Having received her orders from Polonius, she tells him that she wishes to return the tokens of love he has given her. Angrily, Hamlet denies having given her anything; he laments the dishonesty of beauty, and claims both to have loved Ophelia once and never to have loved her at all.

When Ophelia attempts to return Hamlet’s “tenders of affection”, firstly, Hamlet denies ever having given her any gifts — ” No, not I. I never gave you aught .” (III. I. 105)– and then, as Ophelia insists that he did, immediately counters her offering with a fierce question: ” Ha, ha, are you honest?” (III.

How does Ophelia come to believe that Hamlet is mad? He enters her room as she is sewing; his clothes are dishevelled, and his look is piteous. She knows that refusing to marry Hamlet will make him go insane. Polonius reads a letter to Claudius and Gertrude, and Ophelia overhears it.

Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia because he has transferred his anger at Gertrude’s marriage to Claudius onto Ophelia. In fact, Hamlet’s words suggest that he transfers his rage and disgust for his mother onto all women. He says to Ophelia, “God has given you one face and you make yourselves another.

The soliloquy is essentially all about life and death: “To be or not to be” means “To live or not to live” (or “To live or to die”). Hamlet discusses how painful and miserable human life is, and how death (specifically suicide) would be preferable, would it not be for the fearful uncertainty of what comes after death.

The second reason Claudius gives for not punishing Hamlet is his popularity with the people of Denmark. He says that the populace so admires Hamlet that would be willing to overlooks his faults, and that things most people would judge to be wrong, they would excuse for Hamlet’s sake.

Claudius knows that Hamlet was the legitimate heir to the throne, and that he himself is a usurper; and he is afraid that Hamlet might either lead a coup against him or that some foreign enemy might persuade Hamlet to act as a figurehead in a plot to overthrow the existing government under King Claudius and set up a …

Act 4 Scene 3 1) Claudius states ¨yet we must not put the strong law on him because they can not put ̈ Hamlet in jail because everyone loves him. He is afraid of everyone in the country will riot and get upset and turn against Claudius.

How dangerous is it that this man goes loose! Yet must not we put the strong law on him. He’s loved of the distracted multitude, 5 Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes. And where ’tis so, th’ offender’s scourge is weighed, But never the offense.

What is Claudius speaking of when he mentions “this bloody deed”? The bloody deed is the death of Polonius by Hamlet. They cannot punish Hamlet for his killing of Polonius because the public loves him and because Gertrude is his mother (and loves him too).

Rosemary and Pansies: Ophelia gives these flowers to Laertes, she even cites them as being for remembrance and thoughts. Fennel is the symbol for flattery and columbine is considered the flower for “deceived lovers,” a symbol of male adultery and faithlessness.

As I mentioned in my post on Daisies, Ophelia names the Daisy but does not hand it out, suggesting that the court lacks innocence and purity. Violets are for faithfulness and fidelity. As Ophelia has none to give to the Queen she exposes the Queen’s infidelity.

She passes out rosemary (traditionally carried by mourners at funerals), pansies (whose name is derived from the French word pensie, meaning “thought” or “remembrance”), fennel (a quick-dying flower symbolizing sorrow), columbines (a flower symbolizing affection, often given to lovers), and daisies (symbols of …