Or Polonius could be an honorary name bestowed for his military service, like “Coriolanus,” the name given to Caius Marcius for conquering Corioli. Maybe, like my childhood friend-a refugee from a war-torn country-he cultivated a clownish persona that masked his trauma. If so, whether he came before or after the episode on the ice, Polonius would have suffered xenophobic hostility from Danish nationalists. Perhaps “Polonius” simply means “one from Poland,” identifying him as an immigrant. However and whyever that change occurred, Shakespeare must have realized that the second scene of his play introduces “Polonius” shortly after the first scene relates the story of how King Hamlet “in an angry parle … smote the sledded Polacks on the ice.” There are two possibilities. ![]() His name points to Poland, Denmark’s enemy, especially in light of the change of the character’s name from the “Corambis” of the first quarto. Hamlet hints at Polonius’s possible prehistories. If we consider him from that vantage rather than through the eyes of his enemy, Prince Hamlet-the point of view Shakespeare asks us to adopt-we open the door to other modern resonances of family dynamics in Shakespeare, such as Prince Hamlet’s rocky stepfamily. His circumstances parallel challenges common to twenty-first-century parenting. Polonius is a single father struggling with work-life balance who sadly choses his career over his daughter’s well-being. But he is a good character, more complex than critics usually recognize. “The death of Polonius,” Elaine Robinson argues, “is a symbol of Shakespeare’s attack on patriarchy.” He’s a patriarch, a misogynist, an authoritarian who dominates Ophelia’s will and decimates her verve for life. Many echo Prince Hamlet’s characterization of Polonius as a “tedious old fool” and “foolish prating knave.” In 1736, the first essay ever written on Hamlet called Polonius a “ Buffoonish Statesman.” Samuel Johnson saw an old man “declining into dotage.” William Hazlitt thought Polonius “talks very sensibly” but “acts very foolishly.” Closer to our time, Diane Dreher hated Polonius-“by far the most reprehensible father” in Shakespeare’s plays-but for a different reason. And what do you get for your troubles? Centuries of Shakespeare scholars dumping on you. Then- get this-while you’re trying to save the queen’s life, the prince murders you. Now the prince wants to marry your daughter-that’s not easy to navigate. ![]() You send your son off to college in another country, even though you know he’s not ready. You build a great career to provide for your family.
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