Laertes meets Ophelia to say his farewells before returning to France. He warns her to beware of Hamlet’s trifling with her, and urges her to remain chaste. Ophelia agrees to heed his advice, while urging him to obey it as well. Polonius enters and counsels Laertes, who departs. Polonius also warns Ophelia of Hamlet’s amorous intentions, and finally instructs her to avoid him altogether. She assents.…
During the poem, the father cannot remember a new story to tell his son. With this, the father starts to think of the upsetting idea that his son will be “packing his shirts…” and leaving. The father then yells and tries to give an explanation for his quietness. This reaction shows the father’s fear of his son leaving and losing him to time. The father’s view of his son leaving involves a plea to tell him one more story and to not leave. This contrast of the father, a man that forgot a new story and the parent in love with his child, makes for a better understanding of the deep relationship the father has with his…
This poem is written in third person narrative by an ominous voice telling the fathers thought process. The narrator begins the poem saying, “Sad is the man who is asked for a story and can’t come up with one.” This intro not only gives us a foreshadowing look onto the poem, but tells us the emotions the father feels given to us by the all knowing narrator. He tells us the dad is sad that he can’t think of a new story which shows us that he just want to please his son and in turn portraying love.…
The third stanza sets the change for the fourth stanza which is anxious, desperate and pleading. The father who is felling almost abandoned is begging his son not to go, to “Let me tell it!” ‘it’ being the story. By the last stanza the narrator is again in third person (the father) and he is feeling emotional “It is and emotional rather than logical equation” This show the fathers love for his son. He says that his son “posits” (to put forward or ask) in a “supplications” manner (humbly) which makes the “father’s love add up to silence.” This means the he is lost for words. He is so overwhelmed by his love for his son that he is speechless thus leaving his “love [to] add up to…
When talking with Reynaldo, Polonius speaks in a clever and sneaky manner. He tells Reynaldo exactly how to speak to people while trying to find Laertes. He tells him exactly what to say so that the other person will be forced to tell him of the whereabouts of Laertes. He told him that he should say "you may say, not well. But, if 't be he I mean, he's very wild." Polonius's sneakiness is seen through his clever tactic in sending Reynaldo to Paris for the purpose of discovering Laerte's habits. When talking with his daughter Ophelia, however, he seems genuinely concerned. This is true because in regard to Laertes, Polonius was looking for an excuse to punish or disown him for leaving the country. However, by Ophelia, Polonius is really concerned.…
Ophelia, the main female character in 'Hamlet' is representative of this alliance. Madly in love with Hamlet, the prince of Denmark and future king, is hugely influenced by her relatives: Her father Polonius, with whom she adopts a very submissive and respectful attitude and her brother Laertes with whom she's got a relationship based on respect and certainly more relaxed than most brother-sister relationships at the time. He cares for her, advises her and supports her; he's more concerned about the happiness of his sister than his social status. "Perhaps he loves you know,/An now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch/The virtue of his will". Shakespeare in this moment is showing a brother truly concerned about her sister's future but also worried about his own reputation. Shakespeare…
<br>This scene casts the first shadow of doubt upon Hamlet's character. It is curious that Shakespeare warns Ophelia twice: once through Laertes, and once through Polonius. Reading Laertes' speech we can see the perspective of an understanding, though cynical young man. He essentially says, "Be careful of Hamlet because he's young and his passions are burning. When the passions die down he'll realise his desire for you can't be fulfilled by marriage because of political constraints, and you'll be left behind, scandalised."…
The dismissive behaviour of Polonius and Laertes dehumanizes Ophelia and keeps her separated from the decision making “adults”. In one instance, Polonius instructs her to “think [herself] a baby”. In her interactions with these characters, Ophelia’s opinion is not asked for or valued she is largely cast aside or used as a tool. In Ophelia’s first appearance she is constantly reminded by Polonius and Laertes of the “danger of desire”, Laertes advises her that he “best safety lies in fear”. (Act I, Scene III). It is made clear early on that Ophelia is being taught to fear relationships, leading to long term isolation. These repressed emotions may relate to her fixation on desire during her madness. Polonius also dismisses Ophelia’s opinions on Hamlet’s behaviour saying, ”Affection? Pooh! you speak like a green girl”. Throughout all of Ophelia’s interactions with her father she maintains formal titles and language, referring to Polonius as “my lord”. By submitting to the perception of her inferiority Ophelia alienates herself from others. Even before her becoming insane, Ophelia is marginalized and removed from others, a the true outsider within…
Hamlet and Laertes share a different, but deep, love and concern for Ophelia. Before his departure for France, Laertes provides lengthy advice to Ophelia pertaining to her relationship with Hamlet. Laertes voices his concern of Hamlet's true intentions towards Ophelia and advises her to be wary of Hamlet's love. Laertes impresses upon Ophelia that Hamlet is a prince who, most likely, will have an arranged marriage. Hamlet's strong love for Ophelia withers after she rejects his affinity. Hamlet's extensive love for Ophelia resulted in grave suffering for Hamlet once his affection was rejected. Hamlet's appearance decays due to the rejection of his love for Ophelia: "Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other" (II, i, 82). The loss of Ophelia's love for Hamlet causes Polonius to believe it has caused Hamlet to revert…
Ophelia, a fictional character in Hamlet, is the daughter of Polonius and young lover to the main character. Her father, the right hand of the king, originally requests she keep her distance from Hamlet. Quite soon, the company of Hamlet believes he has gone mad. Polonius, of course, asks his obedient daughter to spy on her lover. Mary Salter stated, “She certainly has a great deal of respect for her father and unquestioningly obeys his instructions…” Ophelia and Hamlet spend an extravagant amount of time together. In the time of Shakespeare, this was nearly unacceptable. One could understandably be under the impression they…
Polonius thought that Hamlet was just mad with love as he was when he was a teen. Polonius realizes what Hamlet is experiencing and says, “He is far gone. And truly in my youth, I suffered much extremity for love, very near this”(2.2.205-208). Polonius shows that he understands what problems is facing at the moment as he could once relate to it. However, he also notices that Hamlet is farther gone than he had as a child, and this shows that yet another character thinks that Hamlet is losing his mind. Polonius found that Hamlet is becoming mad because of a strong desire for love which has been bottled…
Hamlet, himself, exhibits faults in his personality, often acting volatile and reckless in situations beyond his control. In Act 1, Scene 3, Ophelia describes Hamlet as an admirer who had ‘made many tenders of his affection’ to her but later on, in Act 3, Scene 1, when they confront each other about their feelings, Hamlet angrily shouts ‘Get thee to a nunnery’, insulting her and not realising the possible consequences of his actions. Ophelia isn’t without flaws, herself, as shown by her tendency to be influenced by the men around her. Whilst it was common for the women during Shakespeare’s time to be obedient to their men, Ophelia’s submissiveness eventually drives her to insanity and leads to her suicide. Furthermore, Ophelia’s father, Polonius, is also a fatally flawed character, with his peripeteia being his nosiness and propensity to pry, which then leads to his death. Shakespeare uses the weaknesses of each character to emphasise that human beings are flawed to warn his audience that if these flaws are not recognised, they may, and often will, bring…
After talking with the Queen, Ophelia felt that she should try talking to Hamlet herself. Of course, Hamlet will think that she is crazy and she know it. Her strategy may have been decent but not good enough to change Hamlet. In Act: IV Scene: I the King states “His liberty is full of threats to all.” That moment is when the King and Queen wants an end to all of Hamlets madness. They both speak of the death of Polonius. They then realized he should be killed and orders that he be killed upon his arrival in England. Eventually it seems that everyone, in their own way wants to either help Hamlet or get rid of…
In contrast to ‘At Mornington’, ‘Father and Child’ is used to convey a more vivid and disturbing story of how past experiences can alter a person’s present and future. The child’s sex is left ambiguous, and only through intertextuality with Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ can it be said that the ‘child’ is female as to follow the father-daughter storyline of the play. Harwood has stated that this poem is not autobiographical, yet it is rather symbolic of past…
The father implies that unconditionally of the situation he will always be there to support and give love to his daughter. In this poem love and support is a big theme, showing…