In the Elizabethan life, this act by Hamlet who is supposed to become the new king as he is next in line since his father had been murdered, would pass over and no one would believe that he did it without any physical proof of him doing it. It could just be sign of jealousy from king Claudius and would backfire on him if he were to try and presume legal action for the death of Polonius. The motivation of King Claudius is to try and get Hamlet sent away so he can cover up the fact that he had murdered his own brother so he could marry his wife. The motivation of Hamlet is to get revenge on King Claudius for his father, but if he was sent away then thee would be no one to get revenge on him for his sins. I think Shakespeare portrayed King
Throughout the play, he was constantly worried of being watched. Some are determined that, even in his soliloquies, he overreacted because he felt like someone was listening to him at all times. In Act 3, scene 4, lines 25-30 Hamlet kills Polonius without thinking, simply because he was hiding behind the rapier and listening to the conversation. Hamlet feared that he was going to be attacked or discovered, so he acted out of impulse rather than accessing the situation; his impulse resulted in the death of a person. Paranoia is a terrible trait to have in a ruler.
Tragically, this arrogance leads to unintended consequences when he unintentionally kills Polonius, hidden behind a curtain. As Hamlet makes a pass through the arras and kills Polonius, he says, "How now, a rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!" (3.4. 27-28). Hamlet shows no remorse for this act, justifying it as necessary to avenge his father's death.
In William Shakespeare’s, “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”, a young prince named Hamlet is depressed and misguided. His father, the King has died and his mother Gertrude has already remarried his uncle Claudius. Hamlet is absolutely torn until his father’s ghost visits the castle and entreats Hamlet to avenge his death and kill his uncle King Claudius. Hamlet begins to test Claudius with plays and when Claudius finds out, all he has by his side is his councilor Polonius. Polonius tries to entrap Hamlet in every way possible, even by using his daughter Ophelia.
Hamlet begins to act crazy around Polonius “ Excellent well, you are a fishmonger,” This began the tension them two. As the scene goes on Hamlet continues the act, but Polonius still needs to confirm the reasons why he has gone mad. As Hamlet continues Polonius wonders if this act is real because he seems to only act crazy around Polonius. While Polonius plans to uncover the truth Hamlet seems to be fighting himself due to the fact he doesn’t fully believe what his father’s ghost told him. Hamlet mentions that he has lost all amusement.
Polonius fuels Hamlet’s paranoia by pitting his friends against him through deception to make them garner information on Hamlet’s woes in his
This shows how instinctive he is because he doesn't even check to see who it is behind the curtain. Resulting in him stabbing Polonius rashly. Even though this murder was more of an accident Hamlet did not show any real type of sympathy towards the situation. Hamlet owned up to what had happened with little to no shame. All his anger and hostility came rushing out and he couldn't control himself.
By, initially, staging an encounter between Ophelia and Hamlet to decipher or reinforce his presumption of Hamlet’s insanity, he shows his willingness to spy on Hamlet, in order to satiate his king’s wishes and demands. Furthermore, Polonius is in utter disbelief when he sees Hamlet “still harping on … [his] daughter” and hears him speak of him as a “fishmonger” (Shakespeare). This reinforces Polonius’ action of trying to sell his daughter to obtain information for Claudius. Under any and all circumstances, this identifies Polonius as one who honors the king more readily than his own family and is willing to execute any action that may make him appear more favorable in Claudius’ eyes, only to honor the king for his own benefit. Additionally, his egotism and manipulation is evident when he instills into the mind of Claudius the scheme of getting rid of Hamlet: “to England send him, or confine him where your wisdom best shall think” (Shakespeare).
Hamlet does not believe that he is actually insane when he really is. He truly believes that his insanity is an act to gather evidence against Claudius. This insanity leads him to take Polonious’s life which he justifies by saying that Polonius was dishonestly spying. This self-deception leads Hamlet to believe that he is self-righteous and better than his uncle however he is hypocritical in this way as he leaves Ophelia and Laertes without a father in the same way that Claudius did to Hamlet. Hamlets obsession with proving Claudius guilty and killing him in the name of justice eventually leads to Hamlets own murder.
King Claudius explains Hamlet's behavior to Polonius in act three, "madness in great ones must not unwatched go" (Shakespeare, 3.1.196). This proves that Hamlet's behavior is not going unnoticed to him and he shouldn't go farther. Polonius is also greatly affected by Hamlet's behavior because of his daughter Ophelia's relationship with him, and like the king, he would spy on Hamlet.
(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.
His plan does not prove his theory, but he is determined to find the reason behind Hamlet's madness. That is why, later in the play, Polonius decides to spy on a conversation between Hamlet and Gertrude, which proves to be fatal. As the conversation goes on, Gertrude feels threatened by her son and she cries out for help. This leads to Polonius crying out in fear, and since Hamlet suspects the cry to belong to the hated Claudius, he stabs Polonius from behind the curtain. Polonius’s deceit cost him his life, and it was just another way that Shakespeare illustrated the harm that comes with
Therefore for Hamlet to deceive Polonius, he had to reverse his own reputation and nature. If Hamlet had not feigned his own madness, King Claudius would surely have noticed that he had some knowledge of his murder. Hamlet used madness as a mask to protect him from Claudius’ fury, despite knowing the real cause of his father’s
In particular, his desire to be by himself is evident when Polonius tries to converse with him while he is trying to read. When Polonius asks Hamlet how he is doing, he sarcastically replies, “Well, God-a-mercy,” and when Polonius asks Hamlet if he knows who he is, he answers, “Excellent well; you are a fishmonger” (2.2.170,172). Hamlet did not want to attract any attention when he was walking by, so he did not appreciate being interrupted from his reading. Therefore, he resorts to sarcasm and compares Polonius to a pimp when he cannot escape the attention. This is considered a negative symptom of schizophrenia because his lack of interest in socializing is not solely a form of introversion; Hamlet’s harsh behaviour is an attempt to hurt Polonius into leaving him alone instead of being reserved like an introvert (aipc.net.au).
Polonius is willing to spy on pretty much anyone so that he can knows more details about those close to him. He spies on his son Laertes and is willing to slander him without giving it a second thought when he tells Reynaldo, “to make inquiry of his behaviour” (II.i.3-4). Polonius wants Reynaldo to both spy on Laertes and to hurt his image, so that he can learn about his son’s character. Claudius betrays Gertrude by not telling her about the poisoned cup soon enough. He does not want her to drink the poison but she doesn’t know about it until it is too late, “Gertrude, do not drink.
