In these scenes all I could think about was contrast. The contrast between Ophelia and her brother and how their father talked to both of them was extremely telling. Ophelia got lectures from both her brother and her father about her loyalty and love for Hamlet. Laertes first scolds her and tells her she is too young to know Hamlet's intentions and even suggests that his intentions are wrapped up in the plans of the state (" for on his choice depends/The sanctity and health of his whole state..." (Hamlet 1.3.20-21)). My favorite lines from this scene are in Opelias retort to her brother when she says "But good my brother,/Do not as some ungracious pastors do,/ Show me steep and thorny way to heaven,/ Whiles like a puffed and reckless libertine/ Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,/ and recks not his own rede" (1.3.46-51). A sister telling her brother to listen to his own advice has never sounded so elegant, and it reminds me quite a bit of Mister Dimmesdale. Afterward, their father comes in. The way he speaks to Laertes sounds just like you expect it would, a dramatic speech about following your own path and being a kind gentleman to all. (Kind of like the speeches we hear from parents about us going away to college). But the speech he gives Ophelia is completely different. He's looking out for both of his kids but he thinks Laertes can have good judgment while Ophelia can't. Laertes is allowed to follow his own path while Ophelia is forbidden to see her boyfriend because Polonius can't believe the judgment she has made of his character. Next, the juxtaposition of this speech with scene four is so funny to me. Scene four is just Hamlet ranting about how corrupt humanity is and is extremely philosophical about the state of man, which is pretty much the opposite of what Polonius has described him as (young and idealistic, unfaithful, etc). I especially think that when Hamlet says "I'll make a ghost of him that lets me" (1.4.85) that it shows his ability to set his mind to something and to do it. He will kill someone if that means talking to his father again (sounds a little like foreshadowing, no?). His conversation with his father that closes out our reading is a direct foil to the conversation between Laertes and Polonius. Hamlet is being told about the world and given advice on what to do, like Laertes but with a darker undertone. It is revealed that Claudius killed Hamlet's father through poison being poured into his ear. The reason he is a ghost is that he is stuck in Purgatory since he was killed before he could confess his sins, complete penance, and be absolved of them. Hamlet then makes his friends swear to never repeat what they saw or heard that night to anyone after the ghost has gone. This section, specifically scene 5, is filled with themes of trust and betrayal. It truly feels as if no one can be trusted. In the context of which this play was written, it makes perfect sense. Losing a child makes you feel hopeless, alone, and everything else we said hamlet was feeling about his father's death. Shakespeare is showing he feels as if no one can be trusted or talked to through these scenes.
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