Ophelia’s responses are very short in regard to what her brother is telling her and she doesn’t seem to be defending Hamlet’s love for her at all, or saying much about how she feels about Hamlet. Ophelia agrees to follow Laertes advice on Hamlet, but also tells him he should follow his own advice, as he doesn’t usually. Ophelia is probably very reluctant to defend Hamlet, as she herself is not entirely clear about how she feels about him. It is more likely that she would rather have a woman figure in her life, instead of her brother and father, to confide in about her feelings, and to offer her advice.
When Polonius enters, he first offers lots of advice to Laertes about going to France, and telling him how he should act. He advises him to ‘give thy thoughts no tongue’ and to be ‘costly thy habit as thy purse can buy’. He speaks this advice with a lot of authority, implying he knows what is best for his son. Throughout Polonius' advice, Laertes doesn’t interrupt once, showing he is listening carefully to what his father is telling him. Polonius then tells Laertes to go, so he is left alone with Ophelia. As soon as Laertes has gone, Polonius asks his daughter what Laertes has said to her. Although she told Laertes she would keep his advice secret, she then begins to tell Polonius. Ophelia doesn’t directly say, and instead says ‘something touching the Lord Hamlet’. Polonius immediately starts to show his view, saying that it has been reported to him that Hamlet has ‘given private time to you’. He then goes on to say ‘in way of caution I must tell you, you do not understand yourself so clearly’. This is implying that he agrees with Laertes, that Ophelia should treat Hamlet and his affections with caution. He believes Ophelia is too naive to truly understand the effects of getting involved with Hamlet. It is clear that Polonius believes himself to have the greatest knowledge and know what is best for both of his children, and he doesn’t really give either of them the chance to say their own views. Polonius sounds like a very authoritative, proud man and this shows in the way that he delivers the advice to both Ophelia and Laertes.
The relationship Polonius has with both of his children is very different. Polonius treats Ophelia like a little girl and Laertes like an equal. This is more than likely because he does not expect as much of Ophelia because she is a woman, and so sees her as just someone he has to look after. Polonius is very proud of Laertes and therefore treats him with the respect he would give to an equal. Both of Polonius’ children appear to appreciate him and respect him. The relationship between the two siblings however shows a great deal of trust and care for one another, especially Laertes to Ophelia. I think that out of all three characters, Ophelia is probably least at ease, as really all she wants is a female role model she can turn to.
