Читать реферат по английскому: "Polonius Is Folish Essay Research Paper Polonius" Страница 2

(Назад) (Cкачать работу)

duty is, Why day is day, night night, and time is time Were nothing but to waste night,

day, and time. Therefore, (since) brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and

outward flourishes, I will be brief. Your noble son is mad. ?Mad? call I it, for, to define

true madness, What is ?t but to be nothing else but mad? But let that go. (2. 2. 93-102) He

says that he will be brief, but continues to babble. The Queen responds to his statement by

saying ?More matter with less art? (2. 2. 103). The Queen acknowledges Polonius?

constant babbling and wants him to get quickly to the point. Grebanier comments on the

character of Polonius: ?Nothing is left of is ability and shrewdness but a few tags, a few

catch-phrases, to which, even when they do express some grains of truth, he pays scant

heed in his own demeanor. It is he, for example, who utters the celebrated: ?brevity is the

soul of wit? (2. 2. 90) -a profound truth; but no character in Shakespeare is so long

winded as Polonius? (Grebanier 283). Polonius continues to complicate a simple statement

and is viewed as a babbling fool by scholars. Throughout the play, Hamlet continues to

insult Polonius and make him look foolish to the audience. Hamlet tells Polonius: ?You

are a fishmonger? (2. 2. 190). 5 According to Leo Kirschbaum: ?A fishmonger is a barrel,

one who employs a prostitute for his business. Hamlet is obliquely telling the old councilor

that he is using his own daughter for evil ends? (Kirschbaum 86). After Hamlet insults

Polonius and Ophelia, Polonius still refuses to give up this theory that Hamlet is madly in

love. Martin Dodsworth comments on the reaction of Polonius after Hamlet insults him:

?Polonius accepts the bad treatment meeted out to him as that of a man who is out of his

mind: ?How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter. He is far gone?? (Dodsworth

100). The Shakespearean audience viewed Hamlet as the protagonist of the play, and

some scholars believe that Polonius served as his perfect foil. Bert States comments,

?Polonius is not only the perfect foil for Hamlet?s wit (since irony is the mortal enemy of

the order prone mind), but a shadow of Hamlet as well. Indeed, Polonius literally shadows

Hamlet, or tails him and in shadowing him falls into a thematic parody of his own habits?

(States 116). Thus, Polonius? role in the play as Hamlet?s foil, would be the role of the

fool. The last time Polonius appears in Hamlet is wen he hides behind a curtain in

Gertrude?s room, to hear Hamlet?s conversation with his mother. Hamlet frightens

Gertrude and she cries for help. Immediately after, Polonius foolishly echoes her cry and is

stabbed by Hamlet, thinking it is Claudius. Hamlet, realizing he has killed Polonius says:

Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell. I took thee for my better. (3. 4. 38-39)

Elizabeth Oakes comments on this scene, ?Although Polonius is not in motley, Hamlet

calls him a fool often enough, although nowhere more significantly than in the closet scene

6 after the murder? (Oakes 106). Hamlet ruthlessly calls Polonius a fool, and his opinion,

as the play?s protagonist, would greatly influence an Elizabethan audience?s view of

Polonius. When Gertrude tells Claudius of Polonius? death, Claudius responds by saying:

O heavy deed! It had been so with us, had we been there. (4. 1. 13-14) Claudius knows

that Polonius has been killed in his place. Oakes comments on Polonius? role a the plays

fool: ?He is suited for this role because of his incarnation of the fool, the one traditionally

chosen as a substitute for the king in ritual? (Oakes 106). Scholars view Polonius as a

character mocked throughout the play and the nature of his death, as the Kings substitute,

lead scholars to view him as a fool. In conclusion, Shakespeare created Polonius as a very

unique and complex character. Scholars argue and will continue to argue over the reasons

for Polonius? foolishness. Throughout the play Polonius tends to act foolish thinking that

he knows the reason for Hamlet?s madness, while the audience knows that he is wrong.

Shakespeare created Polonius as a controversial character and only he will ever know why

Polonius was created so foolish.

Bibliography

Grebanier, Bernard. The Heart of Hamlet. New York: Thomas Y. Cromwell

Co, 1960. Hartwig, Joan. ?Parodic Polonius?. Texas Studies in Literature and Language:

vol. 13, 1971. Kirschbaum, Leo. Character and Characterization in Shakespeare. Detroit:

Wayne State UP, 1962. Oakes, Elizabeth. ?Polonius, the Man behind the Arras: A Jungian

Study.? New Essays on Hamlet. New York: AMS Press, 1994. Orkin, Martin. ?Hamlet

and the Security of the South African State.? Critical Essays on Shakespeare?s Hamlet.

New York: G.K. Hall and Co, 1995. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet,

Prince of Denmark. New York: Washington Square Press published by Pocket Books,

1992. States, Bert O. Hamlet and the Concept of Character. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP,

1992.

Похожие работы