Search results
Return Hamlet’s letters and renounce his affections
- However, as the question of Hamlet’s state of mind increasingly dire, Polonius tightens the reins on his daughter. At the top of Act Three Polonius forces Ophelia to return Hamlet’s letters and renounce his affections.
www.sparknotes.com › shakespeare › hamlet
At the top of Act Three Polonius forces Ophelia to return Hamlet’s letters and renounce his affections. Ophelia obeys, but her action sends Hamlet into a fit of misogynistic rage. Soon after, Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius.
- Polonius
The secure and happy family unit of Polonius, Laertes, and...
- Gertrude
The Gertrude who does emerge clearly in Hamlet is a woman...
- Hamlet
Hamlet has fascinated audiences and readers for centuries,...
- Character List
Polonius. The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court, a...
- Polonius
People also ask
Why does Polonius use Ophelia in Hamlet?
Why does Polonius attack Ophelia?
What is Ophelia's interaction with Polonius in Act 1 Scene 3?
Why does Polonius want to protect Ophelia?
Ophelia is used by two men in the play – her father and Hamlet – as a pawn for them to enact their deceptions. Polonius uses Ophelia to try to determine what the cause of Hamlet’s madness is (although Polonius, arrogantly, already assumes he knows that Hamlet is ‘mad for [her] love’).
Working himself into a rage, Hamlet denounces Ophelia, women, and humankind in general, saying that he wishes to end all marriages. As he storms out, Ophelia mourns the “noble mind” that has now lapsed into apparent madness (III.i.149). The king and Polonius emerge from behind the tapestry.
Polonius advises Ophelia against a relationship with Hamlet. Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, counsels her to avoid Hamlet’s advances. He tells her that royalty is fickle and she will just get...
OPHELIA: I do not know, my lord, what I should think. LORD POLONIUS: Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby; That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay, Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly; Or--not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, Running it thus--you'll tender me a fool. OPHELIA: My lord, he hath importuned me ...
Polonius talks down to Ophelia, treating her as a naïve child who is too “green” and innocent to understand the ways of the world. He interferes in Ophelia’s relationship with Hamlet with his use of commercial and financial imagery, suggesting that he sees their romance as a commercial transaction.
Polonius fears that being rejected by Ophelia has driven Hamlet mad. Polonius curses his own advice and hurries Ophelia away to go meet with the king. This passage adds yet another layer of complexity into what’s happening, effectively obscuring the difference between appearance and reality.
