Act 1, Scene 3: Laertes, Ophelia and Polonius

Before returning to France, Laertes encourages his sister Ophelia not to trust

Hamlet’s kindness and affection towards her. Both Laertes and Polonius consider Hamlet’s
intentions towards Ophelia dishonorable, and they evaluate this issue in terms of Hamlet’s
political position as a prince. They objectify Ophelia and demand her to be virtuous, chaste,
obedient and silent. Laertes reminds her that Hamlet cannot make personal choices
because he is first and foremost a prince who is obliged to prioritize family obligations and
the demands of his country: “So if he says he loves you, you should be wise enough to see
that his words only mean as much as the state of Denmark allows them to mean” (1.3.25-
27). Thus, Ophelia should protect her chastity and resist Hamlet’s seductive talks to protect
her innocence and beauty because “baby blossoms are most susceptible to disease”
(1.3.42). Laertes also uses the metaphor of military action and builds parallelism between
sexual desire and the act of military siege. The strokes and shot of male desire threaten a
woman’s chastity whose body is regarded as a territory open to attack (1.3.34-35). Laertes
defines male desire as violent and calumnious, and thus attributes danger, dishonour and
maliciousness to male gender. His advice to Ophelia not only reveals that women are
regarded as fragile objects in need of male protection, but it also shows that designating
territory for the female body renders an inanimate state for femininity. As such, Laertes’
words do not merely show the inferior state of woman in this patriarchal society, but they
bring Ophelia face to face with the objectification of her identity as well. In return, Ophelia’s
ironic reply to her brother discloses what is problematic about his protective and dominant
posture: “But, my dear brother, don’t be like a bad priest who fails to practice what he
preaches, showing me the steep and narrow way to heaven while you frolic on the
primrose path of sin” (1.3.47-51). Ophelia tells her brother to practice what he preaches
and to pay attention to his own advice. Ophelia seems like less obedient toward Laertes
when they are alone, but she reflects total subordination towards her brother in the
presence of her father. As opposed to her ironic reply to Laertes, she states that his advice
is engraved in her memory once Polonius comes in: “‘This in my memory locked / And you
yourself shall keep the key of it” (1.3.86).
 Polonius portrays a corrupted and selfish father image, which is seen in his advice
towards both Ophelia and Laertes in this scene. Interrogating his daughter about her
relationship with Hamlet, Polonius displays a problematic father figure who desires to
protect his own reputation as the proper head of the household rather than the well-being
of his daughter: “You don’t understand yourself so clearly as it behoves my daughter and
your honour” (1.3.97-98). Here, Polonius leads Ophelia to recognize her identity through
the image of the honourable father and points out that her actions directly affect the father
and that they cannot be independent from the will of the father.
In Polonius’ household, the father-daughter and brother-sister relations
circumscribe the female identity with the patriarchal values of obedience and silence. With
no mention of Ophelia’s mother, the mother-daughter relationship does not exist here
because not only the mother but also any reference to her is absent in the play. Instead,
Polonius undertakes the so-called role of the mother: “I will teach you; think yourself a
baby” (1.3.104). As there is no reference to Ophelia’s mother in the play, we do not know
whether she is dead or she is totally silenced as to become non-existent in the household.
Thus, the mother can only be regarded as a lack, unknown and absent for Ophelia.
Polonius uses the metaphor of military action as well, and he approaches her
daughter as an object of negotiation for which conditions of surrender should not be
accepted at a low rate. He advises Ophelia to set her standards high because without her
chastity, she would become worthless on the marriage market. He tells Ophelia that she
should pretend to be inaccessible toward Hamlet so as to guarantee a high value for the
bride price. In the following lines, Polonius equates Ophelia’s identity with property which
is revealed by the military imagery of negotiation and surrender over property: “Set your
entreatments at a higher rate / Than a command to parle (1.3.122-123)”. In return,
Ophelia remains as a subordinate daughter as she says: “I shall obey, my lord” (1.3.136).
Polonius’ cunningness is also evident in his attempt to expand his dominance over
his son when Laertes goes to France. Sending Reynaldo there to observe and investigate
his son’s personal life, Polonius contradicts the advice he has given to his son: “This above
all, to thine own self be true” (1.3. 77).
Act 1, Scene 4: My fate cries out!
Earlier on Horatio has informed Hamlet that they have seen a ghost that looks exactly like
his deceased father (Act 1, Scene 2). Now that Hamlet wants to see the Ghost, he meets
Horatio and the guard Marcellus at night to await the Ghost’s arrival. The scene shifts to the
battlements of the castle where the encounter with the Ghost makes Hamlet come to direct
contact with death. The Ghost demands Hamlet to follow him and we are once more
surrounded by an atmosphere of mystery, fear and uneasiness. Both Horatio and Marcellus
become terrified when Hamlet follows the Ghost into what they regards as an unknown
state because they are at this point still unsure whether this is an evil spirit or not. At this
point, remember Hamlet’s perception of the universe as a ‘weeded garden’ in his 1 st
soliloquy when he has meditated about committing suicide. Marcellus now echoes Hamlet’s
image of the universe as a poisonously overgrown garden by calling Denmark a rotten
place: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (1.4.95). This is not only a commentary
on the horrifying appearance of the late king in his battle garments. It also foreshadows
Claudius’ corruption, as we are about to learn that he has murdered his own brother to
usurp the throne, killing him with poison. Hamlet links this troubling experience of seeing
the ghost of his father a larger purpose; he suggests that his fate calls him as if he feels
gravitated toward the supernatural presence of the Ghost.