Hamlet Blog Post #1

It is hard loving someone you can't really trust or have no idea how they feel about you. Hamlet is always so confusing or he is playing hard to get. I just have no idea and to make things harder my brother, Laertes, advised me before he left that I should "hold it a fashion and a toy in blood/A violet in the youth of primy nature/Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting" (1.3.7-8). He believes that Hamlet is playing around with my feeling flirtously but believes it won't last because it is a temporary youthful phase. It hurt that he said this to my face with no regard to my feelings. As my big brother I understand that he is only trying to protect me because he doesn't want me to get my heart broken but sometimes he needs to understand how harsh he can be. Hamlet is the love of my life and I wish he felt the same way about me. And barely minutes after I received my brother's hurtful advice my father agreed that he was trouble and forbid me to see him ever again. My father, Polonius, told me that that I am foolish "That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay/Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly/" (1.3.105-107). He means to say that I should respect myself more rather than waste my affection on someone who doesn't give enough back to me. He went on to command me not "in plain terms/from this time forth/Have you so slander any moment leisure/As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet/Come your ways"(1.3.133-135). My father forbids me to waste any more of my time with him and I, like always, said I would obey. I have always obeyed my father and brother's command but I question sometimes if I should break free and follow my heart. I ask advice from anyone in the same position as me. Sincerely yours, A desperate girl torn between loyalty to my family and passion for my everlasting love, Hamlet. Ophelia