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Hamlet Before the Body of Polonius, Albert William Holden (pre-1933), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
(left) Polonius, Typhoo Tea (1905), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Polonius is a rather strange feature of Hamlet, as he, like Hamlet, seems to want to belong to another play. He is sometimes wise, sometimes foolish, sometimes discerning, sometimes confused and tottering. It is with his sudden death at the hands of Hamlet that the play spirals quickly into tragedy.
Below is a song that sort of explores this oscillation between modes, as well as the advisor-y tone that Polonius takes on at various moments. Perhaps useful, perhaps not, just reminded me of this character!
Polonius and Hamlet, Eugène Delacroix (1834), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
-- Advisor/Fool --
-- Advisor/Fool --
Polonius is the lead advisor to the king of Denmark, a position that gives him a higher social standing than most but one that could easily be lost should he fall out of favor with the royal family.
A cut line in our version (but one that I think pushes this tension between Hamlet's assertion of Polonius as one of "These tedious old fools" and his moments of wisdom) is in response to Hamlet's lines about slanders (page 18 in our script). The original Folgers includes an aside from Polonius, which states "Though this be madness, yet there is method in ’t". At this point in the play, not even Hamlet's own family has realized that his madness is a facade, yet Polonius is able to clock him right away! This is a fascinating feature of this character that I think positions him as far less foolish than he plays.
The article to the right adopts a sympathetic view of Polonius, one where he is rendered "a dad just doing his best". While I don't fully agree with every claim in this piece, I appreciate its accessibility and interest in recontextualizing this character.
-- Gender --
-- Gender --
There's an element to our production's genderbent casting of Polonius that reminds me of the decision to cast Prospero as a woman in certain productions of The Tempest. When an immensely patriarchal presence such as Polonius or Prospero is recontextualized as a maternal one, I believe it is useful to keep track of what stays across adaptations versus what needs to be changed. I have included one of the Prospero genderbent adaptations to the right.
Shakespeare's lack of representation of mothers has also been explored by scholars, and I have linked one of those articles below. Focus on pages 307-308, where maternal authority begins to be compared to paternal authority in Protestantism, for some interesting theoretical coloring to this genderbending decision. Feel free to read more if you so wish, this is considered a seminal text in feminist readings of Shakespeare!
Where are the Mothers in Shakespeare? Options for Gender Representation in the English Renaissance
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