ntirely to his mother,and while his emotions are not an imitation, he does admit that he"essentially [is] not in madness,/ But mad in craft" (lines 187-188).Ophelia is then left to mourn her father, but it is not his death alonethat spurns her insanity. Her predicament is such that she is forcedto fear and hate her father's murder who is also her lover and the oneperson to whom all of her future hopes were pinned -Prince Hamlet."Her entire orientation to the future has suddenly been destroyed," andwith her brother gone, Ophelia has no one to turn to for comfort (Lidz157). Hamlet then delves further into his manic feigned madness andOphelia is cheated into the belief that he really is mad. The optionsfor her sanity are none; melancholy and grief are madness formalcontent Ophelia. Hamlet and Ophelia are confronted with the"irretrievable loss of a love object, " however, it is Ophelia'sdilemma that is the more horrible of the two and is indelibly moretragic. The audience may of the general opinion that Polonius isbordering on senility, and is a spy who meddle in affair that do notdemand his participation, however, he is Ophelia's sole parent. We areable to discern that his harsh attitude toward his daughter at thebeginning of the play may not be cruel for cruelty's sake; Poloniusmay actually be showing signs that he is overly protective of Opheliaand instructs her to deny Hamlet's "tenders" because they represent athreat toward his position as her father. We might also infer that asOphelia's only parent for such a great duration in her young life thatPolonius may actually favored her -letting her act as the replacementfor her mother in her father's life. These ideas are not to implicatetheir relationship as an abusive Oedipal ci! rcumstance. It isinteresting that the same situation can correspondingly be applied tothe relationship that Hamlet shares with his mother. Hamlet isfatherless. While this is a more recent position fo...
