Polonius Character Analysis

A councilor, or advisor, to Claudius, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius is a verbose, faltering old man whose servile devotion to Claudius renders him slimy, untrustworthy, and pathetic in the eyes of Hamlet. Polonius is determined to do whatever it takes to stay in the good graces of the king and queen, and invents many different ways of spying on Hamlet in an attempt to win the monarchs’ continued favor. Petty, meddling, and hypocritical, Polonius meets his end when, hiding behind a tapestry in Gertrude’s chambers in order to listen in on a conversation between the queen and Hamlet, he lets out a noise—and Hamlet stabs his sword through the tapestry, not knowing who is behind it but furious at being spied upon by a “rat.” While Hamlet is a character crippled by inaction, Polonius is a character whose constant scheming and devising—in other words, his inability to stop taking new actions—is what ultimately kills him. Polonius’s arc also ties in with the plays’ theme of appearance versus reality—with all of his two-faced plotting and fawning deference in pursuit of political strength and favor, it’s impossible to tell who Polonius truly is or what he truly wants.