October 21, 2015
The main action of this scene is that Polonius asks his servant, Reynaldo, to spy on Laertes to inform him about his reputation in Paris. He says that Reynaldo should casually address the Danish living in Paris and extract information about Laertes reputation, even if he has to lie to do so. After Reynaldo leaves, Ophelia comes in and says that Hamlet came to her, looking pale and puzzled. She is very worried about his state and Polonius tells her that the prince's reaction is due to his love towards her.
As I was reading this scene, I had the impression that Polonius, as well as other characters, seem to search for the bad in others and create plans to prove these feelings. In this scene, Polonius is doing a plan to spy on his own son and seems to be very wary about his reputation. Why does he care? Is he affected by his sons reputation? Why does he seem so eager to find this out? What will he do if he does find out that Laertes is not fulfilling his expectations?When Ophelia comes in, she is panicked and concerned about Hamlets state, but Polonius says all the prince's troubles are apparently caused by his love for Ophelia. How could this be true if she seems very concerned about him to? I would understand that this could be a reasonable conclusion if Ophelia ignored the prince completely, which seems unlikely due to her explosive and obvious concern towards him. Despite all this, Polonius seems ignorant or indifferent about his children's feelings. He prefers personal convenience and appearances than to accept their happiness.
This scene's significance seems to have to do with the idea that appearances are misguiding and tend to hide the truth. Polonius seems "concerned" about Laertes, but instead of confronting him and doing this with direct communication to help him personally, he decides to send a spy to do his work. Does he really care about Laertes, or the appearance he might be giving? Maybe this is due to the impression people will have on Polonius himself as Laertes father... maybe affect his own status? Hamlet, also demonstrate this idea of misguiding appearances. At this point, he is frustrated about his fathers death and the various complications he has had lately. We also know that he is supposed to avenge his father. Maybe the reason he goes to Ophelia in the first place is to mislead peoples impressions about the cause of his grief (mad love for her), instead of the real reason (avenge his father).
The main action of this scene is that Polonius asks his servant, Reynaldo, to spy on Laertes to inform him about his reputation in Paris. He says that Reynaldo should casually address the Danish living in Paris and extract information about Laertes reputation, even if he has to lie to do so. After Reynaldo leaves, Ophelia comes in and says that Hamlet came to her, looking pale and puzzled. She is very worried about his state and Polonius tells her that the prince's reaction is due to his love towards her.
As I was reading this scene, I had the impression that Polonius, as well as other characters, seem to search for the bad in others and create plans to prove these feelings. In this scene, Polonius is doing a plan to spy on his own son and seems to be very wary about his reputation. Why does he care? Is he affected by his sons reputation? Why does he seem so eager to find this out? What will he do if he does find out that Laertes is not fulfilling his expectations?When Ophelia comes in, she is panicked and concerned about Hamlets state, but Polonius says all the prince's troubles are apparently caused by his love for Ophelia. How could this be true if she seems very concerned about him to? I would understand that this could be a reasonable conclusion if Ophelia ignored the prince completely, which seems unlikely due to her explosive and obvious concern towards him. Despite all this, Polonius seems ignorant or indifferent about his children's feelings. He prefers personal convenience and appearances than to accept their happiness.
This scene's significance seems to have to do with the idea that appearances are misguiding and tend to hide the truth. Polonius seems "concerned" about Laertes, but instead of confronting him and doing this with direct communication to help him personally, he decides to send a spy to do his work. Does he really care about Laertes, or the appearance he might be giving? Maybe this is due to the impression people will have on Polonius himself as Laertes father... maybe affect his own status? Hamlet, also demonstrate this idea of misguiding appearances. At this point, he is frustrated about his fathers death and the various complications he has had lately. We also know that he is supposed to avenge his father. Maybe the reason he goes to Ophelia in the first place is to mislead peoples impressions about the cause of his grief (mad love for her), instead of the real reason (avenge his father).
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