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Do Claudius and Polonius have similar reasons for spying on Ophelia and Hamlet?
Wiki User
∙ 8y ago
Polonius explains this earlier in the play, in 2.2.
P: You know sometimes he walks four hours together
Here in the lobby.
Q: So he does indeed.
P: At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him
Be you and I behind an arras then.
Mark the encounter. If he love her not,
And be not from his reason fall'n thereon,
Let me be no assistant for a state
But keep a farm and carter's.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoNo.
Polonius is Ophelia's father. He has reason to want to know what his daughter is doing with Hamlet and what Hamlet's intentions are towards his daughter. Remember that Hamlet is still the next in line to the throne if Claudius has no children (and Gertrude is not young, so it may not be so likely that they will have children). So if Hamlet wants to (or can be persuaded to) marry Ophelia, Polonius has a chance of seeing his daughter become queen of Denmark and his grandchildren possibly ruling the country in time. However, as Hamlet is the prince, it's likely that his mother and stepfather will want to marry him to some princess of a neighbouring country for political reasons (Fortinbras's sister, perhaps). It may be that the best Polonius can hope for is that Ophelia is or can be persuaded or bullied into becoming Hamlet's mistress, which could guarantee at least some generous presents for her family, and perhaps some added influence at court for her father. Polonius is prepared to pimp his daughter to Hamlet in return for worldly success, but he needs to know what's between them already. So that's why he spies on them.
Claudius' reasons are different. He has, we know, a guilty conscience for killing Hamlet's father. What's more, even if Old Hamlet had died peacefully of natural causes, he could expect that young Hamlet might still be a danger to him. After all, Hamlet should by rights now be king, but Claudius has taken the throne instead. So Claudius has been looking out for trouble from Hamlet, who is now acting strangely. So Claudius wants to check whether Hamlet's odd behaviour is really due to him being driven mad for love of Ophelia, as people at court are saying, or whether there is another motive, such as grief at not becoming king, or resentment of his new stepfather. Claudius wants to know how much he risks by having Hamlet at court, and spying gives him a chance to find out what Hamlet is saying and how he's acting when he thinks he's in private.
Both are made unhappy by what they see. Polonius is disappointed in his ambitions and Claudius is worried and alarmed.
Neither of them care in the slightest about Ophelia's heart-break.
Wiki User
∙ 8y agoYes, I believe they do. Both of them wanted to find the root cause of Hamlet's gloom. However, Claudius may have been suspicious of Hamlet while Polonius may have been coming from a point of view where he wanted to help the King.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoTheir immediate goal is the same--to try to explain Hamlet's weird behaviour. Polonius suspects that Hamlet may be suffering from "love-sickness", a kind of artificial illness put on by Elizabethan lovers when complaining about the equally artificial cold shoulder their beloved is giving them. Except that Polonius for some reason thinks that being deprived of Ophelia's love may really be having this effect on him. It is possible that he hopes that this may be the case, since if it were true, he might end up with the heir to the throne as a son-in-law.
Claudius has no such hopes. He is concerned, however, at the back of his mind, about the possibility that Hamlet may suspect that all was not kosher with the death of his father. Unlike Polonius, Claudius is not one to leap to a conclusion, and he does not leap to this one, but that worry makes him want to find out the truth. He knows that Gertrude is probably right, that it is only "his father's death and [their] o'erhasty marriage" that is the problem, and he hopes she is right, but he has to make sure because of that niggling fear.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoHer daddy tells her to do it, and Ophelia always does what her daddy says.
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Both are attempting to draw out someone's secrets under the guise of friendship.
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Both have very similar plot situations: they both have overbearing fathers, commit suicide, and have parents who don't really seem to understand them. However, there is one mian fundamental difference betwen them. Juliet has a self-defined indenity, while Ophelia seems to be masking her indenity. Juliet is very sure of herself and makes decisions on her own, while Ophelia seems to be controlled by everyone around her.
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Who did King Gonzago represent in Hamlet?
The play which Hamlet orders the players to perform is called "The Murder of Gonzago". Hamlet intends that the play (already similar in many respects) should be made even more similar to "The Murder of King Hamlet by his brother Claudius" so as to "catch the conscience of the king" Gonzago represents King Hamlet, Hamlet's father, while Claudius is represented by "Lucianus, a nephew of the king"
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What does Hamlet get the actors to do?
Hamlet plans to use the actors to prove whether or not Claudius was guilty. This would be achieved by instructing the actors to portray the murder of Gonzago, which would make Claudius feel guilty if he did indeed commit the murder.
