Hamlet+2.1

__**Hamlet 2.1**__ __3. Questions__ __8. Ambiguity__ __7. Ophelia's Point of View__ __2. Addressed Above__
 * What does Polonius send Reynaldo to do? Why should Reynaldo ruin, somewhat though not fully, Laertes' reputation? Is he just checking in on him, because that is an odd way to see if Laertes is not acting well?
 * Does Polonius think that Hamlet is mad or just crazy in love with Ophelia? Why does Polonius have to tell the king and queen Hamlet's feelings? Or is he just going to tell them that Hamlet is mad?
 * Is Hamlet insane or just overwhelmed by emotions?
 * Ophelia is frightened by Hamlet's approach.
 * Polonius realizes that she is unnerved when he first sees her. "How now, Ophelia, what's the matter?" (84).
 * Ophelia responds, "O, my lord, my lord, i have been so affrighted" (85).
 * "My lord I do not know [whether or not he was mad for her love],/but truly I do fear it" (96-7).
 * "He took me by the wrist and held me hard" (99). But Hamlet does not actually hurt her, he just stares for a while and leaves.
 * It is almost as though Hamlet is comforted by her presence, "He raised a sigh so piteous and profound/as it did seem to shatter all his bulk/and end his being" (106-8). I think that this sentence also covers __#2__. This sentence illustrates the battle of emotions and confusion within Hamlet himself and makes the audience pity him and want to know what he is thinking. Without this sentence it would be easy to assume that he is in fact insane. Also "And end his being" hold an enormous amount of significance. I think that this is a quotation that I would like to analyze when I know more.
 * Hamlet's appearance is disheveled and out of place for him.
 * "And with a look so piteous in purport/as if he had been loosed out of hell/to speak of horrors" (92-4). This quotation, I think, hold that most truth in the scene. I have heard insanity compared with hell and hell described as an individual state of being. It is also as though Hamlet's father's ghost took him into hell and released Hamlet with some of his suffering.
 * Polonius' view?
 * Polonius believes that Hamlet is lovestruck and overwhelmed with desire for Ophelia because she has just recently withheld her attentions. However, he thinks that this will lead Hamlet to rash actions, witch is why, I think, he goes to the King and Queen.
 * "This is the very ecstasy of love,/whose violent property fordoes itself/and leads the will to desperate undertakings/as oft as any passions under heaven/that does afflict our natures" (114-8).
 * "[Ophelia's refusal to see Hamlet] hath made him mad./I am sorry that with better heed and judgement/I had not coted him. I feared he did but trifle/and meant to wrack thee. But beshrew jealousy!/By heaven, it is as proper to our age/to cast beyond ourselves in our opinions/as it is common for the younger sort/to lack discretion" (123-30). Polonius believes that this is part his fault for advising Ophelia to stop seeing Hamlet without observing his behavior first to suspect his reaction. This also mentions the difference between the old and young. I think that King Hamlet and King Claudius would be similarly different, but I don't know enough to tell what exactly that would be.
 * " This must be known, which, being kept close, might move/more grief to hide than hate to utter love" (131-2). Polonius believes that to tell of Hamlet's emotions is the lesser evil. I will look to see whether I believe this the better course or not.
 * I am afraid of and for Hamlet. Before today, he has been nothing but courteous to me. Today he gripped my arm and held me still, but he did not harm me. He just looked at me, sighed and left me. What power do I have over him to have produced such a result, like my presence alone comforted him. I do not know whether or not I love Hamlet, but I care for him. I pitied him too, after he looked so defeated. I wonder what he is hiding that makes him so distraught. Do I want to help him? I am not sure, but I know that I do not want harm to befall him.