Polonius is used and manipulated by the king Polonius does the same ounto others that he cares about, such as his daughter and son. Ophelia reveals to Polonius about how Hamlet is treating her and Poloniuss first action is Come, go we to the king. This must be known, which, being kept close, might move more grief to hide than hate to utter love (2.1.117-119).…
Authority has always been a principle part of society. All rulers have used authority as control over people and their lives. King Claudius became King only shortly after the death of King Hamlet yet he already feels so powerful and has abused his authority with no regrets. Upon hearing about the death of Polonius, he becomes enraged and believes that Hamlet is a danger to all society. He wants Hamlet to be jailed for the crime he committed. This expression of anger and authority by the King would have a great effect on the Elizabethan audience. They would feel that the King in the play is most likely similar to their current reigning King. This would probably make the audience fearful of committing any crime, no matter how small. It would also make them respect their King more because they would not want to do anything to anger him.…
Shakespeare’s use of Polonius as a comic character is significant towards the overall tone of the play. The depressing and death filled play needs a comic way to show its tragic nature through a sort of dark humor. Hamlet’s many remarks regarding death and old age towards Polonius is a prime example of this. Polonius being the foolish elderly man he is, provides an easy target for Hamlet so called ‘humor.’ Jokes of murder and death, although humorous, provide an edge of darkness to the tone of…
After he found out that Claudius killed his father, Hamlet swore that he would gain vengeance. He also wants vengeance because he is the rightful heir to the throne, an opportunity that was snatched away from his uncle. (Shannon Kisch) In order to get his revenge, he told Horatio he will put on an “antic disposition”. The first explanation for Hamlet’s strange behavior is his love for Ophelia. Ophelia tells the story of how a scruffy looking Hamlet approached her, simply ran his hand down her arm, stared at her and left. Polonius assumes that love for Ophelia drove Hamlet crazy and tells the king of his discovery. Polonius tests his theory by placing Ophelia in the path of Hamlet, before speaking to Hamlet himself. When speaking to Polonius, Hamlet may sound insane, but he uses this conversation to warn Polonius to keep his daughter away from the king (“the sun”) as well as to insult him. These insults and warnings seem to suggest that his madness is nothing but a hoax. In addition, when speaking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet drops some of the mad characteristics he displays with other characters. He quotes some of a monologue he had heard some time before when the players arrive on the scene. He also plots revenge and plans how to test the guilt of the king. He does this by inviting his uncle/stepfather and mother to a play, which reenacts the murder of his…
This allusion also shows a contrast in the reversal of the roles of the participants of the two tragedies. Polonius, the king’s advisor is the unlucky individual who dies at the hands of the rightful king, Hamlet. While in the historical setting, Julius Caesar the emperor was slain by his advisor Brutus.…
In Hamlet, Polonius interacts in very different ways with the various characters. While talking with Reynaldo, he speaks in a sneaky, sly and clever manner. When talking with his daughter Ophelia, he seems very concerned. When talking with Hamlet, he seems confused, not knowing what Hamlet is talking about. When talking with the Players, however, he acts imperiously, exerting his authority over them.…
Shakespeare was a skillful writer and had the ability to form different styles of characters effectively to develop the story to captivate his audience. In Hamlet, Shakespeare creates several “Masters of Rhetoric” who skillfully use language to gain an upper hand over other characters, as well as to accent the character’s personal motive’s and desire’s to the audience. Shakespeare develops certain characters such as Hamlet and Claudius as Masters of Rhetoric to show their puissance, and uses Polonius and his comical failed attempts at rhetoric to show his weaknesses. Hamlet and Claudius continually use rhetoric to battle each other with words, trying to prove their prowess and gain the upper hand by making the other look foolish. They think that through superior use of language, they will show they are higher on the Great Chain of Being, as both think they are destined to be the King of Denmark. As will be shown in a moment, Shakespeare aptly uses these “word battles” to make one character appear greater than another, at times humorously destroying or establishing the assumed Great Chain of Being. This constant battling also contributes to Shakespeare’s flux of order and chaos to make a great dramatic tragedy.…