PRESENTATION OF POLONIUS AND CRITICAL READINGS

Question 1

Psychoanalytic readings of Polonius- Freudian perspective

Answer 1

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Question 2

Psychoanalytical lense- Freudian perspective

Answer 2

• Freudian superego- a punitive, rule-obsessed force that demands submission.
• Return of the repressed- his suspicions that Laertes will go ‘Drabbing’ in Paris and fears over Ophelia’s chastity- reflects his own repressed licentiousness/ fear of female sexuality.
• Tyrant Father archetype

His commands to Ophelia (“Do not believe his vows”) and Laertes (“Give thy thoughts no tongue”) reflect societal repression of desire.

Question 3

Feminist readings-

Answer 3

• Surveillance Economy: His spy network (Reynaldo, Ophelia) mirrors how patriarchy polices women’s bodies- he’s the architect of Ophelia’s erasure.
• Objectification: Polonius treats Ophelia as a political tool, first forbidding her from seeing Hamlet (“I would not… have you slander any moment leisure”), then prostituting her as bait (“I’ll loose my daughter to him”).

Question 4

Name 4 presentations of Polonius

Answer 4

• Overbearing and meddling parental figure representing the problematic nature of parental interference.
• Satirical representation of political intrigue and self-important courtiers.
• Thematic embodiment of appearance vs reality
• A symbol of corruption and decay

Question 5

Wich quotes highlights his overbearing parental meddling?

Answer 5

• “I would not…from this time forth / Have you so slander any moment leisure / As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet (Polonius to Ophelia)
• Affection? Pooh! You speak like a green girl, unsifted in such perilous circumstances’.. think yourself a baby’
• How now, Ophelia? You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said, We heard it all

Question 6

“You bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth…so by my..advice shall you find my son” - analysis