Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Polonius in Shakespeares Hamlet :: GCSE English Literature Coursework
Polonius in Hamlet           In Shakespeare’s dramatic tragedy, Hamlet, the first victim of the rapier, Polonius, meets death behind the arras in Gertrude’s room in the castle. Polonius’ death contributes to Ophelia’s death and the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; and these deaths, in turn, precipitate further tragedies in the play. Polonius, an underestimated character, will be the subject of this essay.  Polonius’ 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 before returning to school, the king asks Polonius: â€Å"Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?†And the father dutifully answers:  He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave     By laboursome petition, and at last     Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent:     I do beseech you, give him leave to go.  So right at the outset the reader/viewer respects the lord chamberlain as a very fluent spokesman of the language, and respectful of his superior, the king. Later, in Polonius’ house, Laertes is taking leave of his sister, Ophelia, and, in the process, giving her conservative advice regarding her boyfriend, Hamlet. Quietly Polonius enters and begins to advise Laertes regarding life away from home:   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 to thy soul with hoops of steel;     But do not dull thy palm with entertainment     Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware     Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,     Bear't that the opposed 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 express'd 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 ownself be true,
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