It's very possible that Hamlet distances himself from Ophelia for strategic reasons. He may have assessed her as a potential ally and rejected her (all that holding her at arms length in her closet stuff) as being unsuitable because she is a weak person. He may have sensed her dependence on Polonius and have pushed her away because if she knew anything about him she would give him away. He may have kept her at arm's length to protect her from the danger he knew would come to him. Or the idea of being a loner may have suited better with the picture he was trying to create of himself as being unbalanced and possibly suicidal. Any combination of these is possible.
On the other hand one can make a consistent reading where Hamlet doesn't actually love Ophelia at all and all his "I loved Ophelia! Forty thousand brothers with all their quantity of love could not make up my sum." is just bravado fueled by his jealousy of Laertes' genuine love for Ophelia.
Polonius, Claudius, and Ophelia devise a plan to observe Hamlet's behavior and determine the cause of his apparent madness. They decide to use Ophelia as bait, encouraging her to interact with Hamlet while they secretly watch their encounter. This scheme aims to gather evidence about Hamlet's feelings and mental state, ultimately to confirm whether his madness is due to his love for Ophelia or if there are other underlying reasons.
Ophelia is in love with Hamlet and she may know or suspect that her father's death was an accident. She may also feel that revenge is a man's job, not a woman's, as Beatrice does in Much Ado About Nothing. However, unlike Beatrice and her brother Laertes, Ophelia never shows the slightest inclination towards feelings of revenge.
Polonius believes that Hamlet is acting strangely because he is in love with his daughter, Ophelia. Polonius had earlier instructed Ophelia to cut off contact with Hamlet and that is what Polonius thinks is making Hamlet mad.
It prefigures the difficulty in Hamlet's relationship with Ophelia. Hamlet is figuring out that she cannot be trusted to keep his secrets or to understand the complexities of his situation. That is why he gives her a long hard look (as if he would draw her) but yet says nothing. Ophelia's tragedy is that she does not have the ability to plan her way through the dangerous world of the Danish court. Laertes knows she is weak-willed and advises her and then disappears to France. Polonius gives her a bunch of advice and then uses her shamefully. Hamlet pushes her away. They all abandon her which leads to madness and death.
Yes. They are both completely privy to the plot to spy on Hamlet in Act III Scene 1. Gertrude is also privy to the plan to set Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Polonius as spies on Hamlet.
In "Hamlet", Polonious devises a plan to test his theory that Hamlet is madly in love with Ophelia, and since she is ignoring him, he is depressed. He plans to arrange for Hamlet and Ophelia to meet. He will hide close by and ease-drop to determine if he is correct in his assumption.
He plans to get Hamlet to talk to Ophelia, while he and Claudius are eavesdropping.
Have someone who is close to Hamlet engage him in conversation where there are spies listening in. He does this first with Ophelia and later with Gertrude.
Claudius advises Hamlet to stop mourning his father's death and start celebrating the marriage between him and Hamlet's mother. He calls Hamlet's attitude"stubborn and unmanly." A little insensitive considering Hamlet's father has only been dead for 2 months at the time.
Ophelia is bait. She is to engage Hamlet in conversation while Polonius and the King are secretly listening in, hoping that he will reveal to her the reason for his strange behaviour. But Ophelia is not entirely on board with this plan, about which she was never consulted, and she tries to steer the conversation away from revealing details. Hamlet's explosion of anger when he realizes that the conversation is a set-up, and Ophelia is privy to it, convinces Ophelia that he really is crazy ("O what a noble mind is here o'erthrown.") while at the same time convincing Claudius that he is not ("what he spake, though it lacked form a little, was not like madness.").
Polonius plans to have Hamlet meet with Ophelia while he and Claudius hide nearby so they can watch how he acts towards her. This way they will be able to see if, given the opportunity, he will show affection towards her or just continue on in his madness.
Ophelia is in love with Hamlet and she may know or suspect that her father's death was an accident. She may also feel that revenge is a man's job, not a woman's, as Beatrice does in Much Ado About Nothing. However, unlike Beatrice and her brother Laertes, Ophelia never shows the slightest inclination towards feelings of revenge.
To spy on him. First of all he wants to spy on him when interacting with Ophelia, and when this fails to support his theory, he wants to spy on him while interacting with Gertrude.
According to Laertes, she may compromise her reputation by going too far with Hamlet, only to find later on that a marriage with a different woman has been arranged for him for political reasons. However, we learn from Gertrude that that was not the plan at all and that Gertrude had intended that Hamlet and Ophelia should marry. Claudius would not have resisted her desire in this, because he is deeply in love with Gertrude. Nevertheless, had Ophelia gone too far with Hamlet (and the source material and some productions of the play including Kenneth Branagh's movie suggest that she had done so) she still would have been repudiated by Hamlet in the nunnery scene (III, 1). The bitter sting of Hamlet's repudiation would be all the greater if Ophelia had already become his mistress or (as in some versions of the story) was carrying his child.
Polonius believes that Hamlet is acting strangely because he is in love with his daughter, Ophelia. Polonius had earlier instructed Ophelia to cut off contact with Hamlet and that is what Polonius thinks is making Hamlet mad.
It prefigures the difficulty in Hamlet's relationship with Ophelia. Hamlet is figuring out that she cannot be trusted to keep his secrets or to understand the complexities of his situation. That is why he gives her a long hard look (as if he would draw her) but yet says nothing. Ophelia's tragedy is that she does not have the ability to plan her way through the dangerous world of the Danish court. Laertes knows she is weak-willed and advises her and then disappears to France. Polonius gives her a bunch of advice and then uses her shamefully. Hamlet pushes her away. They all abandon her which leads to madness and death.
Yes. They are both completely privy to the plot to spy on Hamlet in Act III Scene 1. Gertrude is also privy to the plan to set Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Polonius as spies on Hamlet.