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

The impudent Polonius of crossroads In Shakespe ares tragedy Hamlet there is unitary character, besides the protagonist, who is very quotable because of the wisdom of his comments. This is the father of Laertes and Ophelia, severalizely Polonius. He is the subject of this essay. In Shakespeares Nomenclature Harry Levin discusses the name Polonius and former(a) 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 Norse but French (fort-en-bras). On the other hand, the son of Polonius has a Hellenic godfather in Laertes, the father of Odysseus. The Scandinavian names, at least the Germanic Gertrude, basis out because they are in the minority. (79) Whats in a name like Polonius? Here is a literary critic who respects his advice Rebecca tungsten in A Court and World Infected by the af fection of Corruption talks about Polonius Polonius is interesting because he was a chanceful one-time(a) intriguer who, like an iceberg, only showed one-eighth of himself above the surface. The unobjectionable sort of worldly wisdom that rolled off his tongue in butter balls was a very small part of what he knew. It has been insufficiently noted that Shakespeare would never have held up the action in pitch that Polonius should give his son advice as to how to conduct himself abroad, unless the scene helped him to develop his theme. except This above all to thine own self be true And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be rancid to any man (I.3.78), has considerable . . . value when it is spoken by an old gentleman who is presently going to instruct a servant to detective on his son, and to profess great anxiety about his daughters morals, when plainly he needed to send her away into the country if he really wanted her to retain any . . ..(108) Poloniu s entry 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 farewell onward returning to school, the king asks Polonius Have you your fathers leave? What says Polonius? And the father dutifully answers