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Character relationships in Hamlet

Summary:

In Hamlet, the relationships are complex and pivotal to the plot. Hamlet's strained relationship with his mother, Gertrude, and his uncle, King Claudius, fuels his quest for revenge. His friendship with Horatio provides him with support, while his romantic relationship with Ophelia is tragic and marked by misunderstanding and manipulation. These dynamics drive the play's dramatic tension and themes.

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In Hamlet, act 1, scene 2, what relationships do the characters share?

In order to understand the rest of the play, you must understand the relationships the characters have with one another, and you must understand the dynamics within those relationships.  In Scene 2 we first meet King Claudius who has taken over the throne of his recently deceased brother.  He has also just recently married his brother's wife/widow, Gertrude.  Prince Hamlet is the son of Gertrude and the former king, so that makes Claudius his uncle and how his step father.  Hamlet is not happy about this turn of events and his first line reflects this attitude.  Claudius call Hamlet his son, and Hamlet, in an aside, says, "a little more than kin and less than kind."  He feels a little too closely related to Claudius now. Hamlet loves his mother but is diappointed in her decision to marry Claudius.  He agrees to stay at Elisinore for her sake.  This...

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shows that Hamlet is still a dutiful son at heart. Claudius, in an attempt to show fatherly concern, gives a very long speech to Hamlet about how he needs to more quickly accept his father's death as an event that is natural and expected and therefore should be grieved and moved past.  He comes across as rather cold and practical, rather than loving and understanding.

In this scene we also briefly meet characters who become more important later in the play.  Laertes is the son of Polonius, and Polonius is a chief courtier and adviser to Claudius.  Laertes goes through the public obligation of asking the King's permission to return to college now the the funeral and wedding are over.  Claudius, wanting to maintain the support of a courtier like Polonius, is very flattering in his behavior towards  Laertes , and grants the request.

This scene also shows us the friendship between Hamlet and Horatio.  In scene 1, Horatio is portrayed as the learned man who verifies the appearance of the ghost.  In this scene, we see the friendship between the two men and how supportive Horatio is light of all of the change in Hamlet's life.  Horatio, as kindly as possible, and with a lot of patience of Hamlet's questions, reveals all of the details he can about the appearance of the ghost of King Hamlet.  He is rightly concerned about Hamlet's wanting to see it for himself, but he is supportive nonetheless. 

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What are the character relationships in Shakespeare's Hamlet, act 1, scene 3?

In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the relationships between the characters in Act One, scene three (with Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia) follow social and familial confines.

In terms of family, the men rule Ophelia's life. This is a society where women are at the mercy of the men in their lives: fathers, husbands, brothers, etc. Polonius as the senior member of the family provides guidance for son and daughter. Laertes, as a male, can also exert control over his sister. Ophelia is left with no options other than to follow the dictates of the male members of her family. She is, more than anything, a commodity or piece of property. The only thing she has of value, according to society—vocalized by her brother—is her untainted virginity.

In terms of the family, the guidelines are very similar. Polonius has authority over both children; Laertes has authority over his sister; and, Ophelia has no power at all.

Polonius' relationship is to Laertes is shown as he provides lengthy advice to his son prior to his departure. (Ironically, Polonius gives excellent advice but fails to follow it himself.) Perhaps the best piece of advice he provides is:

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man. (I.iii.82-84)

Polonius, as the father and senior male, is one with the authority to give direction to his son. Had Polonius followed this advice, he would most probably have avoided not only his own death, but prevented his son's and daughter's deaths as well.

Laertes' relationship to his father is seen in his response to his dad's advice. Laertes responds with appropriate respect.

Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord. (I.iii.86)

Women during this time had no rights. First Laertes, as an older brother, warns his sister to avoid Hamlet because he only wants to lure her to bed: he will never be able to marry her because of their different social status, so Laertes tells Ophelia to guard her virtue (virginity) well.

...weigh what loss your honour may sustain
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmast'red importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire. (I.iii.32-38)

Ironically, Ophelia reminds her brother that chaste behavior is demanded of him as well. This is something she might only be able to say to her brother. It shows that she has spirit, though the actions of the men around her will eventually take their toll and break her.

Ophelia must also listen to her Polonius' advice, as a father and man. He echoes Laertes' advice, but also draws Ophelia into the deceit he and Claudius use to attempt to ensnare Hamlet, to discover his motivations. Although Polonius and Claudius have different reasons for their use of Ophelia, her power is non-existent in both cases, in face of parent and King, and men, in general.

Polonius reiterates Laertes' advice, cautioning Ophelia to behave with Hamlet or she will lose her virginity, making Polonius look like a fool. Neither brother or father have any real concern for Ophelia's feelings.

Think yourself a baby,
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly,
Or—not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus—you'll tender me a fool.

The relationships are based on family relationships and societal expectations.

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What is the relationship between the characters in Hamlet?

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, there are a number of interesting relationships that help drive the plot forward. Central to the play is Hamlet’s family unit. Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet, is dead when the play begins. His mother, Gertrude, has remarried King Hamlet’s brother, and Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, by the time Hamlet returns to Denmark. Hamlet’s father’s death, and the overhasty remarriage of his mother to his uncle contribute to Hamlet’s melancholy at the start of the play.

We soon meet another family central to the plot. Polonius is Claudius’s advisor. His son Laertes is a foil for Hamlet. Polonius’s daughter, and Laertes’s sister, Ophelia, is romantically involved with Hamlet at the start of the play. Ophelia heeds her father’s advice and breaks off the relationship with Hamlet. Hamlet views this as a betrayal of sorts, and his cruelty towards her, along with his murder of her father, leads to her madness and eventual suicide.

Hamlet’s friends are also important characters in the play. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are friends from his childhood who betray Hamlet by spying on him for King Claudius. Hamlet grows frustrated with them, calls them “sponges,” and is able to eventually switch his own execution orders so that they are killed instead. Horatio is his closest, dearest friend. Horatio brings Hamlet to his father’s ghost, helps Hamlet devise a plan to test Claudius’s guilt, and in the end, is there to comfort him as he dies and tells his story to Fortinbras (Hamlet’s Norwegian counterpart). The relationships in the play are significant because they mostly reveal, with the exception of Horatio, how Hamlet was betrayed in some form by the people who were supposed to love him most.

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Gertrude is Hamlet's mother, former wife of Old King Hamlet (who is now dead, and a ghost), and current wife of Old King Hamlet's brother, Claudius.  Therefore, Claudius is Hamlet's uncle and now his step-father as well.  The relationship between Claudius and Hamlet is adversarial at best, and once Old King Hamlet's ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius murdered him, it gets even worse.  Further, the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude, is strained because he feels that she betrayed his father by marrying his brother, and so soon after his father's death (fewer than two months).

Polonius is Claudius's closest adviser, and he is also the father of Ophelia, Hamlet's former lover/girlfriend, and Laertes, the man with whom Hamlet eventually duels (at the play's end) and whose poison kills both himself and Hamlet.  Hamlet does not care for Polonius at all, especially after Ophelia follows Polonius's advice and begins to severe ties with him.  After Hamlet kills Polonius, thinking he was Claudius, Laertes returns from abroad with plans to avenge his father's death.  This is why he challenges Hamlet and tips his rapier with the poison.

Horatio is basically Hamlet's best friend from school.  He is legitimately loyal to and loving of Hamlet.  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are also school friends, but, when Claudius recruits them to spy on Hamlet for him, Hamlet figures it out and refuses to trust them. (They didn't really realize that they were being used.) 

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