Hamlet and his father have a complex relationship that is comparable and distinctive to Ophelia’s relationship with her father. Both fathers, Polonius and the king, lecture their children similar to each other. One would say their relationships are identical however, gender roles play a part in how the children react to their parents. Women in the late 1500s were submissive to their parents and were not allowed to defend themselves. This corresponds with how Ophelia obeys her father even though she opposes him. At the same time, men had additional freedom and were allowed to speak their mind freely compared to women. Similar to how Hamlet and his father speak with one another. Hamlet has the courage to be sarcastic and to bluntly disobey his …show more content…
Yet, how Ophelia and Hamlet reacts to their father’s speeches differentiate. He discusses Ophelia’s relationship with Hamlet, he is verbally abusive and talks down to her. In the play, Polonius utters, “Tender yourself more dearly, or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, running it thus) you’ll tender me a fool” (Shakespeare 252). Polonius uses the word tender to show that he wants Ophelia to offer more respect to herself. He cuts himself off to show that he uses the word tender a great deal, but to make the word, tender, have more value. Then he mentions, you’ll tender me a fool, to tell Ophelia that she will allow him to become a moron within his community. Polonius does not want her to ruin his reputation. He continuously makes her feel inadequate, simple minded and guilty for being affectionate towards Hamlet. Even if Ophelia wanted to speak up against her father, she was forbidden to do so. Due to gender roles, after Polonius gave his “advice”, she simply obeys due to the fact that she was not allowed to speak up even though her father insults her. Women did not stand up for themselves at this time and it causes Ophelia to accept anything her father instructs her to
People will do whatever they can to protect the ones they love, no matter the cost. Prince Hamlet in the William Shakespeare play, Hamlet, did exactly that, trying to shield Ophelia firstly from the court. Additionally, he didn’t even trust her father and wanted to remove her from Polonius’ influence as well. On top of that, Hamlet wanted to protect him from even himself. In the end, Hamlet wanted to keep Ophelia safe from the court, her father, and ultimately himself, despite what some may argue.
Ophelia and Hamlet’s relationship fall apart causing Hamlet’s opinion of Ophelia to “...transform from what it is so bawd than the force of honesty/ can translate beauty into his likeness” (III. 1. 114-115) and is now feeling betrayed. Their bittersweet relationship was only a distraction to Hamlet, he had a mission to get revenge and at this point Hamlet was ready to get everything out of his way to do it. Hamlet knew Polonius was using Ophelia to spy on him so he took advantage of the situation to accuse her as a “breeder of sinners” (II.I.123) only helping Polonius with his theory of his madness. Hamlet define Ophelia by her sexuality, to Hamlet she was a whore.
When having a conversation with Ophelia, Polonius says, “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./ Look to’t, I chanrge you. Come your ways.” (I.III.138-141). This quote shows how Polonius is manipulating Ophelia into not ever talking to Hamlet ever again.
The word “tenders” has three meanings: kind, money, and to give. Ophelia is claiming that Hamlet is kind to her, he is generous to her, and he gives her vows that made Ophelia feel secure. But then when Polonius said “Do you believe his ‘tenders,’ as you call them?” (112), Polonius is implying that Ophelia should not believe Hamlet’s kindness, his vows, because Hamlet is only doing these things to get closer to
Ophelia’s character went through quite a large transformation. In the play her father tells her that she is to stay away from Hamlet and she readily agrees. In the movie Ophelia doesn’t disagree with her father but she also doesn’t agree just to please him. This shows that Ophelia isn’t easily persuaded, even by her own father. Despite her father’s warning about Hamlet, Ophelia met with him in secret at her apartment until her father found out.
It is far too often that women, in even the most modern of literature, are portrayed as nothing more than snivelling cowards, used merely to motivate the inevitably male heroes. Certainly, this is still the case in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which is inarguably a product of its time; sexism runs rampant, as Ophelia, the female lead, is told by Hamlet himself to “Get thee to a nunnery” (3.1.121), with not a batted eye nor consideration of why this would be wrong. In this day and age, such blatant disrespect for women would be greatly frowned upon by a modern and discerning audience, no doubt filled with cultured women who would take offence. Bonham-Carter’s Ophelia is far from the frail and tragically beautiful flower that she is often interpreted as; “ she's like a rag doll losing its stuffings” (Hinson).
Hamlet once again fails to understand that Ophelia much like himself is only trying to stay loyal to her father, much like what he is doing himself. In addition, Hamlet blames woman for giving birth to such evil and deceiving men like Claudius and himself. When he was talking to Ophelia he told her "Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better
Ophelia is grieving the loss of her father after Hamlet kills him. Ophelia doesn't know that Hamlet killed her father. But Ophelia has gone mad from learning about her father's death. Also, after Hamlet telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, Ophelia is a little bit discouraged. She is discouraged because Hamlet had told her before that if Ophelia would sleep with him that they would get married.
(3.1.43-49) Polonius orders Ophelia to distract Hamlet even though he knows the emotional distress it will cause her. He is the reason Ophelia breaks ties with Hamlet, yet he is willing to throw her at him for his own gain. Polonius cannot rationalize that spying on Hamlet is less important than his daughter’s mental stability. His utter selfishness makes him incapable of making rational decisions that are beneficial to both himself, and his children. Polonius gives good advice that he does not take himself, showing his bad decision making.
Polonius’ nature of devious actions continues as he advises Ophelia to discontinue her relationship with Hamlet by saying “Tender yourself more dearly; Or - not to/ Crack the wind of the poor phrase, running it thus - you’ll tender me a fool” (I.III.107-9). Polonius
For the duration of the play, Ophelia was portrayed as a naïve and submissive woman. Her passivity and powerlessness reinforce the voicelessness of women during the Elizabethan era. For example, “I shall obey, my lord” (I.iii.134) shows that Ophelia concedes to her father’s will, even though she believes Hamlet’s love is genuine. She is willing and expected to obey her father despite the fact that she still loves Hamlet, which emphasizes her character’s submissive nature. Furthermore, in Act I Laertes warns Ophelia that it would be shameful of her to love Hamlet, and she responds with “I shall the effect of this good lesson keep as a watchman to my heart” (I.iii.45).
/Set your entreatments at a higher rate/Than a command to parley" (Act I, Scene III, 120 - 123).When looking at Polonius ' interactions with his daughter he is depicted to be a very conservative father who advises Ophelia not to engage in immoral acts with a silly boy and to keep her chastity safe. He goes on to tell her that she must obey her father and that it is important for a women to stay 'pure '; but when we look at Polonius ' interactions with his son Laertes he says, "Give thy thoughts no tongue,/ Nor any unproportioned thought his act./ Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar./ Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,/ Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel,/ But do not dull thy palm with entertainment/ Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade.
“Tender yourself more dearly, Or not to the crack of the wind of the poor phase, running it thus, you’ll tender me a fool”. Polonius is not interested in love, or what is best for Ophelia’s wants. Polonius does not want Ophelia to make him look bad. Polonius would like Ophelia to choose a partner who would benefit him, but Ophelia feels that Hamlet is mad for her love. Whatever will benefit Polonius’ reputation is his only incentive to keep Ophelia informed about men.
This is an important quote as he is trying to express to Polonius that Hamlet knows what he is doing with Ophelia and that he should be a better father to Ophelia. Yet as the readers know Polonius ignores this which eventually leads him to his own
These crude comments Hamlet says to Ophelia continue throughout the play until Ophelia is being buried when Hamlet asserts that he loved Ophelia. The male character’s treatment of Ophelia and Gertrude make them appear to be ineffectual