DRJ #2 : Hamlet, Act 2

When reading act two Polonius stood out to me as a character that represents a family father figure. Polonius’s role would be the same even if the plat was written in current time. I think most of us can relate to his character as the one who wants to give wise advice and protect the family from what he considers to be bad things. He does remind me of a sly and greedy person out to gain something any way he can. Given he is a counselor to the king but still he keeps trying to things to gain favors to later use for his benefit. Polonius is one of the main characters of the story in this far and he is basically acting as a spy on hamlet for two reasons. First is to take care of his daughter and second is because Hamlet is acting “strange” and being the nosy person Polonius is he is determined to find out what got into Hamlet. This characteristic is precisely his fatal flaw and gets him killed later on in the play. He fits into the play very well but he is not the classical tragic hero. Polonius is defiantly the antagonist in the story and he seeks out every chance to pick a verbal fight with Hamlet. He is also friends with the king so he is trying to find evidence to what is causing Hamlets odd behaviors. The theme of Act II seems to be to try and discover what has gotten into Hamlet and provoking his actions. It is ironic that the very observations of Hamlet by Polonius cause him to be wrong, “mad for thy love?” (2.1.83) “that hath made him mad.” (2.1.109) Polonius thinks that since Ophelia is listening to his advice and not allowing Hamlet to be with her, it is causing him to be “mad”. It does make sense logically but Polonius does not know the real truth and can’t see beyond his own conclusions. What if Ophelia was not Polonius’s daughter would it have changed how Polonius thought and what he observed?