Polonius' Observations on Hamlet's Madness
The obedient Ophelia has followed her father's injunctions and repelled Hamlets letters and denied him access to her. Polonius is certain that these rebuffs have driven Hamlet mad. His only action is to inform the king and queen, and to let them decide what the next move will be. In Polonius lengthy discussion with the king and queen he explain the situation:
Polonius: Your noble son is mad.
Mad call I it; for, to define true madness,
What is't but to be nothing else but mad?
One of the most analyzed plays in existence today is the tragedy Hamlet, with its recurring question: "Is Hamlet's 'antic disposition' feigned or real?" This question can only be answered by observing the thoughts of the main characters in relation to the cause of Hamlet's real or feigned madness. In the tragedy Hamlet, each of the main characters explains Hamlets madness in their own unique way. To discover the cause behind the madness of Hamlet, each character used their own ambitions, emotions and interpretations of past events. Initially one of the most accepted causes for Hamlets instability is that of denied love, conjured by the self fulfilling Polonius.
In the very first scene of the second act, Ophelia rushes to tell her father, Polonius, disturbing news:
Ophelia: My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbrac'd,
No hat upon his head, his stockings foul'd,
Ungart'red, and down-gyved to his ankle;
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.
Polonius: Mad for thy love?
Ophelia: My lord, I do not know, But truly I do fear it.
(Act II scene I)
It is interesting to note that Ophelia does not tell her father that Hamlet is mad because of Ophelia denied love, but that Polonius automatically assumes this.
Polonius: 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.
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.
The obedient Ophelia has followed her father's injunctions and repelled Hamlets letters and denied him access to her. Polonius is certain that these rebuffs have driven Hamlet mad. His only action is to inform the king and queen, and to let them decide what the next move will be. In Polonius lengthy discussion with the king and queen he explain the situation:
Polonius: Your noble son is mad.
Mad call I it; for, to define true madness,
What is't but to be nothing else but mad?
...
Polonius: 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 prescripts gave her,
That she should lock herself from his resort,
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens.
Which done, 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, I
note the madness wherein now he raves,
And all we mourn for.
King. Do you think 'tis this?
Queen. it may be, very like
At this point, it seems that Polonius has convinces both the King and the Queen that the true reason of hamlets madness is in fact Ophelia denial to Hamlet's affections. Even though we as the reader know that Polonius is not completely right, nor completely wrong, we develop a very clear understanding of the type of character that Polonius is.
From what Polonius says, we can tell that he is a man who highly regards his honor, his states and his reputation, and he is willing to do anything to maintain that, even if it includes spying on his own son. The play also shows that he can be insensitive to his own family members, if it can help advance his own image, as can be seen when the "looses" is daughter upon Hamlet, not thinking of how she will feel about the meeting. He is also very loyal to the king:
Polonius: Assure you, m y good liege,
I hold my duty as I hold my soul,
Both to my god as to my gracious king
Polonius is the complacent wiseacre, infatuated in opinion, precipitated in action, and usually wrong. He is not wholly or obviously a fool, nor externally ridiculous at all, as can be testified by his high rank in the king's court. He is also a man who does not like to be proven wrong, and in this instant about his theory of Hamlet's madness, as he continues to insist that it is denied love that causes Hamlet to go mad. Even after the nunnery scene, Polonius still believes in his theory, even though it has just been proven wrong:
King: Love? his affections do not that way tend;
Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little,
Was not like madness. There's something in his soul
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood;
Polonius: It shall do well. But yet do I believe
The origin and commencement of his grief
Sprung from neglected love.-
Polonius is a seemingly foolish old man, persistent in his idea that it is denial to Ophelia's love that drives Hamlet to madness. His noisiness and instance in being correct, in the end, unfortunately, or fortunately to those who dislike him, costs him his life and further complicates the tragedy Hamlet.
Hamlet's observed madness was the source of much deliberation by many of the characters. Each character had his own unique insight to this madness and believed that each had found the true cause for madness. Polonius believed that it was denied love. Whether Hamlet was mad or not is not in question in this writing, but what the characters though is. Did people believe that he was crazy? Polonius must have believed this when he said, "Your noble son is mad." Does this mean that people thought he was mad? What else could it mean?
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