Personally, my reaction to Shakespeare's
Hamlet, Act One, scene three, is that we are presented with a
typical family situation where a father tries to provide advice to a youngster, who, in
turn, tries to do the same to a younger sibling.
The
brother and sister are probably the most predictable. Laertes is going away to school
and his father is offering him advice to guide his actions while at the university.
Laertes, not just as the older sibling, but a male (in this era) has the right to speak
to his sister, who socially, has no power whatsoever within their society. However, as
typical of many sisters with their brothers, she finds herself easily able to call
him to task, warning him that his advice to her should be advice
that he himself will heed. If it's good advice for her, it is just
as sound for him.
The unusual aspect of this scene is found
with the character of Polonius. He is the King's advisor, having first served Old
Hamlet, and now Claudius, the dead King's brother. The part of the situation that is so
ironic is that Polonius may be the King's advisor, but he's not a very intelligent man.
He has excellent advice for others, but cannot seem to follow it himself. Instead, he is
more motivated to make himself indispensable to Claudius, even if it means using his
daughter to trap Hamlet into giving Polonius valuable information that he can then give
to the King, for Polonius' personal
benefit.
The one person who seems to be the most closely
aligned with reality is Ophelia. Ironically, it is Ophelia who dies after she loses her
mind over the death of her father, and perhaps Hamlet's abandonment of her. Polonius
dies because he is sneaking around and Hamlet mistakes him for Claudius. Laertes dies
because he dishonorably aligns himself with Claudius in order to kill Hamlet to avenge
Polonius' death.
It would seem that although Laertes does
not seem to think he needs his father's advice, following it might
have saved his life. E.g., Laertes should have been more cautious: he should have kept
his own counsel, hiding his thoughts, and should have been slow to act, rather than
joining himself with Claudius so quickly...who uses the young man's sorrow to manipulate
him to kill Hamlet.
Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor
any unproportion'd thought his act.
(I.iii.63-64)
Polonius could
have benefitted from his own advice as well. Speaking to Ophelia, Polonius says that
"mousetraps catch fools."
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks.
(I.iii.122)
Ironically,
Polonius is much like the mouse caught in a trap when he is mistakenly killed by Hamlet,
even while the Prince says, "A rat! Dead for a ducat..." comparing the person he has
killed behind the curtain to a vermin.
The greatest tragedy
I think is for Ophelia who is the innocent in all this. Laertes plants the seed of doubt
in her mind, inferring that Hamlet is not truly interested in her love but in sleeping
with her, for she is beneath Hamlet's royal station and he (according to Laertes) could
never marry her. Coercion by her father and the King, and doubts planted by Laertes and
Hamlet set Ophelia up for destruction.
Not listening to
advice brought about the destruction of Polonius and Laertes who
had control of their lives but used it poorly; while following the
advice and directions of the men around her bring about Ophelia's destruction, the woman
who had no say in how she managed her life, but was subservient to the men and the
male-dominated society of which she is a part.
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