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

The Wise Polonius of Hamlet In Shakespeares disaster Hamlet there is one character, besides the protagonist, who is very quotable because of the acquaintance of his comments. This is the father of Laertes and Ophelia, namely Polonius. He is the subject of this essay. In Shakespeares oral communication Harry Levin discusses the name Polonius and early(a) names from the play The Latinism Polonius reminds us of the down question, moot throughout Hamlet, where the onomastics are polyglot. If Marcellus and Claudius are Latin, Bernardo and Horatio are Italian, and Fortinbras signifies strong weapon system 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 man Infected by the Disease o f Corruption talks about Polonius Polonius is elicit because he was a cunning old intriguer who, like an iceberg, further showed one-eighth of him egotism above the surface. The innocuous sort of worldly wisdom that roll off his tongue in butter balls was a very minute part of what he knew. It has been insufficiently noted that Shakespeare would never have held up the action in order that Polonius should give his son advice as to how to make out 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 whatever man (I.3.78), has considerable . . . entertain 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 concern about his daughters morals, when plainly he needed to channelise her away into the country if he really wanted her to retain any . . ..(108) Polonius entry into the play occurs at the social get-together of the royal court. Claudius has already been enthrone Queen Gertrude is there Hamlet is present in the black vesture of mourning. When Laertes approaches Claudius to give his farewell before returning to school, the king asks Polonius Have you your fathers cave in? What says Polonius? And the father dutifully answers