to thine own self be true: The Wise Polonius of Hamlet :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

The Wise Polonius of Hamlet In Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet there is one character, besides the protagonist, who is genuinely quotable because of the wisdom of his comments. This is the father of Laertes and Ophelia, namely Polonius. He is the subject of this essay. In Shakespeares Nomenclature Harry Levin discusses the name Polonius and some other names from the play The Latinism Polonius reminds us of the Polish question, moot throughout Hamlet, where the onomastics are polyglot. If Marcellus and Claudius are Latin, Bernardo and Horatio are Italian, and Fortinbras signifies strong arm not in Norwegian but French (fort-en-bras). On the other hand, the son of Polonius has a Greek godfather in Laertes, the father of Odysseus. The Scandinavian names, at least the Germanic Gertrude, stand out because they are in the minority. (79) Whats in a name like Polonius? Here is a literary critic who respects his advice Rebecca West in A Court and World Infected by the Disease of Corruption ta lks about Polonius Polonius is interesting because he was a cunning old intriguer who, like an iceberg, only showed one-eighth of himself above the surface. The righteous sort of worldly wisdom that rolled off his tongue in butter b entirelys was a very small part of what he knew. It has been insufficiently illustrious that Shakespeare would never have held up the action in order that Polonius should give his son advice as to how to conduct himself abroad, unless the scene helped him to develop his theme. But 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 (I.3.78), has significant . . . value when it is spoken by an old gentleman who is presently going to instruct a servant to spy on his son, and to profess great disquiet about his daughters morals, when plainly he needed to send her away into the country if he really wanted her to retain any . . ..(108) Polonius origination into the play occurs at the social get-together of the royal court. Claudius has already been crowned Queen Gertrude is there Hamlet is present in the black clothes of mourning. When Laertes approaches Claudius to give his parting before returning to school, the king asks Polonius Have you your fathers leave? What says Polonius? And the father dutifully answers