Jan 31, 2014

Polonius AKA Double Agent?

So I had a pretty interesting thought while we were watching the over dramatized movie version of Hamlet (who looks way too old to be playing Hammy, or maybe hes the perfect age, no idea at this time) with the sub that one day... Polonius is King Claudius's right hand man, right? And King Traitor-Face Claudius seems to kind of hate (or maybe envy or maybe even care for) Hamlet right? So, what if Polonius says all of those mean things to Ophelia and makes her break up with Hammy because Claudius told him to? Claudius could be trying to weaken Hamlet or maybe anger him? Like he might be afraid that Hammy is going to come after the throne so he wants to take away what he loves most. Or he might even be trying to protect Hamlet for some convoluted, unseen reason. Interestingly, there is no evidence of how Polonius treats Ophelia in a normal, non slut shaming situation. Really we never have the chance to see the two interact before he calls her a dirty, shameful, nearly pregnant whore. So maybe that was completely out of character (although his other actions make it seem like it was not too far out of character) and that is one of the reasons why Ophelia was so phased and affected by his outrageous speech (or maybe just because her father called her a whore and banned her from talking to her lover). Another interesting thing in this weird, horrid situation is that when Ophelia tells her father about Hamlet's crazed look and arm grabbing, he immediately is like 'oh gosh well he must love you and in that case we must go and tell the king right now at this moment without further delay'. This shows that his number one priority is the king and letting the king in on everything that is going on with Hamlet, supporting the double agent idea, and also it shows how he instantly changed his mind and said that they did love each other. If your belief can be changed that quickly then it makes it seem like it was kind of wishy washy in the first place. Polonius does not seem like the kind of man that would quickly change his own beliefs and opinions (he seems more like the stubborn, conservative, no change is good change kind of guy really), so this quick change seems pretty fishy to me. Really, I just do not like Polonius (in fact I really despise him, almost as much as I hated Torvald) and I may just be trying to find an excuse to call him a snivelly little liar, or maybe this idea is actually pretty solid. It seems that only time will tell..................

1 comment:

  1. This is an interesting idea. Personally, I find Polonius's character to be wholly duplicitous. Since he is Claudius's right-hand man, then it would be natural for him to act as a traitor would, right? I wonder if Polonius is so close to Claudius out of *duty*, or because he's been promised something. I don't think Polonius would have been this close to the former King Hamlet, and he doesn't seem to like the prince Hamlet, either. What's Polonius's motivation? I also question if Polonius knows anything about King Hamlet's death. He could have been in on it with Claudius, who promised him a reward later? Interesting. Yes, only time will tell...

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