Shaming Ophelia: Getting the Prodigal Wrong in Hamlet 1.3

In Hamlet 1.3, both Laertes and Polonius use the word “prodigal” to dissuade Ophelia from a romantic relationship with Hamlet:
—Laertes warns her about opening her “chaste treasure” to Hamlet and twice tells her, “Fear it”:

The chariest maid is prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the moon

—Polonius tells her not to believe Hamlet’s vows of love to her, implying that such vows are "prodigal" and not to be believed, and that perhaps Polonius had once made such false vows in his youth, so he assumes that Hamlet was being a kind of prodigal by making such vows:

I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows

But both Laertes and Polonius miss the heart of the prodigal son story from in Luke 15:11–32:
It’s not about fear, or fearing being prodigal, but rather, about the generous mercy of the father in the parable who welcomes home the son, shadowed a bit by the self-righteous envy of the brother.

The prodigal son story perhaps applies more to Hamlet and Laertes straying toward revenge; Ophelia is, if anything, too obedient to her unkind and scheming father.

And note: the prodigal sinner, King Claudius, never comes home, never repents.
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Postscript, December 9, 2023:
If at the heart of "The Prodigal Son" tale is a generous and merciful parent, is there a character who is like that, or becomes like that in the course of the play?

- Perhaps Yorick, only mentioned?
- Perhaps Gertrude, if we understand her drinking from the poison chalice as doing so because she suspects poison, and wishes to protect her son?
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P.S. (Unknown date, before 2023):
Using the basic idea of intertextuality (Julia Kristeva) or allusions as windows for conversations with other texts (Robert Alter), we need to do more than note the presence of the word "Prodigal": We need to see how the texts might be commenting on one another in the broadest sense.

And when Shakespeare uses the word "prodigal" in one scene, it might not apply to that scene alone!

- Hamlet's sea-voyage results in his change from belief in a God who uses his mistakes (killing Polonius accidentally) to punish him and others,[1]

to a belief that Providence saved him mercifully, with the help of pirates, "thieves of mercy." [2]

The merciful and generous father is what the Prodigal Son story is really about, not fear. And Hamlet's journey finds a way to a merciful Providence.

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Notes:
[1] "Heaven hath pleased it so, To punish me with this and this with me, That I must be their scourge and minister."

[2] 4.6.15-22:
HORATIO (reading Hamlet's letter):
Ere we were two days
old at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave
us chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on
a compelled valor, and in the grapple I boarded them.
On the instant, they got clear of our ship; so I alone
became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like
thieves of mercy, but they knew what they did: I am to
do a good turn for them.