Megan Kuhle
October 4th, 2006
English 4 p. 2
One of the most important and largest influences on finding one’s identity is family. In most cases, family members are the only people that are always there to go through obstacles with you, and ultimately help you lead a more fulfilling life, from birth to death. The nature of one’s family shapes who a person is, what they do, and how they act towards others. A healthy relationship with one’s family is essential to live at peace with oneself. In Hamlet, several characters are not at ease with their families, and it leads them to corruption.
The most unnerving case of the parent/child relationship in Hamlet is Polonius’ relationship with his daughter, Ophelia. Polonius is a councilor to King Claudius, and does everything he is commanded to without question, no matter how far he must go. The little time he has left to maintain a fatherly relationship with Ophelia is not spent wisely. She obediently answers to his requests as if she was his own councilor. Although it is obvious that Ophelia deeply loves and respects her father at all times, we rarely see his love for her. Polonius’ lack of demonstrating that he cares causes their relationship to be unpleasant and more master/servant type than father/daughter. For example, when Ophelia tells Polonius about Hamlet’s love for her he shrugs it off saying “…Do you believe his ‘tenders’ as you call them? … Tender yourself more dearly, Or (not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, running it thus) you’ll tender me a fool.” (I, III) Polonius has a one-track mind, one that focuses only on his reputation in the King’s eyes. Instead of helping and giving advice to Ophelia about her love tribulations, he scorns her and takes advantage of her vulnerability. At one point, Polonius, along with King Claudius, uses Ophelia’s close relationship with Hamlet to try and find an answer to Hamlet’s madness. Hamlet sees right through Ophelia’s forced speed and actions, and it makes him even angrier. After Hamlet sends Ophelia into tears from verbal abuse, her father does nothing to comfort her, but rather tells her she has nothing to say because they had heard it all. The weak bond that Ophelia has with her father makes her self-conscious and melancholy. As the novel progresses with Hamlet’s madness she has no one to confine in, and probably feels alone. After her father is suddenly killed by Hamlet, Ophelia goes mad and no one can connect with her or make any sense of the things she says. Ophelia’s distance from her father in his last couple of months alive was enough to draw them apart and cause Ophelia to go mad after his death. Polonius’ lack of being a better father caused hardship for everyone, especially his only daughter, Ophelia.
Hamlet’s corrupt relationship with Claudius ends much more tragically than Ophelia’s and Polonius’. Hamlet’s hatred for his uncle Claudius begins after Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet is suddenly killed, and Claudius marries Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. Hamlet is both disappointed in his mother and angered with his uncle. When a ghost appears to Hamlet and claims to be his father, he orders Hamlet to kill Claudius in order to get revenge. Hamlet happily accepts this quest, as his hatred for Claudius grows daily. Claudius and Gertrude bluntly tell Hamlet to stop being sorrowful and move on from his father’s death. Claudius says to him: “… But you must know your father lost a father, that father lost, lost his… to persevere in obstinate condolement is a course of impious stubbornness.” (I, II) Instead of expressing his feelings to his mother and father, Hamlet hides them causing their relationship to become unstable and completely silent. The silence goes both way, though, as Claudius goes behind Hamlet’s back to spy on him to try and explain his unusual behavior. The King and Queen summon Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two boys they think are Hamlet’s friends, to spy on Hamlet’s every move for them. “Thanks Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz. And I beseech you instantly to visit my too much changed son,” (II, II) says the Queen. Hamlet figures out what his two “friends” are up to, making him angrier than ever. His wrath becomes more and more common as the King continues to make him mad, to a point where he kills Polonius, hoping it is the King. Claudius takes this as a warning sign, but instead of talking it out with Hamlet, he sends him away to England, hoping he will return the sane boy they once knew. At this point, Claudius has made mistake after mistake in his fatherly role. Instead of trying to work things out, and even reach a compromise, he hastily picks every chance he gets to have nothing to do with his “son”. Claudius’ lack of guidance and responsibility lead to his death. Hamlet does get back from England, but once again, is not any happier. He kills Claudius by forcing him to drink a poison that he was slashed with. Hamlet then dies by the poison.
As Hamlet demonstrates, when people do not have a healthy, loving relationship with people that surround them, especially family, they usually do not have a healthy relationship with themselves. Though not all cases are as fatal as Hamlet’s, it is still a good idea to live at peace with one’s family. Family are the only people that will always be there for someone, so it is best to not hold grudges against them, talk about things that are bothering you with them, and most of all, not kill them.