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The Insanity Of Polonius In William Shakespeare's Hamlet

509 Words3 Pages

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, following the suspected murder of his father, the former king, young Prince Hamlet acts in a crazed way throughout his interactions with those around him in an attempt to seek revenge for his father. His intentional and deceitful displays of madness are received strangely from those who encounter it, leading them to have differing opinions on the cause of Hamlet’s supposed insanity. Polonius, the king’s primary counselor, has a conversation with Hamlet whilst Hamlet is acting strangely, and Hamlet repeatedly belittles and criticizes Polonius, initially telling Polonious he believed the counselor was “A fishmonger” (Shakespeare 7). In addition to the judgements, Hamlet also makes several confusing statements and references, explaining to …show more content…

After listening to Hamlet, Polonius reveals aspects of his own character and simultaneously explains his belief behind the cause of Hamlet’s lunacy. He believes Hamlet’s actions are caused by Hamlet “still harping on my daughter… he is far gone, far gone,” and then explaining that he too in his youth “suffered much extremity for love” (20-25). This is significant, as Polonius’ reports his findings back to the king and queen, highlighting love as the cause of Hamlet’s madness, directly influencing the decisions that the king and queen ultimately make regarding Hamlet. Also, Polonius’ interaction with Hamlet is strong in revealing aspects of Polonius’ character, as he is portrayed as oblivious and naive in understanding the true meaning behind both Hamlet’s strange proclamations as well the cause of Hamlet’s madness. Hamlet follows his conversation with Polonius by speaking with his friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The two have been sent by the king and queen to attempt to decipher the causes of Hamlet’s new attitude, however this is unknown to

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Act two is a good example of the comical encounter of Polonius and Hamlet. Dr John Dover Wilson goes on to say that, “The second act of Hamlet is comedy; a comedy of masks. But the comedy does not stop there; it runs right on into the act that follows.” To put it simply, act two shows the humour in Hamlet and Polonius’ relationship, which also helps us know more about Hamlet’s ingenuity and Polonius’ incongruity (Wilson). Polonius starts his mission of spying on Hamlet but this is succeeded by Hamlet mocking Polonius.

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Polonius fuels Hamlet’s paranoia by pitting his friends against him through deception to make them garner information on Hamlet’s woes in his

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By verbally harassing Ophelia and estranging himself from her, Hamlet provides the apparent image of losing his prior care without a great amount of consideration. Additionally, Hamlet further displays his anger for his father’s death through this display. By dissolving his relationship with Ophelia, Hamlet furthers his image of insanity to further illustrate himself as incapable within Claudius’s eyes while still communicating distaste for his loss of his father. With Hamlet’s intentionally swift change of heart for Ophelia, Hamlet’s procedure warrants a certain level of sanity. Regardless of the sudden nature, Hamlet’s continual barring from Ophelia possesses procedure which causes further doubt of Hamlet’s mental instability from the audience of the

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Polonius explains Hamlet 's madness to Claudius and Gertrude, “Mad call I it, for, to define true madness. What it 't but to be nothing else but mad? But let that go (Act 2, Scene 2, lines 93-94). Polonius then goes on to describe his ides of the stages of Hamlet 's madness and his inability to sleep, “And he, repelled-a short tale to make- Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, Thence to a lightness, and by this declension Into the madness wherein now he raves, And all we mourn for” (Act 2, Scene 2, lines 146-151).

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In the play “Hamlet”, the young, introspective, prince of Denmark, Hamlet seeks revenge for the murder of his father, King Hamlet. Through Hamlet’s journey to find justice, his inquired madness and indecision dwindle the other characters along with himself. Polonius has an effect on many characters throughout this play and is often found invading the privacy of the other characters. Humans share the same inner desire to meddle that Polonius does, so naturally, many can relate with the psychology of Polonius. “Hamlet” reveals the

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Hamlet’s fake madness begins to spread its roots and actually turn him mad. After Hamlet was found “mad,” Polonius decides to eavesdrop on a conversation between Hamlet and his mother, which ends up in Hamlet stabbing him through a tapestry. When confronted about this, he claims that he “is of the faction that is wronged; his madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy” (V.II. pg.273, 252-253). The death of Polonius pushes the first domino of a chain that results in the death of girlfriend Ophelia, his mother, Laertes, and the King.

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Contrasting his attitudes with the moments that the king walks in, his behavior towards Polonius while the play is preparing, and his actions to Ophelia during the play, Hamlet is sporadic, when alone with Horatio, he is calm and collected, then again the sudden resumption to his “antic disposition” when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter. There is a long break in which we don’t sense any insanity from Hamlet, this is due to the fact that he has no need to assume his disguise. When we find Hamlet with the players, he is giving them directions for the play. With the players, Hamlet acts normal and of sound mind because the players are not likely to betray him, they don’t have the opportunity or the wish to do so.

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As he descends into madness, his perceptions become distorted and his ability to accurately report events is compromised. Even the people around Hamlet's start to worry for him because of his declining mental state. When Hamlet mistakes Polonius for a fish seller, Polonius states, “Now, what does he mean by that? Still harping on my daughter. But he didn’t recognize me at first.

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After just hearing Polonius call for help, Hamlet thinks it is okay to stab through a curtain without even knowing who is behind it. His reckless actions in this situation lead to an irreversible outcome. This moment is what displays how he has now become exactly what he has been labeled. From the start, he was labeled mad and this action proved just that. Although there is no justification for this specific action, all of Hamlet’s actions combined can be seen as reasonable.

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His father was murdered, his mother remarried quickly after his death, and he also had to deal with his forbidden love with Ophelia. Polonius admits that Hamlet “knew me not at first; he said I was a fishmonger: he is far gone, far gone: …” (II.ii.8). He says that Hamlet really is going insane.

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Hamlet doesn’t seem to think twice about killing Polonius. This portrays that Hamlet has a darker side. This also reflects the ideology that Hamlet us indeed crazy. It is ironic that Polonius was spying on Hamlet at the time. Maybe he wouldn’t have been killed if he didn’t do this in the first place.

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