Polonius, Ophelia's father in Shakespeare's "Hamlet," has a complicated view of Hamlet. While he is concerned about Ophelia's relationship with Hamlet and sees it as a potential distraction, he ultimately does not trust Hamlet's intentions. Polonius tends to regard Hamlet as a means to an end, using him to gain favor with the king. Thus, his feelings toward Hamlet are more pragmatic than affectionate.
Polonius is sure that Hamlet has gone mad with love for Ophelia. See these lines by Polonius in Act 2 scene 1: ~Polonius: Come, go with me! I will go seek the King;This is the very ecstasy of love,...Ophelia: ... I did repel his letters, and denied His access to me.Polonius: That hath made him mad;~ So Polonius thinks Hamlet is suffering from the "ecstasy of love" for Ophelia, which has driven him mad.
Oh, yes. Hamlet tortures him constantly and gratuitously. "Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?" Hamlet is just doing that to make Polonius look like a fool.
Polonius dies. Ophelia dies. Claudius dies. Hamlet dies. Hamlet returns home for his father's funeral. Hamlet stages a play to prove Claudius's guilt. Ophelia drowns in a river. Hamlet and Laertes duel. Hamlet returns to Denmark to bury his father. Hamlet kills Polonius. Ophelia is found dead. Laertes and Hamlet duel.
Both Laertes and Polonius were telling Ophelia not to have anything to do with Hamlet, for different reasons. Laertes says that she should avoid Hamlet because, being a prince, he can be compelled to a political marriage whatever he feels. Polonius says that she should avoid Hamlet because he is only trying to get into her pants.
It was an accident. He didn't know it was Polonius. He thought it was the King. O.k. in one scene of "Hamlet", when Hamlet approached his Mother, the Queen and argued with her, saying that she's evil and has no love for her previous husband (Hamlet's father, the King) and doesn't like being his Mother. Enraged, she walked away, but Hamlet grabbed her by the wrist and said "Listen to me!". She was so frightened, she called for help. Then Polonius, who was hiding behing a curtain, called "Help!". Then Hamlet, mistaking it for the King's voice, took out his sword and stabbed the curtain, killing Polonius. Claudius...Apexxx
Polonius is sure that Hamlet has gone mad with love for Ophelia. See these lines by Polonius in Act 2 scene 1: ~Polonius: Come, go with me! I will go seek the King;This is the very ecstasy of love,...Ophelia: ... I did repel his letters, and denied His access to me.Polonius: That hath made him mad;~ So Polonius thinks Hamlet is suffering from the "ecstasy of love" for Ophelia, which has driven him mad.
Oh, yes. Hamlet tortures him constantly and gratuitously. "Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?" Hamlet is just doing that to make Polonius look like a fool.
Polonius dies. Ophelia dies. Claudius dies. Hamlet dies. Hamlet returns home for his father's funeral. Hamlet stages a play to prove Claudius's guilt. Ophelia drowns in a river. Hamlet and Laertes duel. Hamlet returns to Denmark to bury his father. Hamlet kills Polonius. Ophelia is found dead. Laertes and Hamlet duel.
It's actually an arras that Polonius hides behind. Both times Polonius hides behind an arras, he does so to eavesdrop on what Hamlet says to somebody else. First, Polonius hides to listen to Hamlet talk to Ophelia, then later, he hides to listen to Hamlet talk to Gertrude.
Both Laertes and Polonius were telling Ophelia not to have anything to do with Hamlet, for different reasons. Laertes says that she should avoid Hamlet because, being a prince, he can be compelled to a political marriage whatever he feels. Polonius says that she should avoid Hamlet because he is only trying to get into her pants.
Polonius never gives advice to Hamlet. He interacts with him four times: when he accosts Hamlet in the hall when he is reading (what do you read, my lord? words, words, words), when he comes to tell Hamlet that the players have come (Buz, buz) and during and after the First Player's speech about Hecuba, during the Mousetrap (I did enact Julius Caesar), and to tell Hamlet to see his mother (very like a whale). During these conversations Hamlet constantly has Polonius on his off foot, and Polonius would never have a chance to offer advice. He does, of course offer a lot of advice to his son Laertes, but nobody would confuse Laertes with Hamlet.
It was an accident. He didn't know it was Polonius. He thought it was the King. O.k. in one scene of "Hamlet", when Hamlet approached his Mother, the Queen and argued with her, saying that she's evil and has no love for her previous husband (Hamlet's father, the King) and doesn't like being his Mother. Enraged, she walked away, but Hamlet grabbed her by the wrist and said "Listen to me!". She was so frightened, she called for help. Then Polonius, who was hiding behing a curtain, called "Help!". Then Hamlet, mistaking it for the King's voice, took out his sword and stabbed the curtain, killing Polonius. Claudius...Apexxx
If we take it that Hamlet killed Polonius believing him to be the king, and therefore as a part of his plot for revenge, then Polonius's death, and indirectly Ophelia's arise from his act of revenge. Claudius of course dies from Hamlet's revenge. Gertrude, Laertes and Hamlet die as a result of Laertes and Claudius's plot. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern die just because Hamlet doesn't much like them.
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.
When Gertrude inadvertently drinks the poison and dies, Hamlet is at last able to bring himself to kill Claudius, and the king is felled by his own cowardly machination. Addition: Act 5, Scene II: "HAMLET The point!--envenom'd too! Then, venom, to thy work. Stabs KING CLAUDIUS All Treason! treason! KING CLAUDIUS O, yet defend me, friends; I am but hurt. HAMLET Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion. Is thy union here? Follow my mother. KING CLAUDIUS dies"
Polonius never explicitly states what he feels about a marriage between Hamlet and Ophelia. In the play, Polonius urges Ophelia to stop interacting with Hamlet because he believes that Hamlet's duty to the royal family would not allow him to marry Ophelia despite what the young couple feels for each other. Basically, he doesn't believe a marriage between the two is even possible, so he's not "eager" for her to marry Hamlet.
In Hamlet, Ophelia did not have a choice. Hamlet put on such a display of madness that Ophelia and everyone else believed him. If Ophelia revealed that the King and Polonius were behind the curtains, she would have lost favor with her father and become the shame of the family. In the male centric world, women like Ophelia could only accept the outrageous ideals set by men. In her situation, she choose her father because that was her only choice.