Hamlet, Polonius, "Marry," "By the Mass," and the Third Commandment - Series
Polonius wins at cursing the most in a single scene in Hamlet [1], and the forms of cursing he chooses to use convey irony.
Characters in Hamlet swear or curse (taking the name of God or saints or religious things in vain) [2] as many as 21 times [3].
In a single scene, Polonius swears more than any other character in the play does in a single scene:
Twice in the play he swears "by the Mass!" (in 2.1 and 3.2).
Six times he swears "Marry" (twice in 1.3, and four times in 2.1), a reference to St. Mary, virgin mother of Jesus. (“Marry” occurs 12 times in the play.)
Instead of saying "for Christ's sake!", to exclaim "Marry" was like saying, "oh, by the virgin mother of Jesus!"
“Marry” is appropriate: When Polonius gives Ophelia a book to read in 3.1, he tells her:
Read on this book,
That show of such an exercise may color
Your loneliness.—We are oft to blame in this
(’Tis too much proved), that with devotion’s visage
And pious action we do sugar o’er
The devil himself.
Ophelia is lonely for the loss of Hamlet, whose overtures she rejected on orders from her father. Polonius wants to "color" her loneliness by her reading, giving her "devotion's visage / And pious action." Polonius knows that most prayer books and many paintings portrayed the Virgin Mary, reading from Psalms, visited by the Angel Gabriel who told her that she was pregnant with Jesus.
Scholars have noted this connection [4], evident in Shakespeare's time, though for us today the mere reading of a book no longer conveys "devotion" or "pious action."
Polonius does this to "sugar o'er The Devil" of his spying with Claudius.
To have Polonius swear so often by "Marry" makes sense. Polonius (formerly Corambis) was often thought to be a satire of William Ceil, Lord Burghley, chief advisor to Elizabeth [5] . He was strongly anti-Catholic – so there is irony in that Shakespeare makes his other choice for swearing "by the Mass," or in other words, by the Catholic Mass.
This does not mean Shakespeare was secretly a Catholic, including veiled criticism of Cecil in his play. But at least, it may indicate that the playwright satirized an anti-Catholic Cecil as depending heavily on peppering his utterances with Catholic swearing. One does not have to be a Catholic to satirize hypocrisy.
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2026/07/series-index-ten-commandments-in-hamlet.html
NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu
[1] In Tudor England, the First Book of Homilies (1547) had as its seventh homily, “A Sermon Against Swearing and Perjury" [1], which warned against taking God’s name in vain (Second Commandment), abusing holy names and words, and breaking oaths. You can read the entire homily here: https://anglicanheritage.com/homilies/h107/
[2] See also Munro, Lucy. “Sblood!’: Hamlet’s Oaths and the Editing of Shakespeare’s Plays.” Chapter. In Shakespeare Survey 70: Creating Shakespeare, edited by Peter Holland, 123–34. Shakespeare Survey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017.
[3] This may vary depending on which edition of the play is used:
1.3: Marry - Polonius to Ophelia (twice)
1.4: Marry - Hamlet to Horatio
1.5: By St. Patrick - Hamlet to Horatio
2.1: By the mass - Polonius to Reynaldo
2.1: Marry - Polonius to Reynaldo (four times)
2.2: God’s bodkins - Hamlet to Polonius
2.2: S’blood - Hamlet to R&G
2.2: ‘Swounds - Hamlet to himself
3.2: Marry - Hamlet to Ophelia
3.2: Marry - Hamlet to Claudius
3.2: S’blood - Hamlet to R&G
3.2: By the mass - Polonius to Hamlet
4.5: By Gis (Jesus) and by Saint Charity - Ophelia to Gertrude and Claudius
5.1: Marry - Second Clown to First
5.1: Marry - First Clown to Second
5.1: Marry - Hamlet to First Clown
5.1: ‘Swounds - Hamlet to Laertes in Ophelia’s grave
[4] See Lyons, Goodland, and Espinoza:
Bridget Gellert Lyons, "The Iconography of Ophelia," page 61: "The woman with a book was reminiscent of countless representations of the Virgin, who was most commonly shown reading when the Angel of the Annunciation came to visit her." ELH , Spring, 1977, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 60-74 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2872526
Katharine Goodland, Female Mourning and Tragedy in Medieval and Renaissance English Drama, Routledge, 2006: https://www.routledge.com/Female-Mourning-and-Tragedy-in-Medieval-and-Renaissance-English-Drama-From/Goodland/p/book/9781138275638
Ruben Espinoza, Masculinity and Marian Efficacy in Shakespeare's England. Routledge, 2011. https://www.routledge.com/Masculinity-and-Marian-Efficacy-in-Shakespeares-England/Espinosa/p/book/9781138268111
[5] In Shakespeare's England, William Cecil was the chief advisor to Elizabeth I and died a few years before she did. He oversaw spying on Catholics and having them executed for treason, so his anti-Catholic views were clear. Because Polonius is the chief advisor to Claudius, the parallel is also clear. John Dover Wilson and E.K. Chambers are among the major Shakespeare scholars who believe William Cecil was a major influence on the creation of the character of Polonius, previously named “Corambis” in the First Quarto, a word which is thought to have connections to the Cecil family motto.
IMAGES:
Upper left: “MARRY.” Giovanni Bellini: Madonna and Child, oil painting by the workshop of Giovanni Bellini, c. 1500; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Public domain.
Lower right: “BY THE MASS.” The Mass of Saint Giles, circa 1500. National Gallery, London. Public domain.