 The character of Polonius within Hamlet serves as both a source of some comic relief on the one hand But of course he is also on the other side a reflection of Claudius's own character indeed He is just as duplicitous as Claudius. However whilst Claudius is very very conniving Polonius does get caught up in his own scheme and he ultimately ends up dying as a result of Trying to spy and going a little bit too far and being mistaken for Claudius Okay, so whilst he is also just a sly and conniving as Claudius He perhaps does not have it as fine-tuned and sometimes also his behavior and this is the comic element of his character His behavior is very pompous very Over-the-top and this adds a sense of comic relief within the story Especially when he is communicating with Hamlet when Hamlet is feigning his antique disposition and Hamlet in his false Madness is basically kind of making fun of Polonius and how pompous he is This is this exchange kind of shows how pompous and how over-the-top Polonius is But it also gives us a little bit of comic relief Okay, so Polonius's character is interesting in the sense that whilst he is quite conniving He does also have elements of comedy. We also know that Polonius whilst he is Claudius's closest advisor Okay, so he is a counselor for Claudius He also is the father to Ophelia who was Hamlet's romantic interest However, at first he's not really convinced that Hamlet has good intentions for Ophelia In fact, he believes that because Ophelia does not have the same royal rank as Hamlet Hamlet is just using her to maybe sleep around with her and then he's going to then gonna be married off to somebody who's of royal rank So he initially advises Ophelia against any further contact with Hamlet However, when Hamlet feigns his madness and then Polonius believes that he's actually mad Polonius mistakenly thinks that this is because he's been driven mad by loving Ophelia so much Okay, so also we as the audience kind of laugh at him for making this conclusion again He is super pompous He is very very kind of he believes in his greatness and the greatness of his family too much Okay to the point of it being quite comical Of course, we also see that he has double standards in terms of how he treats his daughter Ophelia He tightly controls her. He wants her to stay chaste. He wants her to be a virgin He wants her to be just this very very limited to lead this very restricted lifestyle However, when Laertes is departing for Paris and he's departing for university Polonius is so keen for him to go out enjoy the world to see the world for what it is And even if he does set a spy upon Polonius just upon Laertes just to see what Laertes gets up to He is by and large very very okay with Laertes going out into the world being super independent Okay, so obviously we can also see that there's a huge element of sexism in the way He treats his daughter Ophelia versus the way he treats Laertes and ultimately as I've mentioned He becomes a victim of his own scheming behavior because whilst he is hiding behind Gertrude's curtains that harass Hamlet hears him shouting out and then he thinks it's Claudius and stabs him and kills him Okay, so in terms of Polonius because character you do need to be familiar with him if you're writing about Hamlet And if you're also writing about the various characters including Polonius Okay, so as you can see behind me I've selected the most relevant quotations you can consider if you're writing about Polonius's character and analyzing him as well as the Word level analysis you can do so let's start with the first quotation relating to Polonius's character So here what this is illustrating is how Liberal he is towards Laertes He wants Laertes to go off enjoy himself go out see the world for it is and of course the undertone to it Is also that Laertes is probably going to go sleep around do whatever he wants to do Okay, and there's a double standard because we're also going to see how he addresses Ophelia which is the complete opposite Okay, so with Laertes he tells him Laertes aboard aboard for shame ellipsis my blessing with thee Okay, so he's basically saying Laertes what are you doing? You need to go and catch your ship You're going to be left behind and that's going to be super shameful go go off go off to university Go and enjoy yourself. Okay, so here we can see that Polonius firstly He's speaking in a very comical way. He adds kind of a light touch to the story Okay, because obviously the story it's a tragedy this plays a tragedy and it can be a little bit heavier sometimes So here we can we get a kind of light comic relief. That's added by the way Polonius is speaking to Laertes However, also we can see that he is very Permissive of Laertes in terms of him going off Exploring the world seeing it for what it is now the one of analysis which shows this How he's so liberal with Laertes is firstly he speaks to him in exclamatory sentences Okay, so here Laertes and aboard aboard and also my blessing with the UK So these are three exclamatory sentences Remember an exclamatory sentence is a sentence that shows a strong emotion or someone who's shouting ending with an exclamation mark Okay, also when he's speaking to Laertes He states aboard aboard and of course this is a repetition and here we can see that he's really excited for Laertes to go out enjoy explore the world and He says that he has given Laertes his blessing which is an abstract noun So he has given Laertes a blessing to go out discover the world for what it is This is in contrast to how he treats Ophelia because when Ophelia says oh, do you feel like Hamlet is affectionate towards me? He is very reluctant for Ophelia to continue the relationship with Hamlet In fact, he believes initially that Hamlet is just using her You know and he's going to probably sleep with her take a virginity and then get married off to another woman And then Ophelia is going to be left to not being a virgin and this is going to be make her harder to marry off Okay, so here we can see Polonius is very restrictive of Ophelia Not only does she have to stay with him in Elsinore in Denmark, but also she He tightly controls who she even sees okay So in this case he now forbids her from dating Hamlet any further and she he states he makes fun of her because she says Oh, no, no, no, he's really affectionate towards me and he states affection You speak like a green girl. So he's basically saying oh you think is affectionate towards you What rubbish you're speaking like a very naive girl. He's clearly going to just use you for sex That's basically what he's saying now. This is in contrast to the way he's speaking to Leigh at ease here So as you can see with Leigh at ease is very permissive He's telling Leigh at ease go out enjoy the world see the world for what it is whilst with Ophelia as you can see here He's tightly controlling her right. He has a very tight leash on his daughter He makes sure that she does not go far from his reach far from his sight She has to follow everything he says including who she loves Okay, and here we can see that he is very mistrusting of Hamlet's motivations for being with Ophelia and Also, he is very concerned to maintain his daughter's chastity so that she doesn't lose her virginity to the wrong guy And then she's hard to marry off and of course this is illustrating how patriarch or Elizabethan society was during this time Where women their value was tied to their virginity now the word love analysis you want to focus on here is firstly the rhetorical question in affection Okay, and also the simile like a green girl. So here he is mocking Ophelia for being too naive and You know believing appearances of Hamlet when really she should see beyond that and only see Hamlet as somebody who's just going to use her the next rotation tied to Polonius's character is when he Notices Hamlet is acting crazy. However, he feels like it's controlled craziness because he thinks that there's a method to his madness He says though this be madness yet. There's method in it Okay, so he he kind of sees through initially Hamlet's kind of antictisposition now here The word of analysis you want to focus on is the literation of T And though this and also the duration of M in madness and method and here we can see that Polonius is Doubtful initially when Hamlet is acting crazy. He's not sure whether actually Hamlet is really crazy However, even when he's not sure Hamlet then uses as an opportunity to make fun of him to make fun of how pompous he is And then there's a little bit of light comic relief in their exchange. Okay the next quotation Relating to Hamlet is when he hilariously assumes that Hamlet has been driven mad So he generally later believes that Hamlet is actually really crazy And he thinks it's because he actually loved Ophelia so much That's why and so he reports this back to Claudius. He tells Claudius. Oh, no Claudius I know why why Hamlet is crazy. He is crazy because he's just so in love with Ophelia Okay, so here we can see that is very pompous. He's very silly He kind of thinks he's greater than he actually is and it's found is greater than it actually is now the word of analysis You want to focus on when he's telling Claudius the origin and commencement of his grief sprung from his neglected love, right? So he's saying always because Hamlet isn't loved by Ophelia That's why he's crazy and the word of analysis you want to focus on is firstly the synonyms origin and commencement So here he's being he's being really wordy when he's talking. Okay, and also the verb sprung This idea that his madness came out suddenly when Ophelia rejected him and the adjective neglected to talk about how Ophelia rejected Hamlet and he Assumes this is why Hamlet is crazy Of course, we as the audience are supposed to kind of laugh at this and to think oh Polonius really thinks a lot of himself Because this is not the main reason why Hamlet has gone crazy The next quotation relating to Polonius's character is of course before Leia teased leaves He tells him to die knowing self be true and this is a declarative sentence Remember a declarative sentence is a sentence that states a fact feeling a mood So here so this is one of the more famous quotations that have come out of Hamlet He's basically advising Leia teased before he leaves be true to yourself Of course Polonius is a little bit sly and he's too faced So this is also the some dramatic irony in this because Polonius doesn't even follow his own advice, okay? However, this declarative sentence again It ties into how he's sending his son off and he's telling him you know be true to yourself and In terms of one level analysis you want to focus on the literation of tea in to thine and true furthermore When Polonius is trying to figure out what Hamlet's motivations are and how he's you know Whether he's actually crazy and why he's acting the way he is he decides to sneak into Gertrude's room and he tells Gertrude Okay I'm gonna hide behind the curtain and then I'm gonna listen right so he's acting as a spy in aid of Claudius Okay, so of course Claudius is also using him to spy on Hamlet and when he's spying he tells Gertrude I'll sconce me even here. Okay, so basically I'm gonna hide myself behind this curtain right here Okay, so here we can see that Polonius is very duplicitous. He's also very very Sly he's sneaky of course. He is being sneaky because he is trying to you know Try to figure out Hamlet but in a very duplicitous way Okay, so he's being a little bit of a snake here and the one level analysis which illustrates how duplicitous he is is firstly the verb sconce Which means he's hiding himself and the assonance of E in sconce me even and here and finally of course He becomes a victim of his own treachery. He becomes a victim of his duplicity because Hamlet hears him shouting out from behind the curtain Hamlet assumes its Claudius then stabs him And of course then Polonius emerges and says oh, I am slain. Okay, and this is an exclamatory sentence Remember as I mentioned here exclamatory sentences a sentence that shows a strong emotion. Of course here He's I'm about to die and then he drops dead right Now here the word of analysis you want to fix on is the assonance of A in am and slain and of course What we can see here is whilst Claudius is very very good at outmaneuvering people Polonius is not so he's a bit more bumbling But we can still see here that he becomes a victim of his own treachery Okay, so that's really it when it comes to key quotations that you should consider if you are writing about the character of Polonius and Hamlet either for your coursework or your exams. Thank you so much for listening