Polonius: Madness, Power And Responsibility

In the second part of Discovering Hamlet, we are presented with a depiction of each of the character’s importance, roles and interesting facts in Hamlet. One of the character’s the video presents, Polonius, is exposed as a powerful individual who is absorbed in trying to be intimate with the monarchy, losing touch with his family. Edward Jewesbury, who plays Polonius in Jacobi’s version of the play explains that his character “is usually played rather more as a joke figure and as a buffoon, but he is a minister of state [. . .] he obviously has an enormous amount of authority and power” (Jewesbury, 2:13-2:42). It is interesting how powerful individual’s are depicted in satire, comedy and plays as buffoons, individuals who are simply too ridiculous in their actions, probably due to the power they have, to be presented in any other way. I think it is very worrisome to know that a lunatic is handling a country, to be able to go to sleep thinking about what could be happening in that instant due to the poor choices one’s representative is making.

Jewesbury continues describing his character as he mentions that “Laertes and Ophelia are Polonius’s children, so he does have a sudden feeling of responsibility. I don’t think he has pretty much affection for them, even for Ophelia. You see, he is a statesman, I think the focus of his attention is his work, his relationship with the monarchy, with the state. His family are, I think, secondary to him” (Jewesbury, 2:52-3:23). Definitely Polonius has some strange relationship with his daughter, as we see in the dialog of Act I, Scene iii, where he exposes his contradictory and insane feelings and ideas about how she should proceed with Hamlet. Power corrupts Polonius, to the point where we don’t have a clear understanding of his relationship with his children, the only one’s who show true love and consideration for him.

In the picture to the left we see how Jewesbury chooses to act Polonius as if convinced by what he is saying, exposing a truly mad character who tries to use the power he has to order his children around. Polonius’s grim and semi-erect position reflect the authority he has in Denmark and how serious he is compared to other characters in the play such as Claudius. Overall we are presented with a self-absorbed, confused individual who brings laughter to a dense play. The juxtaposition of such a character with reflective Hamlet or the worried but confident Claudius generates an interesting depiction of the powerful, male roles in the play.