Hamlet Unhealthy Relationships

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“A happy family is but an earlier heaven,” stated George Bernard Shaw. Not only does having a good family make for a heavenly family, it can lead to the outcome of a healthy and happy individual. In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the relationships within are unhealthy which causes a catastrophic ending. In this tragic story, Hamlet avenges his father's murder, but his feigned madness and indecision take its toll on everyone and all the relationships he inquires. Because Hamlet’s madness is so extreme, the overall ending of this play is tragic. These unhealthy relationships include; Polonius and Ophelia, Hamlet and Claudius, and Hamlet and Gertrude. Each of these is not a healthy relationship like that one might hope to find in reality.…show more content…
In today’s wholesome relationships between the father and the daughter, the father “provides unique benefits to their daughters through their active and positive presence from the time of birth through adulthood” (“First”). But In Hamlet, Polonius does not treat his daughter like the “protective” father should in a healthy relationship. He does not express those “positive” qualities that needed. When Hamlet was confronting Ophelia he said, “If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny,” he was very aggressive towards Ophelia and did not show much respect towards her and Polonius did not react to the situation (3.1.135-138). Polonius just stayed behind the tapestry and listened to his daughter get hurt. Today, in worthy relationships with a father and a daughter that would not have happened, the father would have been upset and actions would have been taken for a man disrespecting his daughter. “In reality a “girl’s relationship with her father is always the lynchpin of her personal life” (“Test”). There has always been the “daddy’s little girl” stereotype for father and daughter relationships which is what a daughter needs to be healthy. Another time when Polonius was rude to Ophelia was when he told Ophelia that Hamlet is bad news. Polonius basically tells…show more content…
First off, Hamlet was not happy with his mother and how she married his uncle two months after his father passed away. But that does not give Hamlet the right to be rude or disrespectful to his mother, there are other ways to handle conflicts. Gertrude compares Hamlets words to “daggers” as he is insulting her, “Oh, you must stop! Your words are like daggers. Please, no more, sweet Hamlet” (3.4.100). Gertrude still calls him a “sweet Hamlet”. This shows the motherly figure in Gertrude. “Studies have shown that a son who does not have a strong bond with his mother will grow up to have intense behavioral problems. Unattached sons tend to act more hostile, destructive, and aggressive. A strong motherly bond will help prevent delinquency later in his life” (“Mother”). Therefore, when Hamlet does not agree with his mother he is angry and rude. The mother son relationship can be thought of as a “strong bond” and Hamlet and Gertrude do not have that type of relationship, which leads to
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