POLONIUS      Come, go with me: I will go seek the King.

This is the very ecstasy of love,

Whose violent property fordoes itself

And leads the will to desperate undertakings

As oft as any passions under heaven

That does afflict our natures. I am sorry –

What, have you given him any hard words of late?

OPHELIA        No, my good lord, but as you did command

I did repel his letters and denied

His access to me.       (2.1.98-107)

No word of comfort or reassurance from Polonius, although there’s scope, perhaps, for an actor to interpose a gesture, even a hug. (But it’s really difficult, in this scene, to play Polonius straightforwardly as the gentle concerned father.) Come, go with me: I will go seek the King. That’s his answer. Straight to the top, I’ve got to report this. This is the very ecstasy of love: Hamlet’s gone mad for love. Love, yes, love madness: whose violent property fordoes himself and leads the will to desperate undertakings as oft as any passions under heaven that does afflict our natures. Yes, love makes people do crazy things; he might be a danger to himself, even! (Polonius’s overriding concern is for Claudius, and for Hamlet—as prince, rather than personally?—rather than for his daughter.) I am sorry—for what, though? For Ophelia’s distress? Or for the state that Hamlet’s in? For the whole sorry situation, such a distraction? Or is it also genuine concern, a bit of contrition even, that he got it wrong, that Hamlet’s feelings for Ophelia weren’t just a bit of flirtation, that the boy is apparently in deep? But now he seems to blame Ophelia for Hamlet’s state in another way: what, have you given him any hard words of late? Have you been unkind to him? Ophelia can be properly annoyed by this, because it’s really unfair, this all-too-familiar double standard, no matter how Polonius is playing his part: no, my good lord, I’ve done exactly as you told me! but as you did command I did repel his letters and denied his access to me. I cut him off, wouldn’t receive his letters, wouldn’t see him! And she can be angry and aghast at herself too, as well as worried for Hamlet: he’s in a terrible way and I’ve been mean to him; after all his dad’s just died and he’s so unhappy and now I’ve pushed him away and he’s really having a breakdown… (Poor Ophelia. Not a victim, can be smart, bolshy, funny, complicated, but she’s really backed into a corner here, first by Hamlet and then by her father.)