Polonius' Labor of Regret: (part 3) Labors of Gratitude and Regret in Hamlet
Polonius & His Labor of Regret
(Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet, Part 3)
[Six Poloniuses, from Hamletes2 at Wordpress.com]
Two weeks ago, I blogged about Lewis Hyde’s idea of “The Labor of Gratitude” (from his chapter by that name) and noted similarities in how both gratitude and regret make us feel indebted to others, either thankful, or needing to set right some harm or mistake we have made. Last week, I commented on some highlights of these for Hamlet.
My overall impression of a great deal of criticism on Hamlet is that scholars often view characters too independently of their interactions with others. Hyde's ideas of gift exchange help me make sense of them more via their interactions and interdependencies.
This week I want to focus on Polonius and a moment of regret for him that many readers and theatergoers may miss, either because he is so verbose that we miss much of what he says in his avalanche of words, or because of the distancing we sometimes feel from Shakespearean language that may distract from important moments that the original audiences may have caught.
Polonius mistrusts Hamlet’s intentions toward his daughter at first and forbids her to see him. Yet he later comes to regret judging him too harshly, believing Hamlet’s intentions were honorable, and that Hamlet’s madness is due to unrequited love. He tries very hard to convince Claudius and Gertrude that this is the case, although Claudius suspects that there is something more to Hamlet’s madness than love-sickness.
In the following passages, let’s see how Ophelia is fine with giving and receiving affection freely as a gift, but Laertes and Polonius have other ideas, starting with Laertes.
Laertes tells Ophelia regarding Hamlet’s affections (1.3):
LAERTES:
Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The safety and health of this whole state;
And therefore must his choice be circumscribed
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
The chariest maid is prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the moon:
Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes:
The canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed,
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then; best safety lies in fear:
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
First Laertes tells Ophelia she isn’t worthy of Hamlet because he is a prince out of her star; she may be required to marry a princess from some other land, perhaps to secure a treaty, or to marry some noblewoman in Denmark to strengthen some internal alliance. This reflects perhaps the lack of freedom Elizabeth I felt regarding marriage, and perhaps some of her motivation to remain single.
Laertes describes Hamlet's lack of freedom with a Christian metaphor taken from the idea of Christ as head of the church and Christians as members of the mystical body, a curious metaphor given where he goes next with it. He says Prince Hamlet, as the head of the body politic, has to yield to that body of which he is the head. This seems to put the cart before the horse, having the body lead instead of the head, a curious construction. On the other hand, there is wisdom in listening to, and not neglecting, one's body, a danger of the head expecting the body to perform in ways it cannot.
Next, Laertes shifts his focus: This prince, this head of the body politic, may not be like Jesus who is head of the church, but instead, may be more like Henry VIII who look lovers, and courted new wives before his previous marriages were annulled or brides executed. Laertes claims that Prince Hamlet may be undisciplined in his own mastery of the opportunity or his passions, and may take advantage of her “chaste treasure.” So instead of giving in to love, Laertes wants Ophelia to fear Hamlet, and so advises fear.
This sounds a bit like the pattern some memes and videos have, showing Joe Biden telling brothers that their main job is to keep the boys from their sister, and telling the sister that she should not date seriously until she’s over 30.
So early on in the play, there is a strange contrast or opposition between love and fear (which I’ve blogged about before).
Next, there is a strange exchange between Laertes, Ophelia, and Polonius, in which Laertes asks Ophelia to remember what he has said, and Ophelia promises to remember and keep it secret. Then Polonius wants to be included, so he demands to be let in regarding the secrets (1.3):
LAERTES
Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well
What I have said to you.
OPHELIA
'Tis in my memory lock'd,
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
LAERTES
Farewell. (Exit)
LORD POLONIUS
What is't, Ophelia, be hath said to you?
This is a strange and concerning exchange. Polonius seems to have overheard Ophelia promise to keep a secret between herself and her brother. But Polonius does not respect these brother-sister secrets, so he wants to get Ophelia to immediately violate her promise to her brother.
Ophelia, being an obedient daughter with an intimidating father, yields without a fight:
OPHELIA
So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
Polonius inquires to learn more, but he has obviously already either discussed the matter with Laertes before she promised to keep their discussion secret, or perhaps he has learned of her social life from other informants, spies, gossip:
LORD POLONIUS
Marry, well bethought:
'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you yourself
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous:
If it be so, as so 'tis put on me,
And that in way of caution, I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself so clearly
As it behoves my daughter and your honour.
What is between you? give me up the truth.
He starts out somewhat nicely, but it quickly turns to harsh judgment of his daughter: “in way of caution, I must tell you, / You do not understand yourself so clearly / As it behoves my daughter and your honour.”
Then he sounds like an interrogator with a spy on the rack:
“What is between you? give me up the truth.”
Ophelia is honest with him about Hamlet’s “tenders” of affection, but Polonius quickly judges and belittles her as being naive:
OPHELIA
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.
LORD POLONIUS
Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
With a father like that, how could she confess immediately to believing Hamlet’s sincerity, only to be scorned by Dad?
OPHELIA
I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
She may know what she thinks and feels, but he obviously wants to ride roughshod over her feelings and hopes, so she simply states that she does not know how she “should think.” She will let Dad express his condescending position:
LORD POLONIUS
Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;
Or--not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus--you'll tender me a fool.
She spoke of Hamlet’s tenders as if of his tenderness, but Polonius speaks coldly, as if Hamlet offers counterfeit money (legal tender), and as if she should charge more (like a prostitute?) for her affection, like the saying sometimes spoken about daughters: He’ll never buy the cow if you give away the milk for free.
Now it’s clear that Ophelia is speaking the language of gifts and gratitude, but her father is speaking a different language, one of monetary exchange, like capitalism that seeks the greatest possible gain at the least possible cost. He would prefer for Ophelia to withhold her affection unless Hamlet is willing to pay - by proposing marriage.
Yet love doesn’t blossom as a market commodity; it blossoms as a gift and a labor of gratitude in response to the gift.
Finally, Polonius doesn’t want to have his daughter get pregnant and “tender” him a fool.
Ophelia tries to defend her feelings of love and her trust in Hamlet’s expressed affection, but her father will have none of it:
OPHELIA
My lord, he hath importuned me with love
In honourable fashion.
LORD POLONIUS
Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.
He ignores “honorable” and focuses instead on “fashion,” passing trends that change on a whim. She tries again:
OPHELIA
And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
If he were paying attention, he might hear in this that the prince may be trying to propose marriage to his daughter, in which case she’d be the next queen of Denmark. But Polonius is not easily convinced when he has his mind made up about the dark potential in others, including his own son, who he’ll soon send the spy Reynaldo after to watch.
So Polonius assumes that if Hamlet has made any holy vows, these are only like bait in traps to take advantage of his daughter like a bird caught by a hunter:
LORD POLONIUS
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a-making,
You must not take for fire.
Polonius has told Ophelia that he judges Hamlet to be the same sort of selfish, predatory rascal with women that Polonius himself used to be in his own youth (perhaps a sad commentary on how Polonius met Ophelia’s mother). Polonius continues:
LORD POLONIUS
...From this time
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, that he is young
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you: in few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to beguile. This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you: come your ways.
OPHELIA
I shall obey, my lord.
Notice how Polonius slowly moves from asking Ophelia to be "somewhat scanter" with her presence to forbidding any words or talk at all with Hamlet.
Notice also how Polonius gravitates away from Ophelia's language of love as gift, toward language of economics and the marketplace: Hamlet's vows are brokers of dishonest investments, not to be taken at their first appearance (not of that dye), but of something unholy, "breathing like sanctified and pious bawds, the better to beguile." In Shakespeare's England, some religious groups criticized other religious groups by claiming they were hypocrites, putting on a holy appearance, but using a deceiving appearance to seduce other men's wives and daughters. Protestants claimed as much about Catholics, Puritans about Protestants, etc. So it's with this familiar line of thinking that Polonius forbids his daughter to have contact with the prince, a shocking sign of internal division between the monarchy and its most trusted advisor.
These exchanges make a strong impression on the audience regarding how little Laertes and Polonius think of Hamlet and his attentions to their sister and daughter. This is understandable, given the reputation of many princes and kings like Henry VIII: What if Hamlet simply wanted to use her, deceiving her with kind words and promises, as many kings, princes, and other powerful people surely do?
But on the other hand, how tragic if they have misjudged Prince Hamlet’s intentions, and he may have wanted Ophelia to be his bride and the next queen of Denmark?
Polonius Turns To Regret
Polonius soon sends the spy Reynaldo to France to plant lies about his son Laertes, because he obviously suspects there is a chance that Laertes is doing things of which Polonius would not approve. He thought the worst of Hamlet, and now we see he suspects the worst things may come of his own son as well. This sets up the scene for a nice contrast as Polonius has a change of heart about Hamlet, when Ophelia enters to report her frightful and unexpected meeting with the prince (2.1):
OPHELIA
O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
LORD POLONIUS
With what, i' the name of God?
OPHELIA
My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors,--he comes before me.
Of course, the audience knows (but Polonius and Ophelia do not) that Hamlet has seen what he believes is the ghost of his father, who has told him of the horrors of purgatory. But Polonius would like to assume otherwise and interprets Hamlet’s actions in a self-interested way:
LORD POLONIUS
Mad for thy love?
OPHELIA
My lord, I do not know;
But truly, I do fear it.
Laertes and Polonius wanted Ophelia to fear Hamlet, and now, sadly, after Hamlet's encounter with the ghost, she does fear him, perhaps for good reason. Polonius wants to know more:
LORD POLONIUS
What said he?
Ophelia offers a more vivid description of what Hamlet did, although he said no words:
OPHELIA
He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At last, a little shaking of mine arm
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being: that done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o' doors he went without their helps,
And, to the last, bended their light on me.
Now Polonius is even more certain that his new assumption is correct: Hamlet is, at least in his mind, suffering from the lack of Ophelia’s love. Polonius' demand that his daughter rebuke the prince seems to him only to have driven Hamlet mad:
LORD POLONIUS
Come, go with me: I will go seek the king.
This is the very ecstasy of love,
Whose violent property fordoes itself
And leads the will to desperate undertakings
As oft as any passion under heaven
That does afflict our natures.
Then Polonius does a remarkable thing: He says he is sorry to his daughter, if only because she was so frightened by Hamlet, but perhaps for more than that:
LORD POLONIUS
... I am sorry.
What, have you given him any hard words of late?
OPHELIA
No, my good lord, but, as you did command,
I did repel his letters* and denied
His access to me.
Moby Shakespeare at mit.edu has this as "I did repel his fetters," perhaps a typesetting error in a particular printing of the play, but an interesting one: Hyde claims that gifts bind us to one another, and Ophelia has rejected Hamlet's gifts and the "fetters" they would create.
Polonius would like to think he is the center of his world, and that his insistence that his daughter reject Hamlet has driven the prince mad. So again he apologizes for having misjudged Hamlet, an apology with even greater detail and regret:
LORD POLONIUS
That hath made him mad.
I am sorry that with better heed and judgment
I had not quoted him: I fear'd he did but trifle,
And meant to wreck thee; but, beshrew my jealousy!
By heaven, it is as proper to our age
To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions
As it is common for the younger sort
To lack discretion.
This is a remarkable change of heart and mind for Polonius. He has gone from assuming the worst of the prince, and fearing for his daughter’s loss of virginity and perhaps their shaming through an unexpected pregnancy, to admitting that he misjudged Hamlet, and perhaps even misjudged his daughter for lacking discretion as well.
His next plan of action is to go immediately to the King:
LORD POLONIUS
Come, go we to the king:
This must be known; which, being kept close, might
move
More grief to hide than hate to utter love.
In other words, it may cause more grief and trouble to keep all this secret than it could cause hate from the King and Queen (who he fears as his monarchs and employers) for announcing news of unrequited love as the cause for Hamlet's madness. Polonius didn't want to go to the King and Queen at first, when he thought the worst of Hamlet: In modern terms, it would have been too awkward to complain to his employers and monarchs that Gertrude's son was sexually harassing his daughter. But now that Polonius feels confident that Hamlet's intentions may have been good, Polonius knows that it would be better if they learn about these developments from Polonius and Ophelia rather than from other sources. For Claudius and Gertrude to learn that Hamlet's madness may have been caused by Polonius having required his daughter to reject Hamlet's advances... this would seem disrespectful of subjects toward their prince. So Polonius will want to spin the information in the best possible way.
Polonius can be honest and direct with his daughter when he feels Hamlet may get her pregnant and bring shame on her and on his family, but he has much greater difficulty being direct and honest once he feels he has misjudged the prince and that his daughter may have a chance at being the next queen of Denmark. He worries that Claudius and Gertrude may find him and his daughter unworthy of the match, so he claims to them (2.2) that he told Ophelia that Hamlet was “out of her star,” not of the same social strata:
LORD POLONIUS
...what might you think,
When I had seen this hot love on the wing--
As I perceived it, I must tell you that,
Before my daughter told me--what might you,
Or my dear majesty your queen here, think,
If I had play'd the desk or table-book,
Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb,
Or look'd upon this love with idle sight;
What might you think? No, I went round to work,
And my young mistress thus I did bespeak:
'Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star;
This must not be:' and then I precepts gave her,
That she should lock herself from his resort,
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.
Polonius lies to Claudius and Gertrude. He did not tell Ophelia that Hamlet was “out of thy star”: Laertes had said that, but not Polonius. He had told her that Hamlet was a predator seeking to trap her. He was willing to reveal that, then, to Ophelia, but not to Gertrude and Claudius. Now that he is convinced that Hamlet is mad for love of his daughter’s withheld affection, he changes the story so he can make the best possible impression with his monarch- employers. Polonius describes the effects on Ophelia and Hamlet:
LORD POLONIUS
...she took the fruits of my advice;
And he, repulsed--a short tale to make--
Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,
Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension,
Into the madness wherein now he raves,
And all we mourn for.
It’s one plausible explanation to Claudius and Gertrude who seem inclined to believe it:
KING CLAUDIUS
Do you think 'tis this?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
It may be, very likely.
LORD POLONIUS
Hath there been such a time--I'd fain know that--
That I have positively said 'Tis so,'
When it proved otherwise?
KING CLAUDIUS
Not that I know.
LORD POLONIUS
[Pointing to his head and shoulder]
Take this from this, if this be otherwise:
If circumstances lead me, I will find
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within the centre.
Polonius claims that even if a truth is hidden under their noses, “within the center,” he will find it, which of course is ironic, because he doesn’t know of the ghost and its possible effects on the prince.
Claudius wants to be sure, and to test the matter somehow. Polonius is quick to come up with an idea:
KING CLAUDIUS
How may we try it further?
LORD POLONIUS
You know, sometimes he walks four hours together
Here in the lobby.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
So he does indeed.
LORD POLONIUS
At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him:
Be you and I behind an arras then;
Mark the encounter: if he love her not
And be not from his reason fall'n thereon,
Let me be no assistant for a state,
But keep a farm and carters.
So here is the resignation letter of Polonius, a kind of promise he will soon fail to keep: If he is proven wrong about love as the cause of Hamlet’s madness, then he should no longer have his job as assistant to the state of Denmark, but should become a farmer.
Instead, he will soon be killed by Hamlet and his body buried under the ground, pushing up weeds. A crop of graves in a graveyard instead of living things and their fruits to harvest.
At least Polonius came to a moment of regret for an actual mistake he had made, or it would seem to have been a mistake if we are to believe Hamlet’s hyperbole at Ophelia’s grave (5.1) that he loved her more than “forty thousand brothers.” If Hamlet were merely a sexual predator, it's unlikely he'd make such a proclamation of love.
But convinced of his new and probably error-troubled conclusion that Hamlet is merely mad for Oplhelia’s love, Polonius gets stuck in his own flawed assumption, too proud to live in the presence of Hamlet’s mystery, too quick to pluck it out, like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Polonius is unable to imagine, for now, that there may be more to Hamlet's madness. He may evolve more behind the arras, but too late.
And in a theological sense, perhaps those who are unable or unwilling to live in the presence of mystery (or the mysteries embodied in others) are already dead in a way, and a cause of death for those around them. Polonius expressed his sorrow for misjudging Hamlet and Ophelia, but he quickly jumped to new conclusions and misjudgments. His convictions, and his desire to prove them, will drive him to volunteer to hide behind the arras, to spy on Hamlet and Gertrude, and this will lead to his death.
But Polonius has shared with Claudius and Gertrude parts of the love letters Hamlet wrote to Ophelia, and even after Polonius and Ophelia are dead, Gertrude will express her disappointed hope:
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Sweets to the sweet: farewell!
(Scattering flowers)
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
And not have strew'd thy grave.
So the regret of Polonius at his own misjudgments leads him to be more open to the hope for love, and even after his death, his hope and regret seem to have been passed on to Gertrude.
Like the women in the gospel at Jesus’ empty tomb on Easter Sunday, Claudius had asked Hamlet, “Where is the body?” In the case of Jesus, his body was not in a tomb, not in the place of death and corpses, but in the community of the believers who had been changed and enlivened by his message.
In the case of Polonius, at worst, his body - the effects of his life upon the world - were buried with the body of Ophelia, and soon to be buried with the body of Laertes. But at best, the body of Polonius lived on, if only briefly, in Gertrude’s hope and regret expressed at the graveside, and perhaps in the hope and regret of Hamlet and Laertes, and in a larger sense, of the audience witnessing the play.
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Next week I’ll explore labors of gratitude and regret in still more characters in the play. Thanks for reading.
- But meanwhile, I wish to express my congratulations to my spouse, Mary Beth Youngblut, for being named Teacher of the Year for her school district here in our town of Northfield, Minnesota (and also recognized for 30 years of teaching in the district). For more on that news, here's a link to my Twitter thread on the subject, including the standing ovation her colleagues gave her:
https://twitter.com/padrianfried/status/1166042250037608454
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NOTE ON THIS SERIES OF POSTS:
Hamlet quotes are taken from the Complete Moby(tm) Shakespeare at mit.edu.
This is the latest installment in a multi-part series examining how characters interact in Hamlet, offering opportunities, gifts, planting seeds for future inspiration, or for changes of heart & mind. It follows ideas from Lewis Hyde (“The Labor of Gratitude,” a chapter in his book, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property).
- The more I examine characters in this way, the more I realize how the major characters in Hamlet are dynamic characters who change, becoming better or worse in one way or another. This approach goes against the grain of a great deal of scholarship that seems to reify (or thing-ify) too many characters (as foil, as Oedipal, as Machiavellian, etc.) and view them as more static, rather than as dynamic, fluid, interacting. For an index of previous posts in this series, see below.
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Index of other posts in this series:
Part 1: Gifts & labors of gratitude in Hansel & Gretel - (prep. for Hamlet) - 8/12/19
Part 2: Hamlet's Descent & Arc Toward Mercy: Labors of Gratitude and Regret in Hamlet - 8/19/19
Part 3: Polonius' Labor of Regret - 8/26/19
Part 4: Into Dad's Circle of Fear & Flattery: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret, 1.2 - 9/3/19
Part 5: Fear & Hypocrisy; Laertes’ Labors of Gratitude & Regret, Hamlet 1.3 - 9/9/19
Part 6: Fearsome, Flattered, Glimpsing Transformation: Laertes’ Labors of Gratitude & Regret, 4.5 - 9/17/19
Part 7: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret (Toxic Masculinity Distrats While Ophelia Drowns, Hamlet 4.7 - 9/24/19
Part 8: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret (Laertes & Hamlet Fight at Ophelia’s Grave, Hamlet 5.1 - 10/01/19
Part 9: Gertrude as Recipient & Source of Gifts: Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet - 10/8/19
Part 10: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret: Laertes Turns, but Only When Facing Death, 5.2 - 10/15/19
Part 11: Does Hamlet & Ophelia’s Love Change Them? (Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet) - 10/21/19
Part 12: Claudius Resists Gift-Dynamics & Grace (Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet) - 10/29/19
Part 13: Does Fortinbras Benefit from Gratitude or Regret (or is he more a cipher for James VI & I)? - 11/05/19
Part 14: Horatio's Gift-Dynamics & Christ-Figures Shifting Ground in Hamlet 1.1 - 11/19/19
Part 15: Hamlet & Horatio's Friendship: Mutual, Reciprocal, Transformative, Free - 11/26/19
Part 16: WHY GIFT-DYNAMICS MATTER FOR HAMLET & THE BIBLE: Labors of Gratitude and Regret in Hamlet - 12/19/19
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MY BOOK PROJECT:
My book project: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html
RETROSPECTIVES:
Retrospectives of popular posts through March 0f 2019: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/03/hamlets-bible-2-year-anniversary.html
(Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet, Part 3)
[Six Poloniuses, from Hamletes2 at Wordpress.com]
Two weeks ago, I blogged about Lewis Hyde’s idea of “The Labor of Gratitude” (from his chapter by that name) and noted similarities in how both gratitude and regret make us feel indebted to others, either thankful, or needing to set right some harm or mistake we have made. Last week, I commented on some highlights of these for Hamlet.
My overall impression of a great deal of criticism on Hamlet is that scholars often view characters too independently of their interactions with others. Hyde's ideas of gift exchange help me make sense of them more via their interactions and interdependencies.
This week I want to focus on Polonius and a moment of regret for him that many readers and theatergoers may miss, either because he is so verbose that we miss much of what he says in his avalanche of words, or because of the distancing we sometimes feel from Shakespearean language that may distract from important moments that the original audiences may have caught.
Polonius mistrusts Hamlet’s intentions toward his daughter at first and forbids her to see him. Yet he later comes to regret judging him too harshly, believing Hamlet’s intentions were honorable, and that Hamlet’s madness is due to unrequited love. He tries very hard to convince Claudius and Gertrude that this is the case, although Claudius suspects that there is something more to Hamlet’s madness than love-sickness.
In the following passages, let’s see how Ophelia is fine with giving and receiving affection freely as a gift, but Laertes and Polonius have other ideas, starting with Laertes.
Laertes tells Ophelia regarding Hamlet’s affections (1.3):
LAERTES:
Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The safety and health of this whole state;
And therefore must his choice be circumscribed
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head. Then if he says he loves you,
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it
As he in his particular act and place
May give his saying deed; which is no further
Than the main voice of Denmark goes withal.
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain,
If with too credent ear you list his songs,
Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open
To his unmaster'd importunity.
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister,
And keep you in the rear of your affection,
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
The chariest maid is prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the moon:
Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes:
The canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed,
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
Be wary then; best safety lies in fear:
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.
First Laertes tells Ophelia she isn’t worthy of Hamlet because he is a prince out of her star; she may be required to marry a princess from some other land, perhaps to secure a treaty, or to marry some noblewoman in Denmark to strengthen some internal alliance. This reflects perhaps the lack of freedom Elizabeth I felt regarding marriage, and perhaps some of her motivation to remain single.
Laertes describes Hamlet's lack of freedom with a Christian metaphor taken from the idea of Christ as head of the church and Christians as members of the mystical body, a curious metaphor given where he goes next with it. He says Prince Hamlet, as the head of the body politic, has to yield to that body of which he is the head. This seems to put the cart before the horse, having the body lead instead of the head, a curious construction. On the other hand, there is wisdom in listening to, and not neglecting, one's body, a danger of the head expecting the body to perform in ways it cannot.
Next, Laertes shifts his focus: This prince, this head of the body politic, may not be like Jesus who is head of the church, but instead, may be more like Henry VIII who look lovers, and courted new wives before his previous marriages were annulled or brides executed. Laertes claims that Prince Hamlet may be undisciplined in his own mastery of the opportunity or his passions, and may take advantage of her “chaste treasure.” So instead of giving in to love, Laertes wants Ophelia to fear Hamlet, and so advises fear.
This sounds a bit like the pattern some memes and videos have, showing Joe Biden telling brothers that their main job is to keep the boys from their sister, and telling the sister that she should not date seriously until she’s over 30.
So early on in the play, there is a strange contrast or opposition between love and fear (which I’ve blogged about before).
Next, there is a strange exchange between Laertes, Ophelia, and Polonius, in which Laertes asks Ophelia to remember what he has said, and Ophelia promises to remember and keep it secret. Then Polonius wants to be included, so he demands to be let in regarding the secrets (1.3):
LAERTES
Farewell, Ophelia; and remember well
What I have said to you.
OPHELIA
'Tis in my memory lock'd,
And you yourself shall keep the key of it.
LAERTES
Farewell. (Exit)
LORD POLONIUS
What is't, Ophelia, be hath said to you?
This is a strange and concerning exchange. Polonius seems to have overheard Ophelia promise to keep a secret between herself and her brother. But Polonius does not respect these brother-sister secrets, so he wants to get Ophelia to immediately violate her promise to her brother.
Ophelia, being an obedient daughter with an intimidating father, yields without a fight:
OPHELIA
So please you, something touching the Lord Hamlet.
Polonius inquires to learn more, but he has obviously already either discussed the matter with Laertes before she promised to keep their discussion secret, or perhaps he has learned of her social life from other informants, spies, gossip:
LORD POLONIUS
Marry, well bethought:
'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late
Given private time to you; and you yourself
Have of your audience been most free and bounteous:
If it be so, as so 'tis put on me,
And that in way of caution, I must tell you,
You do not understand yourself so clearly
As it behoves my daughter and your honour.
What is between you? give me up the truth.
He starts out somewhat nicely, but it quickly turns to harsh judgment of his daughter: “in way of caution, I must tell you, / You do not understand yourself so clearly / As it behoves my daughter and your honour.”
Then he sounds like an interrogator with a spy on the rack:
“What is between you? give me up the truth.”
Ophelia is honest with him about Hamlet’s “tenders” of affection, but Polonius quickly judges and belittles her as being naive:
OPHELIA
He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.
LORD POLONIUS
Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?
With a father like that, how could she confess immediately to believing Hamlet’s sincerity, only to be scorned by Dad?
OPHELIA
I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
She may know what she thinks and feels, but he obviously wants to ride roughshod over her feelings and hopes, so she simply states that she does not know how she “should think.” She will let Dad express his condescending position:
LORD POLONIUS
Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;
Or--not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus--you'll tender me a fool.
She spoke of Hamlet’s tenders as if of his tenderness, but Polonius speaks coldly, as if Hamlet offers counterfeit money (legal tender), and as if she should charge more (like a prostitute?) for her affection, like the saying sometimes spoken about daughters: He’ll never buy the cow if you give away the milk for free.
Now it’s clear that Ophelia is speaking the language of gifts and gratitude, but her father is speaking a different language, one of monetary exchange, like capitalism that seeks the greatest possible gain at the least possible cost. He would prefer for Ophelia to withhold her affection unless Hamlet is willing to pay - by proposing marriage.
Yet love doesn’t blossom as a market commodity; it blossoms as a gift and a labor of gratitude in response to the gift.
Finally, Polonius doesn’t want to have his daughter get pregnant and “tender” him a fool.
Ophelia tries to defend her feelings of love and her trust in Hamlet’s expressed affection, but her father will have none of it:
OPHELIA
My lord, he hath importuned me with love
In honourable fashion.
LORD POLONIUS
Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.
He ignores “honorable” and focuses instead on “fashion,” passing trends that change on a whim. She tries again:
OPHELIA
And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.
If he were paying attention, he might hear in this that the prince may be trying to propose marriage to his daughter, in which case she’d be the next queen of Denmark. But Polonius is not easily convinced when he has his mind made up about the dark potential in others, including his own son, who he’ll soon send the spy Reynaldo after to watch.
So Polonius assumes that if Hamlet has made any holy vows, these are only like bait in traps to take advantage of his daughter like a bird caught by a hunter:
LORD POLONIUS
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a-making,
You must not take for fire.
Polonius has told Ophelia that he judges Hamlet to be the same sort of selfish, predatory rascal with women that Polonius himself used to be in his own youth (perhaps a sad commentary on how Polonius met Ophelia’s mother). Polonius continues:
LORD POLONIUS
...From this time
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, that he is young
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you: in few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to beguile. This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you: come your ways.
OPHELIA
I shall obey, my lord.
Notice how Polonius slowly moves from asking Ophelia to be "somewhat scanter" with her presence to forbidding any words or talk at all with Hamlet.
Notice also how Polonius gravitates away from Ophelia's language of love as gift, toward language of economics and the marketplace: Hamlet's vows are brokers of dishonest investments, not to be taken at their first appearance (not of that dye), but of something unholy, "breathing like sanctified and pious bawds, the better to beguile." In Shakespeare's England, some religious groups criticized other religious groups by claiming they were hypocrites, putting on a holy appearance, but using a deceiving appearance to seduce other men's wives and daughters. Protestants claimed as much about Catholics, Puritans about Protestants, etc. So it's with this familiar line of thinking that Polonius forbids his daughter to have contact with the prince, a shocking sign of internal division between the monarchy and its most trusted advisor.
These exchanges make a strong impression on the audience regarding how little Laertes and Polonius think of Hamlet and his attentions to their sister and daughter. This is understandable, given the reputation of many princes and kings like Henry VIII: What if Hamlet simply wanted to use her, deceiving her with kind words and promises, as many kings, princes, and other powerful people surely do?
But on the other hand, how tragic if they have misjudged Prince Hamlet’s intentions, and he may have wanted Ophelia to be his bride and the next queen of Denmark?
Polonius Turns To Regret
Polonius soon sends the spy Reynaldo to France to plant lies about his son Laertes, because he obviously suspects there is a chance that Laertes is doing things of which Polonius would not approve. He thought the worst of Hamlet, and now we see he suspects the worst things may come of his own son as well. This sets up the scene for a nice contrast as Polonius has a change of heart about Hamlet, when Ophelia enters to report her frightful and unexpected meeting with the prince (2.1):
OPHELIA
O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
LORD POLONIUS
With what, i' the name of God?
OPHELIA
My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors,--he comes before me.
Of course, the audience knows (but Polonius and Ophelia do not) that Hamlet has seen what he believes is the ghost of his father, who has told him of the horrors of purgatory. But Polonius would like to assume otherwise and interprets Hamlet’s actions in a self-interested way:
LORD POLONIUS
Mad for thy love?
OPHELIA
My lord, I do not know;
But truly, I do fear it.
Laertes and Polonius wanted Ophelia to fear Hamlet, and now, sadly, after Hamlet's encounter with the ghost, she does fear him, perhaps for good reason. Polonius wants to know more:
LORD POLONIUS
What said he?
Ophelia offers a more vivid description of what Hamlet did, although he said no words:
OPHELIA
He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At last, a little shaking of mine arm
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being: that done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o' doors he went without their helps,
And, to the last, bended their light on me.
Now Polonius is even more certain that his new assumption is correct: Hamlet is, at least in his mind, suffering from the lack of Ophelia’s love. Polonius' demand that his daughter rebuke the prince seems to him only to have driven Hamlet mad:
LORD POLONIUS
Come, go with me: I will go seek the king.
This is the very ecstasy of love,
Whose violent property fordoes itself
And leads the will to desperate undertakings
As oft as any passion under heaven
That does afflict our natures.
Then Polonius does a remarkable thing: He says he is sorry to his daughter, if only because she was so frightened by Hamlet, but perhaps for more than that:
LORD POLONIUS
... I am sorry.
What, have you given him any hard words of late?
OPHELIA
No, my good lord, but, as you did command,
I did repel his letters* and denied
His access to me.
Moby Shakespeare at mit.edu has this as "I did repel his fetters," perhaps a typesetting error in a particular printing of the play, but an interesting one: Hyde claims that gifts bind us to one another, and Ophelia has rejected Hamlet's gifts and the "fetters" they would create.
Polonius would like to think he is the center of his world, and that his insistence that his daughter reject Hamlet has driven the prince mad. So again he apologizes for having misjudged Hamlet, an apology with even greater detail and regret:
LORD POLONIUS
That hath made him mad.
I am sorry that with better heed and judgment
I had not quoted him: I fear'd he did but trifle,
And meant to wreck thee; but, beshrew my jealousy!
By heaven, it is as proper to our age
To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions
As it is common for the younger sort
To lack discretion.
This is a remarkable change of heart and mind for Polonius. He has gone from assuming the worst of the prince, and fearing for his daughter’s loss of virginity and perhaps their shaming through an unexpected pregnancy, to admitting that he misjudged Hamlet, and perhaps even misjudged his daughter for lacking discretion as well.
His next plan of action is to go immediately to the King:
LORD POLONIUS
Come, go we to the king:
This must be known; which, being kept close, might
move
More grief to hide than hate to utter love.
In other words, it may cause more grief and trouble to keep all this secret than it could cause hate from the King and Queen (who he fears as his monarchs and employers) for announcing news of unrequited love as the cause for Hamlet's madness. Polonius didn't want to go to the King and Queen at first, when he thought the worst of Hamlet: In modern terms, it would have been too awkward to complain to his employers and monarchs that Gertrude's son was sexually harassing his daughter. But now that Polonius feels confident that Hamlet's intentions may have been good, Polonius knows that it would be better if they learn about these developments from Polonius and Ophelia rather than from other sources. For Claudius and Gertrude to learn that Hamlet's madness may have been caused by Polonius having required his daughter to reject Hamlet's advances... this would seem disrespectful of subjects toward their prince. So Polonius will want to spin the information in the best possible way.
Polonius can be honest and direct with his daughter when he feels Hamlet may get her pregnant and bring shame on her and on his family, but he has much greater difficulty being direct and honest once he feels he has misjudged the prince and that his daughter may have a chance at being the next queen of Denmark. He worries that Claudius and Gertrude may find him and his daughter unworthy of the match, so he claims to them (2.2) that he told Ophelia that Hamlet was “out of her star,” not of the same social strata:
LORD POLONIUS
...what might you think,
When I had seen this hot love on the wing--
As I perceived it, I must tell you that,
Before my daughter told me--what might you,
Or my dear majesty your queen here, think,
If I had play'd the desk or table-book,
Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb,
Or look'd upon this love with idle sight;
What might you think? No, I went round to work,
And my young mistress thus I did bespeak:
'Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star;
This must not be:' and then I precepts gave her,
That she should lock herself from his resort,
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.
Polonius lies to Claudius and Gertrude. He did not tell Ophelia that Hamlet was “out of thy star”: Laertes had said that, but not Polonius. He had told her that Hamlet was a predator seeking to trap her. He was willing to reveal that, then, to Ophelia, but not to Gertrude and Claudius. Now that he is convinced that Hamlet is mad for love of his daughter’s withheld affection, he changes the story so he can make the best possible impression with his monarch- employers. Polonius describes the effects on Ophelia and Hamlet:
LORD POLONIUS
...she took the fruits of my advice;
And he, repulsed--a short tale to make--
Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,
Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,
Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension,
Into the madness wherein now he raves,
And all we mourn for.
It’s one plausible explanation to Claudius and Gertrude who seem inclined to believe it:
KING CLAUDIUS
Do you think 'tis this?
QUEEN GERTRUDE
It may be, very likely.
LORD POLONIUS
Hath there been such a time--I'd fain know that--
That I have positively said 'Tis so,'
When it proved otherwise?
KING CLAUDIUS
Not that I know.
LORD POLONIUS
[Pointing to his head and shoulder]
Take this from this, if this be otherwise:
If circumstances lead me, I will find
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within the centre.
Polonius claims that even if a truth is hidden under their noses, “within the center,” he will find it, which of course is ironic, because he doesn’t know of the ghost and its possible effects on the prince.
Claudius wants to be sure, and to test the matter somehow. Polonius is quick to come up with an idea:
KING CLAUDIUS
How may we try it further?
LORD POLONIUS
You know, sometimes he walks four hours together
Here in the lobby.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
So he does indeed.
LORD POLONIUS
At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him:
Be you and I behind an arras then;
Mark the encounter: if he love her not
And be not from his reason fall'n thereon,
Let me be no assistant for a state,
But keep a farm and carters.
So here is the resignation letter of Polonius, a kind of promise he will soon fail to keep: If he is proven wrong about love as the cause of Hamlet’s madness, then he should no longer have his job as assistant to the state of Denmark, but should become a farmer.
Instead, he will soon be killed by Hamlet and his body buried under the ground, pushing up weeds. A crop of graves in a graveyard instead of living things and their fruits to harvest.
At least Polonius came to a moment of regret for an actual mistake he had made, or it would seem to have been a mistake if we are to believe Hamlet’s hyperbole at Ophelia’s grave (5.1) that he loved her more than “forty thousand brothers.” If Hamlet were merely a sexual predator, it's unlikely he'd make such a proclamation of love.
But convinced of his new and probably error-troubled conclusion that Hamlet is merely mad for Oplhelia’s love, Polonius gets stuck in his own flawed assumption, too proud to live in the presence of Hamlet’s mystery, too quick to pluck it out, like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Polonius is unable to imagine, for now, that there may be more to Hamlet's madness. He may evolve more behind the arras, but too late.
And in a theological sense, perhaps those who are unable or unwilling to live in the presence of mystery (or the mysteries embodied in others) are already dead in a way, and a cause of death for those around them. Polonius expressed his sorrow for misjudging Hamlet and Ophelia, but he quickly jumped to new conclusions and misjudgments. His convictions, and his desire to prove them, will drive him to volunteer to hide behind the arras, to spy on Hamlet and Gertrude, and this will lead to his death.
But Polonius has shared with Claudius and Gertrude parts of the love letters Hamlet wrote to Ophelia, and even after Polonius and Ophelia are dead, Gertrude will express her disappointed hope:
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Sweets to the sweet: farewell!
(Scattering flowers)
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's wife;
I thought thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet maid,
And not have strew'd thy grave.
So the regret of Polonius at his own misjudgments leads him to be more open to the hope for love, and even after his death, his hope and regret seem to have been passed on to Gertrude.
Like the women in the gospel at Jesus’ empty tomb on Easter Sunday, Claudius had asked Hamlet, “Where is the body?” In the case of Jesus, his body was not in a tomb, not in the place of death and corpses, but in the community of the believers who had been changed and enlivened by his message.
In the case of Polonius, at worst, his body - the effects of his life upon the world - were buried with the body of Ophelia, and soon to be buried with the body of Laertes. But at best, the body of Polonius lived on, if only briefly, in Gertrude’s hope and regret expressed at the graveside, and perhaps in the hope and regret of Hamlet and Laertes, and in a larger sense, of the audience witnessing the play.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next week I’ll explore labors of gratitude and regret in still more characters in the play. Thanks for reading.
- But meanwhile, I wish to express my congratulations to my spouse, Mary Beth Youngblut, for being named Teacher of the Year for her school district here in our town of Northfield, Minnesota (and also recognized for 30 years of teaching in the district). For more on that news, here's a link to my Twitter thread on the subject, including the standing ovation her colleagues gave her:
https://twitter.com/padrianfried/status/1166042250037608454
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE ON THIS SERIES OF POSTS:
Hamlet quotes are taken from the Complete Moby(tm) Shakespeare at mit.edu.
This is the latest installment in a multi-part series examining how characters interact in Hamlet, offering opportunities, gifts, planting seeds for future inspiration, or for changes of heart & mind. It follows ideas from Lewis Hyde (“The Labor of Gratitude,” a chapter in his book, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property).
- The more I examine characters in this way, the more I realize how the major characters in Hamlet are dynamic characters who change, becoming better or worse in one way or another. This approach goes against the grain of a great deal of scholarship that seems to reify (or thing-ify) too many characters (as foil, as Oedipal, as Machiavellian, etc.) and view them as more static, rather than as dynamic, fluid, interacting. For an index of previous posts in this series, see below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Index of other posts in this series:
Part 1: Gifts & labors of gratitude in Hansel & Gretel - (prep. for Hamlet) - 8/12/19
Part 2: Hamlet's Descent & Arc Toward Mercy: Labors of Gratitude and Regret in Hamlet - 8/19/19
Part 3: Polonius' Labor of Regret - 8/26/19
Part 4: Into Dad's Circle of Fear & Flattery: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret, 1.2 - 9/3/19
Part 5: Fear & Hypocrisy; Laertes’ Labors of Gratitude & Regret, Hamlet 1.3 - 9/9/19
Part 6: Fearsome, Flattered, Glimpsing Transformation: Laertes’ Labors of Gratitude & Regret, 4.5 - 9/17/19
Part 7: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret (Toxic Masculinity Distrats While Ophelia Drowns, Hamlet 4.7 - 9/24/19
Part 8: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret (Laertes & Hamlet Fight at Ophelia’s Grave, Hamlet 5.1 - 10/01/19
Part 9: Gertrude as Recipient & Source of Gifts: Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet - 10/8/19
Part 10: Laertes' Labors of Gratitude & Regret: Laertes Turns, but Only When Facing Death, 5.2 - 10/15/19
Part 11: Does Hamlet & Ophelia’s Love Change Them? (Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet) - 10/21/19
Part 12: Claudius Resists Gift-Dynamics & Grace (Labors of Gratitude & Regret in Hamlet) - 10/29/19
Part 13: Does Fortinbras Benefit from Gratitude or Regret (or is he more a cipher for James VI & I)? - 11/05/19
Part 14: Horatio's Gift-Dynamics & Christ-Figures Shifting Ground in Hamlet 1.1 - 11/19/19
Part 15: Hamlet & Horatio's Friendship: Mutual, Reciprocal, Transformative, Free - 11/26/19
Part 16: WHY GIFT-DYNAMICS MATTER FOR HAMLET & THE BIBLE: Labors of Gratitude and Regret in Hamlet - 12/19/19
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MY BOOK PROJECT:
My book project: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html
RETROSPECTIVES:
Retrospectives of popular posts through March 0f 2019: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/03/hamlets-bible-2-year-anniversary.html
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