Hamlet †What Makes Polonius Indispensable? :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Hamlet – What Makes Polonius Indispensable?      Ã‚  Ã‚   Polonius, father to Laertes and Ophelia in the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet, is vitally important to this play. Without his involvement there would be something seriously lacking. Let us dwell on the lord chamberlain in this essay.    In â€Å"Tragic Alphabet† Lawrence Danson explains Polonius’ use of â€Å"lie-detector† acting:    For the lie-detector use of acting is one we see much of in Hamlet, and though it shares certain characteristics with Hamlet’s use of acting, it is decisively not the same. Polonius is the great master of it – of using, that is, the indirection or downright falseness of acting to discover a truth. Polonius was in his time an amateur actor himself; appropriately, he played Caesar and was killed in the capitol. But we now see Polonius either as a theater critic (and it is a flat sort of criticism he practices, multiplying rigid categories while demanding that he be kept entertained), or as a director – of Laertes, Reynaldo, Ophelia, Gertrude. To each he recommends the use of seeming: in the case of Laertes it is to be nothing short of a life-style, but with the others it is specifically a means for getting at a hidden truth. (83)    In the Introduction to Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet, David Bevington presents Polonius as similar to Hamlet in various ways:    Polonius, his [Hamlet’s] seeming opposite in so many ways, is, like Hamlet, an inveterate punster. To whom else but Polonius should Hamlet direct the taunt of â€Å"Words, words, words†? The aged counselor recalls that in his youth he â€Å"suffered much extremity for love, very near this,† and he has been an actor at the university. Polonius too has advice for the players: â€Å"Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light.† When Hamlet jibes at â€Å"so capital a calf† enacting Julius Caesar, killed in the Capitol, he reinforces the parallel to his own playacting and anticipates the slaying of Polonius behind the arras. (4)    Polonius’ entry into the play occurs at the social get-together of the royal court. Claudius has already been crowned; Queen Gertrude is there; Hamlet is present in the black clothes of mourning. When Laertes approaches Claudius to give his farewell before returning to school, the king asks Polonius: â€Å"Have you your father's leave? What says Polonius?† And the father dutifully answers: