Sunday, April 25, 2010
Polonius- a good dad or a boor?
In Act I, Scene III, Polonius gives his son, Laertes, some advice before Laertes returns to France. Some of the advice is famous; some is pithy and shallow. Please choose one piece of advice and write it in "Shakespeare" and then paraphrase in your own words. After that, evaluate this advice. Is it helpful? Is it cliche? Have you heard something comparable in Judaism? Have you been given this advice from your parents? Are Polonius' words helpful or is he a horrible dad who does not know his own son well enough to give him real advice? Blog and respond by May 1, 2010!
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all that glitters isn't gold
ReplyDeleteGold represents material wealth; material wealth is not what is most valuable in a family,health and well-being are the ones that are important. The Torah teaches us to appreciate knowledge more than wealth. It is more important to have wonderful children, and parents, than jewels or gold.
Indeed,this is written in the book of psalms by David ha melich of Israel: `I prefer the Torah of Your mouth over thousands in gold and silver' (Psalms 118:72). Furthermore, when a person passes from this world neither silver, nor gold, nor precious stones, nor pearls accompany him, only Torah and good deeds, as is stated (Proverbs 6:22): `When you go it will direct you, when you lie down it will watch over you, and when you awaken it shall be your speech.'
The phrase i chose is "This above all: to thine own self be true and it must follow, as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man.". What shakespeare meant was you should always be yourself and always be honest to yourself. You will always act like yourself all the time, and will always be truthful to yourself. This advice is really helpful because in life you learn lying to others is wrong and you usually can't help it. This is a used cliche used all the time. I heard it from my parents and elders growing up so I understand what Polonius is trying to say. This is a concept I am not familiar with from within the torah. Polonius is a smart man and a good father. He is giving some of the most important advice a parent can give to his child before he or she goes on their own. Any other parent would have done this.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how to say this in Shakespearean but a lesson for life is; "It requires less character to discover the faults of others than is does to tolerate them." J. Petit Senn. When it comes to everyday life, in school, work, or even at a dorm you surrounded by all different types of people and it’s a necessity you get along. Being tolerant of people is very important. I think that what J. Petit Senn meant by you have less character if you always find faults in others is that by tolerating others you grow as a person. This might not always be the case, but sometime there’s that someone that’s different and does thinks that people might think is strange but has a huge personality. I've noticed this especially here at school where there is someone who while most people were finding and focusing on his faults I just ignored most of them and tolerated them. I would not be the same person I am today without him. Another example of this is someone who used to be in our school, who was shunned by most people because once again they focused on his faults, was the one who got me interested and started my collection of music, also is because of him I have Internet on my desktop. This Idea of tolerating others can be found in Judaism. As it, states love your fellow as you love yourself.
ReplyDeleteThis entry is spawned from a monologue by Polonius to Laertes in act I scene III giving him advice before he goes back to school. In my opinion, the advice that Polonius gave Laertes is in my opinion a little broad in its subject since they talk about random situations. Therefore, in my opinion Polonius should have given advice that is more specific rather then some advice on so wide a range of subjects.
In Act 1, Scene 3m Polomius gives his son much advice. One piece advice is quite interesting.
ReplyDelete“Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
for loan oft loses both itself and friend.
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.”
It may be worded in modern English as the following;
Do not borrow or lend money.
For a loan often loses both the loan and the friend.
And borrowing hurts the economy.
I find this advice lacking feeling and any sense of charity. In the Torah considered quite honorable to lend money and there are Hebrew Free Loan Societies setup formally and informally in every Jewish community.
In parsha Mishpatim, G-d tells Moses and the Jews that they are not allowed get personal benefit from loans made to members of their community - in other words, they are forbidden from charge interest. Indeed, this practice has proven to be an integral part of Jewish life for centuries, reflecting a commitment to this ancient ethical teaching. In the Torah it is a mitzvah to loan money.
In Act I Scene III Polonius gives Laertes some advice. One of the things he says is "Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. This means that you should listen to peoples opinion but don't judge them so quickly. You would be surprised at how many times I listened to what people had to say and I learned something. However, there's a flip side. Not only should you listen to opinions, but you should also give the person a chance. What I mean by this is that sometimes the first opinion or even the first five opinions someone gives you might be not a intelligent opinion. But that doesn't mean the person is not good at anything, it just means he has a different opinion or has not been educated on the topic. It could be that their old school was just completely negligent and the reason you know the answer is because your school taught you the information. To sum this all up, you should always give people many chances and don't judge people too quickly, because if you do, they might end up being just like you think they are, and they might lose what special gifts they had. Look at previous blog for the answer about the advice given to Laertes by his dad Polonius.
ReplyDelete"Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel, but do not dull thy palm with entertainment of each new-hatch'd unfledged comrade." I think in Polonius's speach to Laertes his son, he mentions a lot of very important pieces of advice. The one that speaks the most to me is the one above where Polonius says that the friends that you have history with and that you spent enough time with to qualify as those friends, you should hold on to them with hoops of steal and shouldn't just let them go, and also you should not just go after your new friends and let them drag you to do things that are not like you to do. We can also take this piece of advice as a lesson for today sometimes you have new friends you make that will tempt you to do things that are very much against your personalety, those are the kinds of friends you want to stay away from, and the friends that have been with you for a long time and that you have history with are the friends you want to hold on to with hoops of steal beause they are the friends that care about you and that will always be there for you.
ReplyDelete