Lord Polonius Analysis

Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare, this play at the time was a hit, and is still one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays ever written. In this play we find a certain character by the name of Polonius, better known as, Lord Polonius.Lord Polonius is the lord chamberlain of King Claudius’s court. Simply, he is the king’s chief counselor. Polonius is the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Polonius in Hamlet comes across as the “embarrassing dad” everyone talks about and laughs at. However, Lord Polonius is a manipulative, self-centered, and sneaky old man. Polonius cleverly uses his manipulative, self-centered, and sneaky traits to turn people and the play in many directions to cause sorrow, hardship, and ultimately, death. The manipulative

Polonius is the one character who always wants things to go his way, all the time, and tries to make it happen in an almost controlling and manipulative way. This is seen early in Act 1, Scene 3, as Polonius orders both of his children, Laertes and Ophelia, to follow his instruction on proper behavior. Polonius advises Laertes and tells him that he must act with practicality and integrity, and expects his soon to do so in order for him to keep hold of his prestige position as the chief counselor of the King’s court. It’s obvious that Polonius pretends to give good advice to his son about being a man, but only does so to make himself look better. Lord Polonius is obviously only concerned about his own

Polonius throughout Hamlet is found multiple times spying on many characters, mainly Ophelia and Hamlet. However, Lord Polonius in Act 2 Scene 1 sends Reynaldo to France to “check” on Laertes, and to bring money and notes. Polonius then tells Reynaldo, “You shall do marvelous wisely, good Reynaldo, before you visit him, to make inquire of his behavior” (Act 2, Scene 3, lines 3-5). Although it may be from a loving and fatherly way to secretly find out how his son is behaving, which is hard to tell from Polonius’s character due to his masking traits, Polonius has Reynaldo spy for him. He has Reynaldo do this because he is worried on how Laertes’ behavior could reflect back on him. It’s obvious that Lord Polonius’s sneaky and spying traits take over here and he wants to know what his son is doing, without his son knowing that he is aware. Solely because he fears he could be discarded by the king if he weren’t to provide enough counseling to his son. Polonius’s sneakiness can also be seen in a conversation he has with his son, Laertes. Polonius says, “Give every man thy ear but few thy voice. Take each man’s centure but reserve thy judgment” (Act 1, Scene 3, lines 68-70). This text goes along well with Polonius’s sneaky characteristic. Polonius tells Laertes that he should listen and pay attention to what they have to say, but to keep his mouth shut and to not speak for or against it. Polonius’s