. Yessika Halim . Daniel Tran . Maryjoyce Pascual .
. AP Literature . Mrs. Ogbeide . Period 01 .
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel,
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear ’t that th' opposèd may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear but few thy voice.
Take each man’s censure but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy—rich, not gaudy,
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
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.
- Act I Scene 3, pg 24
Based on this quote, we are given the
impression that Polonius is actually a wise
man who is aware of the world around him
and how one should conduct himself. When
he gives these insightful advices, Polonius is
seen as person who possess high ethics and
morals. However, none of these are
necessarily true, rather they are what can be
inferred from this quote.
OVERPROTECTIVE
Polonius can be seen as being extremely
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
overprotective of Ophelia. By him telling her that
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
she must keep her distance from Hamlet because she
Lends the tongue vows. These blazes, daughter, is mistaking true love, he shows that he doesn't want
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both
Ophelia to get hurt through a man whose heart is
Even in their promise as it is a-making,
just on fire. This protectiveness is seen when he tells
You must not take for fire. From this time
her that she “set her entreatments at a high rate"
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence.
which means to make herself a precious commodity.
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Ultimately, he wants Ophelia to be a precious
Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
commodity, exemplifying his father-like protection.
Believe so much in him that he is young,
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you. In few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to beguile. This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
- Act I Scene 3, pg. 27
Polonius is first introduced as Laertes is requesting to return to France after coming to
view the King’s coronation. It is noted that Laertes begs his father to go back, so he
reluctantly agrees and asks the King to allow him as well. Later, we learn a little more
about Polonius’ character as Laertes is about to depart. He offers his son some very
insightful and wise advice onto the moral principles of life and how to conduct himself.
CLAUDIUS
Have you your father’s leave? What
says Polonius?
POLONIUS
He hath, my lord, wrung
from me my slow leave
By laborsome petition,
and at last
Upon his will I sealed my
hard consent.
I do beseech you, give
him leave to go.
- Act I Scene 2, pg. 12
This business is well ended.
My liege and madam, to expostulate
What majesty should be, what duty is,
Why day is day, night night, and time is time,
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and
time.
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit
And tediousness the limbs and outward
flourishes,
I will be brief: your noble son is mad.
- Act II Scene 2, pg. 51 - 52
Polonius is a man who wants
attention for himself. Because of
this matter, he always tries to
become involved with the affairs
of other people. In this scene,
instead of letting the King and
Queen handle their distraught
son, he instead offers his own
opinion as to why Hamlet is mad.
He even goes as far as to directly
observe Hamlet and question his
behavior. Additionally, he offers
the use of his daughter, Ophelia
as a tool to retrieve further
information from Hamlet.
Prying
Talkative
Any time Polonius gets the chance to talk; he
elaborates his thoughts with extravagant words and
prolongs the subject of matter further than any
listener wants to hear. In this scene, instead of getting
straight to the letter at hand, he instead inquires the
King on somewhat irrelevant thing such as trust,
loyalty, and love. Even the Queen becomes tiresome of
his excessive rambling and tells him to get on with
what he has to say. His loquaciousness doesn’t do
anything for the plot; rather it develops his character
as an officious man.
Madam, I swear I use no art at all.
That he is mad, ’tis true. Tis true, ’tis pity,
And pity ’tis ’tis true—a foolish figure,
But farewell it, for I will use no art.
Mad let us grant him then. And now
remains
Or rather say, the cause of this defect,
For this effect defective comes by cause.
Thus it remains, and the remainder thus.
Perpend.
I have a daughter—have while she is
mine—
Who in her duty and obedience, mark,
Hath given me this. Now gather and
surmise.
- Act II Scene 2, pg. 52
POLONIUS
Have I, my lord? I assure my
good liege,
I hold my duty as I hold my
soul,
Both to my God and to my
gracious king.
- Act II Scene 2, pg. 49
LOYAL
Loyal
CLAUDIUS
Thou still hast been the
father of good news.
He demonstrates his loyalty to King Claudius by always being his
right hand man. By always reporting new affairs within the
kingdom, it shows the King has the ability to rely on Polonius.
He also shows loyalty by continually praising his lordship and
obeying him willingly. Through King Claudius’ comment, “Thou
still hast been the father of good news,” the audience can see
that Polonius has always reported to the king first before anyone
else.
Polonius directly affects Hamlet’s
situation regarding his plans to avenge
his father by killing King Claudius. By
Polonius being a sneaky man, hiding
behind tapestry, he startles Hamlet
when he thinks he is alone with his
mother, thus causing him to kill Polonius.
This results in a number of implications
for both Hamlet and King Claudius.
For one, it means that now Hamlet is
responsible for the death of Laertes’
father, whom King Claudius can deceive
into getting Hamlet’s execution justified.
By killing Polonius, Hamlet has even
furthered the adversity of gaining his
revenge.
POLONIUS’
INFLUENCE
ON HAMLET
CLAUDIUS
He, being remiss,
Most generous and free from all contriving,
Will not peruse the foils; so that, with ease,
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose
A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice
Requite him for your father.
LAERTES
I will do ’t.
And for that purpose I’ll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,
Collected from all simples that have virtue
Under the moon, can save the thing from death
That is but scratched withal.
- Act IV Scene 7, pg. 143
Since Polonius loves to be the
apple of the eye to King Claudius,
he willingly takes on the duty of
espionage in Hamlet's affair,
observing him closely to discover if
he truly is mad or simply imitating
to be a mad man to develop a more
sinister plot. What drives his need
to commit espionage is through
officious and self-assured means.
In spying on Ophelia and Hamlet,
he wants to especially prove
himself to the King that he is right
about the matter of Hamlet's
madness.
Polonius hides behind the arras.
- Act III Scene 4, pg. 104
Ultimately, Polonius' fondness to espionage leads
to his final downfall. By meddling into the
business of the Queen and Hamlet, he is killed
because he startles Hamlet. Throughout the novel,
his tendency to spy and become involved in
matters has been a nuisance. His thoughts do not
correlate with that of the other characters; for
example, he was incorrect when he thought Ophelia
was the reason for Hamlet's madness. Not only
does his prying lead to his own downfall, but it can
be seen that it also leads to the downfall of Hamlet,
the real tragic hero. Because of Polonius' death,
many implications are arisen towards Hamlet; for
example , Laertes now wants revenge and because
of this, the King can also seek out Hamlet's death
through him.
Hamlet
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell.
I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune.
Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger.
(to GERTRUDE) Leave wringing of your hands.
Peace. Sit you down
And let me wring your heart. For so I shall
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damnèd custom have not brassed it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
- Act III Scene 4, pg. 106
…..In other words, Polonius can be
described as
1.Officious
2.Garrulous
3.Laborious