Specialized CRAP.

I haven't written in a while, and its really irking me. So I decided to toss up a little English mini-project. I know its shallow and its terrible. However, I wanted something new. And that means introducing the blonde-haired, mustached Hamlet to thee.

Polonius as Symbol in Hamlet

Polonius can be seen as the archetypical “oafish” minister in Hamlet. Ophelia’s (Polonius’ daughter) relations with Hamlet (however deep those relations may go, the reader knows little) blind the judgment of Polonius. This ignorance eventually leads to the destruction of Polonius’ entire family – including Ophelia, who originally he intended to protect.

A more apparent symbol of this destructive ignorance comes in the scene when Hamlet murders Polonius. Even in death, Polonius maintains the ultimate symbol of ignorance – he remains shrouded and hidden behind a cloth whilst being stabbed. Only until after the murder does Hamlet realize who he has killed. This, though, could be said to represent the triumph of truth, of rational thinking over the instinctive ignorance of Polonius.

Do you see Polonius as a symbol of ignorance? Or perhaps, of something else? Was Polonius’ death the necessary death of ignorance or simply another obstacle in the way of Hamlet’s master plan?

Ophelia as Symbol in Hamlet

Ophelia is the primary love interest in Hamlet, serving as the source of much intrigue and tragedy within the play. Ophelia becomes the domino who falls thus crumpling her entire family. She primarily represents innocence lost – in the beginning, she merely is a daughter reporting “romance” to her father, Polonius. By the end (of her life, anyway), she has become insane, ending her own life in the process. Aside from the Queen, Gertrude, Ophelia is the most major female character in the play.

In a way, Ophelia can be said to represent a parallel to Hamlet in that both have their sanity in question by the end of their lives. While Hamlet presents a more ambiguous case of psychosis, Ophelia can be said to be nearly surely driven insane.

What do you think of Ophelia, particularly in regards to her as one of the primary female characters in the story? Does she represent anything more than innocence lost?