Polonius: Father, Clown, or Both?
In Hamlet, Polonius is the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Before Laertes departs Denmark for France, Polonius sends him off thus:
…There, my blessing with thee.
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion’d 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-hatch’d, unfledg’d courage. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear’t that th’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,
And it must follow as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee.
Several well-known phrases contained therein are deployed in common usage without irony. Many critics, though, regard Polonius as a clown, or figure of ridicule; this makes his advice likely trite and not meant by Shakespeare to be taken seriously.
Though later scenes in the book portray Polonius as foolish, the longer note on this passage in the edition I’m reading, with commentary by Harold Jenkins (NB: not the man better known as Conway Twitty), says it is a mistake to read the above passage as a joke:
Such conventional precepts are entirely appropriate to Polonius as a man of experience. It is a mistake to suppose they are meant to make him seem ridiculous. Their purpose, far more important than any individual characterization, is to present him in his role of father….by impressing upon us here the relation between father and son the play is preparing for the emergence of Laertes later as the avenger who will claim Hamlet as his victim.
So, is Polonius a good father, a pompous fool, or perhaps a little of both? Methinks ’tis the latter.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I doubt not that the advice is worthy and relationship-establishing, but I think Polonius is one of Shakespeare’s lowest creations.
http://mentalmultivitamin.blogspot.com/2004/02/this-above-all-to-thine-own-self-be.html
August 15th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
M, thanks for the link to that excellent entry. As I continue through the play, I find it surprising that Jenkins chose “courage” for “comrade,” and apologizes for Polonius here. I’ve just finished IIii, and Polonius is quite creepy. I’m looking forward to his death.
August 18th, 2008 at 8:38 am
I remember an episode of Gilligan’s Island in which they put on a musical of Hamlet to the music of Carmen (Gilligan plays Hamlet, Skipper Polonius). “There’s just one other thing/you have to do/ to thine own self be true!” I think of it every time I see/read Hamlet. The clash of low and high culture…
August 18th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Of course someone has posted the episode on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvktL4qu3us
August 18th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Yanno, Becca, people say they’re scared of MY pop culture trivial knowledge. I think you may be a bigger maven than I.