t Polonius to know: "something touching the Lord Hamlet" (I.iii.88). Ophelia cannot hide from her father, though. Polonius knows somehow of her relationship with Hamlet, and he tells her: "You do not understand yourself so clearly/As behooves my daughter and your honor" (I.iii.95-96). The message Polonius sends Ophelia is a strong one; rather than telling her that she does not understand her duty, he says she does not understand herself. He is taking away her confidence in her own ability to think, to perceive. She will always be mislead by her own thoughts and feelings, according to Polonius' implicit message, and she should give up her own will and replace it with his. Polonius never asks Ophelia about her thoughts or feelings toward Hamlet, and when she offers them, he ridicules her. In the face of such treatment, Ophelia begins to learn to disregard her own thoughts as she says, in response to her father's proddings, "I do not know, my lord, what I should think" (I.iii.103). Polonius responds in a way that endorses Ophelia's resignation of her ability to reason; "think yourself a baby" (I.iii.104). He also implies that the reason she cannot trust her intuitions or percepti
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