King Polonius Effect In Hamlet

Lindsay Lohan, an accredited Hollywood actress, was arrested several times in 2007 for varying reasons, such as reckless driving and drug abuse. Her own actions led to a downward slope in her acting career. After the incidents, Lindsay’s reputation was shot and it was all due to her behaviour in public. In summary, what Lindsay did ruined her own life. Similarly, the King’s councillor in Hamlet had the same tragic outcome. With brainless actions leading to his own demise, the character Polonius from the play Hamlet is an ignoramus fool. First of all, Polonius’ adoration of his own voice turns into constant babbling. When given the chance to speak, this character needs to get straight to the point. This is evident in the arrival of the players.

Polonius spews strong advice to his children that his own actions veto. If Polonius were to take his own words of wisdom and apply them to his own life, he may have survived this play, This is shown when Polonius gives Laertes his blessing. “ Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act.” (1.3.59-60) In other words, Polonius is telling Laertes to think before he acts. This advice proves to be quite contrary to his actions when dealing with Hamlet’s madness. Polonius jumps in the middle of Hamlet and Ophelia and preaches that Hamlet is acting off because of his love for Ophelia. He had nearly no evidence to back this up and did not care enough to do the research. He simply acted, and did not bother to think about it beforehand. As stated by Carla Stockton, Polonius spouts aphorisms that were, even in the 16th century, clichés, his clichés constitute sound advice and his observations prove themselves prophetic. (Stockton) This quote shows just how strong his advice was, but has no mention of his own actions. This is because his actions oppose his words. With Polonius’ advice going unheard, this character turns himself into an ignoramus