(Annoying!) Get free homework help on William Shakespeare's Hamlet: play summary, scene summary and analysis and original text, quotes, essays, character analysis, and filmography courtesy of CliffsNotes. Method in the madness. As Hamlet himself memorably puts it: “Words, words, words” (II.ii.). Polonius utters these words as an aside after Hamlet, feigning madness, delivers a short, near-nonsense speech in which he discusses the horrors of the aging body. Here, however, he recognizes something artful about Hamlet’s apparent madness. See all. 14 Picture Quotes. Like his other pithy proclamations, this statement both conveys Polonius’s sense of self-importance as well as revealing how inaccurate his perception of himself actually is. I,2,260. However, he does get even sneakier because he wants to make himself look good to King Claudius. Claudius, as he appears in the play, is not a criminal...He is..a good and gentle king, enmeshed by the chain of causality linking him with his crime Rebecca Smith on Polonius actions Polonius seems to love his children; he seems to have the welfare of the kingdom in mind. Quotes “That did I, my lord, and was accounted a good actor.” Polonius shows he is practiced in playing falsehoods. Can you paraphrase this passage? As each character is presented in the play all appear to be good and honest, making it a difficult task for Hamlet to uncover the hidden truth about the nature of … Analysis: This lie and act of deceit is a secret at the very beginning of the play since Claudius says King Hamlet died because of a snake bite. He is sceptical of Polonius’ explanation of Hamlet’s madness (he is lovesick) but goes along with Polonius’ plan to spy on a meeting between Ophelia and Hamlet. Earlier in the scene Polonius attempts to convince Claudius and Gertrude that Hamlet has lost his mind. Instead of punishing Hamlet for Polonius’ murder himself, Claudius sent the prince to England alongside Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with letters that would arrange Hamlet’s death, making it … In a room in Elsinore, Gertrude tells Horatio that she does not want to see or talk to Ophelia, but Horatio insists that she should; Ophelia is not in good shape because her father, Polonius, was killed. Hamlet went to his mother’s closet, to discuss her marriage to Claudius, and how Hamlet believed her to be in on the death of Claudius. SparkNotes is brought to you by Barnes & Noble. As they talk, a … quoteaddicts.com helpful non helpful. ... Polonius (to Laertes, advising his son before he departs) Now must ... seal, after what you have heard, you can no longer fail to acquit me of all complicity in your father's death; for seal, see note on i.2. When one of the players delivers a heart-wrenching speech about Priam's death, Polonius interrupts to say (and we are not making this up), "This is too long" (2.2.523) (Admit it: you were thinking it, too.) Polonius also sets up for Hamlet to meet Gertrude. However, the ghost of the late King Hamlet informs Hamlet, and the audience, about the true cause of the king’s death. “My lord, the queen would speak with you, and presently.” Polonius … Check out the scene where Hamlet's directing the players (actors). (4. Designed by GonThemes. In other words, Polonius concludes that Hamlet must be putting on a show, and that his performance must serve some purpose. He becomes extremely obedient and will do whatever it takes to reach a good status, even if it means hurting his 60. 6. The Hamlet quotes below are all either spoken by Claudius or refer to Claudius. Polonius has a tendency to make pompous, aphoristic pronouncements, and his claim that “brevity is the soul of wit” ranks among his most famous. Here, however, he recognizes something artful about Hamlet’s apparent madness. When Hamlet himself enters, he is confronted first by Polonius and then by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whom he quickly identifies as Claudius’s spies. To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou cans’t not then be false to any man (act 1 scene 3)Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry London: Macmillan. “In the most high and palmy state of Rome, A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.”, Horatio (to Barnardo, comparing Denmark to the Fall of Rome), “And then it started like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons.”, Horatio (to Barnardo, about the Ghost leaving when the cock crows), “It faded on the crowing of the cock. Claudius on his love for Polonius, Act 4 Sc. Reynaldo must use falsehoods to find out the truth, not unlike how a fisherman uses a small piece of “bait” to reel in a big “carp.” Polonius’s instructions relate to the motif of spying and the use of deceptive stratagems that runs throughout the play, in which certain characters direct other characters to try to discover something through deception and indirection. Votes: 4. Polonius Quotes. Basically, Polonius tells Hamlet after this that out of all this crazy and madness, there is a purpose, a reason, and a method. Downfall Polonius doesn’t necessarily change as the play progresses. Polonius cares deeply for his children, which is why he's so overprotective. Polonius is hilarious. 7 His use of phrases such as, "Mad… 7 I loved your father and we love ourselves Claudius' Machiavellian tactics contrast his previous statements about Gertrude, Act 4 Sc. Here Claudius expresses the simple thought that he hopes he will not be blamed for the murder of Polonius with just such a metaphor (lines 40-44). King Claudius sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find out where Hamlet has hidden the body of Polonius, but Hamlet has recently become very suspicious of R and G. Hamlet calls R and G sponges suggesting that they soak up all the information the king needs, and they can be squeezed dry whenever the king needs them. Polonius is loyal to the King, where he makes an arrangement to spy on Hamlet. Although he cannot discern Hamlet’s “method,” the audience can see that Hamlet is actually making fun of the aging Polonius. Brevity is the soul of wit. And you ... friend, nor can you help heartily recognizing me as a friend. Millions of books are just a click away on BN.com and through our FREE NOOK reading apps. The funeral bak’d meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.”, Hamlet (to Horatio, referring to the speed of the wedding after his father’s funeral), Hamlet (to Horatio, referring to how he sees his father in his head), “He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.”, Hamlet (to Horatio, speaking highly of his father), Horatio (to Hamlet, describing his encounter with the Ghost), “In the dead waste and middle of the night”, “All is not well; I doubt some foul play.”, Hamlet (soliloquy, referring to how he suspects some foul play in the death of his father after hearing of his Ghost), “A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.”, Horatio (to Hamlet, describing the Ghost’s countenance), “Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o’erwhelm them to men’s eyes.”, Hamlet (soliloquy, referring to how he is the only one in the castle who suspects foul play), “A violet in the youth of primy nature, Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, The perfume and suppliance of a minute.”, Laertes (to Ophelia, warning her of Hamlet’s fleeting love), “And keep you in the rear of your affection, Our of the shot and danger of desire, The chariest maid is prodigal enough If she unmasks her beauty to the moon.”, Laertes (to Ophelia, warning her not to be seduced by Hamlet), “Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And decks not his own rede.”, Ophelia (to Laertes, telling him to practice what he preaches), Polonius (to Laertes, advising his son before he departs), “The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to hoops of steel.”, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For a loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.”, “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”, Polonius (to Laertes, instructing him to serve himself and his needs before he helps others), “You speak like a free girl, Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.”, Polonius (to Ophelia, dismissing the legitimacy of Hamlet’s love for her), Polonius (to Ophelia, warning her that Hamlet’s declarations of love are meant to deceive her), “When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul Lends the tongue vows.”, Polonius (to Ophelia, warning her of Hamlet’s intentions in courting her), “Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence.”, Polonius (to Ophelia, warning her to stay away from Hamlet), Horatio (to Hamlet, about how cold it is), “But to my mind – though I am native here And to the manner born, – it is a custom More honored in the breach than the observance.”, Hamlet (to Horatio, about Claudius throwing parties and celebrating despite the 6 month mourning period), “Angels and ministers of grace, defend us!