The role of Polonius in 'Hamlet': a man of judgement disturbed

Essay from the year 1993 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, University of Reading, language: English, abstract: The role of Polonius is a comparatively short one, since he is killed in the third act and thus does not appear in the last two acts. And although his death exerts a decisive influence on the further plot of the play, the consequences of his death are not really part of his role, they rather relate to and depend on Ophelia´s and Laertes´s reactions to his being killed. That might explain why many critical studies of Hamlet seem to neglect Polonius or at least are far from giving a full portray of this character. However, it is remarkable that Polonius appears in all the scenes of the second and the third acts and also in the scenes 2 and 3 of the first act. And the fact that his entrances are so frequent indicates a certain importance. So what can be said about this character?

Jens Saathoff schloss 2001 seine Promotion in den Fachbereichen Germanistik und Anglistik ab mit der Arbeit "Motive krisenhafter Subjektivität", einer vergleichenden Studie zu deutscher und englischer Schauerliteratur. Seit 1999 unterrichtet er die Fächer Englisch und Deutsch. Er lebt in Krefeld und arbeitet als Studiendirektor an einem Berufskolleg.