Pondering Polonius, again

JSTOR Daily recently published a piece called “In Defense of Polonius,” which is a little misleading in its title and subtitle: “Shakespeare’s tedious old fool was also a dad just doing his best” (15 June, 2022). [1] The article admits that in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius is a poor father figure, but argues that the role is not only a good one, but an essential one to the play. I agree on that point.

The article is by Jeffrey Wilson, also the author of an article I shared a few days ago which explored how today, Claudius would probably be considered an alcoholic. [2]

In this 15 June piece, Wilson notes that Polonius apologizes twice, perhaps more convincingly the second time. And yet he softens the effect of the second apology by putting his own mistake in a larger context of mistakes often made by the young:

“I am sorry that with better heed and judgment
I had not quoted him. I fear'd he did but trifle
And meant to wrack 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.” (2.1)

This is like a child apologizing, and then saying, “But other kids have stuff they should say sorry for too! I’m not the only one!”

And note that while he apologizes to Ophelia, Polonius never seeks to apologize to Hamlet for misjudging him. He may feel sorry for a moment, but there’s no effort to set things right with Hamlet. Even Claudius at prayer knows that feeling sorry for wrongdoing is not enough, and that one must make reparations if one wishes to receive heaven’s forgiveness. (3.3)

This got me thinking more about Polonius: Many claim (as I've noted before) that the character is based on William Cecil, which is probably true.[3] Hamlet compares Polonius to Jephthah, who made an unwise oath that cost his daughter her life. Cecil had designed the Bond of Association, an oath by which English members of court and gentlemen were expected to swear that if Elizabeth were assassinated, they would seek revenge.

But Cecil died in August of 1598. The play was not published until at least until 1603 (in the so-called “bad quarto”), with a second quarto appearing in 1605. If the play strives to catch the conscience of kings and their ministers, it was too late for Cecil, though his son Robert was still in an influential position in the court of the new King James.

I have written before about how many of the features of the biblical Jephthah tale are echoed in the play’s details about Fortinbras, who many see as a parallel for James.[4] Since Cecil was already dead, was the Jephthah remark in fact aimed more at the new king, or at least as much at James, as at the legacy of William Cecil?

In other words, perhaps the Jephthah reference, which is explicitly about Polonius (and therefore William Cecil), is at least as much about Fortinbras (and therefore James)?

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NOTES:
Images, left: Richard Katz as Polonius in Hamlet, 2018, Shakespeare’s Globe, dir. Michelle Terry. Fair use, via The Stage.uk (review).

Center: Oliver Ford Davies as Polonius in Hamlet, 2009, dir. Gregory Doran. Fair use, via BBC.

Right: Grantham Coleman as Hamlet; Patrick Kerr as Polonius, dir. Barry Edelstein, The Old Globe Theater, San Diego, CA, 2017. Photo by Jim Cox, via theoldglobe.org. Fair use.

[1] JSTOR Daily / “In Defense of Polonius,”
https://daily.jstor.org/in-defense-of-polonius/

[2] My blog post response to Jeffrey Wilson’s piece about Claudius as (what many today would call) an alcoholic:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/07/alcoholic-claudius-jeffrey-wilson.html

“Sigma Alpha Elsinore: The Culture of Drunkenness in Shakespeare’s Hamlet”
Open access at
https://wilson.fas.harvard.edu/files/jeffreywilson/files/jeffrey_r._wilson_sigma_alpha_elsinore_-_the_culture_of_drunkenness_in_shakespeares_hamlet_2022.pdf

[3] Polonius based on William Cecil:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2020/12/william-cecil-top-among-12-polonius.html

[4] Regarding the fact that many of the features of the biblical Jephthah tale are echoed in the play’s details about Fortinbras, who many see as a parallel for James:
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2021/02/fortinbras-jephthah-james-stealthy.html


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Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
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Thanks for reading!
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My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.

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