Act Two Scene One

ACT TWO

As Act Two begins, Polonius is dispatching his aide, Reynaldo, to take some money to Laertes and find out what the young man has been up to in Paris. This establishes that some time has passed since the end of Act One. The scene also gives us yet another illustration of what lies behind the royal counselor’s façade of wisdom and rectitude.

SCENE I. A room in POLONIUS' house.

Enter POLONIUS and REYNALDO

LORD POLONIUS
Give him this money and these notes, Reynaldo.

REYNALDO
I will, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS
You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo,
Before you visit him, to make inquire
Of his behavior.

REYNALDO
My lord, I did intend it.

LORD POLONIUS
Marry, well said; very well said. Look you, sir,
Inquire me first what Danskers are in Paris;
And how, and who, what means, and where they keep,
What company, at what expense; and finding
By this encompassment and drift of question
That they do know my son, come you more nearer
Than your particular demands will touch it:
Take you, as 'twere, some distant knowledge of him;
As thus, 'I know his father and his friends,
And in part him: ' do you mark this, Reynaldo?

REYNALDO
Ay, very well, my lord.

Note the very indirect, some would say heavy-handed, means by which Polonius is instructing Reynaldo to acquire information about Laertes. He is to first find other Danes living in Paris and then just happen to ask if they know the lad, Polonius’ assumption being that they will be more forthcoming if they think it only a casual inquiry asked by a man who only knows him slightly.

LORD POLONIUS
'And in part him; but' you may say 'not well:
But, if't be he I mean, he's very wild;
Addicted so and so:' and there put on him
What forgeries you please; marry, none so rank
As may dishonour him; take heed of that;
But, sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty.

REYNALDO
As gaming, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS
Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing, quarrelling,
Drabbing: you may go so far.

REYNALDO
My lord, that would dishonour him.

LORD POLONIUS
'Faith, no; as you may season it in the charge
You must not put another scandal on him,
That he is open to incontinency;
That's not my meaning: but breathe his faults so quaintly
That they may seem the taints of liberty,
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind,
A savageness in unreclaimed blood,
Of general assault.

REYNALDO
But, my good lord,--

LORD POLONIUS
Wherefore should you do this?

REYNALDO
Ay, my lord,
I would know that.

The specifics of Polonius’ plan suggest the true measure of the man. In order to find out about his son’s activities, he is instructing Reynaldo to paint him as a lad given to very intemperate behaviour, indulging in such activities as drinking, gambling, fighting, and consorting with prostitutes. When Reynaldo objects that accusing him of the latter would bring dishonour to his name, Polonius insists that he is only talking about the sorts of things (‘slight sullies,’ as he calls them in his next speech) that young men do when they have a little freedom. What should be noted here is Polonius’ lack of a readily discernible moral code. Since he dismisses such activities as mere peccadilloes, one is left to wonder what he would then deem to be truly bad behaviour.

LORD POLONIUS
Marry, sir, here's my drift;
And I believe, it is a fetch of wit:
You laying these slight sullies on my son,
As 'twere a thing a little soil'd i' the working, Mark you,
Your party in converse, him you would sound,
Having ever seen in the prenominate crimes
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assured
He closes with you in this consequence;
'Good sir,' or so, or 'friend,' or 'gentleman,'
According to the phrase or the addition
Of man and country.

REYNALDO
Very good, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS
And then, sir, does he this--he does--what was I
about to say? By the mass, I was about to say
something: where did I leave?

Polonius’ long-windedness causes him to lose his train of thought. By now, it should be apparent to the reader that Polonius is a man very fond of the sound of his own voice, hence his garrulousness.

REYNALDO
At 'closes in the consequence,' at 'friend or so,'
and 'gentleman.'

LORD POLONIUS
At 'closes in the consequence,' ay, marry;
He closes thus: 'I know the gentleman;
I saw him yesterday, or t' other day,
Or then, or then; with such, or such; and, as you say,
There was a' gaming; there o'ertook in's rouse;
There falling out at tennis:' or perchance,
'I saw him enter such a house of sale,'
Videlicet, a brothel, or so forth.
See you now;
Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth:
And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With windlasses and with assays of bias,
By indirections find directions out:
So by my former lecture and advice,
Shall you my son. You have me, have you not?

REYNALDO
My lord, I have.

Polonius finally gets around to explaining to Reynaldo the reason behind his machinations. By slandering Laertes thus, he is hoping Reynaldo will get confirmation of this behaviour from one of the people he is talking to. For example, having mentioned that he has heard that Laertes frequents prostitutes, the other fellow may say, “That’s right, I saw him enter a house of prostitution the other night.”

Aside from the concerns raised about Polonius’ character based on this rather unsavory plan, we have to ask ourselves two questions:

For what purpose is he spying on Laertes?

What kind of man spies on his own son?

The simple answer, the one that I think is incorrect, is that he is a father concerned about the trouble his son might be getting into. The fact that Polonius is not in the least bit bothered by any of the smears that he tells Reynaldo to make about Laertes, I think, allows us to reject this explanation. In fact, as the sequence closes out, he tells Reynaldo to “let him ply his music,” in other words, to let his son continue to indulge in the aforementioned conduct. No mention is made of issuing any rebuke in Polonius’ name.

Another logical answer is that Polonius wants to make certain his son is not doing anything to dishonour the family name. The objection to this argument should be obvious, since he has given leave to, indeed insisted that, Reynaldo attribute all kinds of dishonourable conduct to the lad, all of which Polonius sees as the mere “taints of liberty.” One would be hard pressed, I suspect, to imagine what kind of behaviour Polonius would consider to be ‘beyond the pale.’

So if we discount the two most obvious answers, what are we left with? By addressing the second question, “What kind of man spies on his son?” perhaps we can deduce an answer. Clearly, we are dealing with someone apparently without a definable moral code, as reflected in his attitude toward the possible activities of his son; as well, he seems to be a man suspicious and untrusting of others. While a healthy skepticism can be expected in any prudent parent, how many harbour the kinds of base suspicions about their offspring that Polonius does? Indeed, how many would resort to the kind of Byzantine approach he so enthusiastically embraces?

Is it possible (and I always stressed to my students that the study of Hamlet is really more about asking questions than it is about finding final, definitive answers) that Polonius is the type who enjoys spying on others? While this may seem simplistic, if we consider that he already knew Ophelia was spending a great deal of time with Hamlet, as reported to him by someone, could there be some kind of pattern emerging here? Although it may seem a sordid speculation, could it be that Polonius derives some sort of voyeuristic pleasure out of watching others, in other words, he just enjoys it?
In this situation, is he a ‘dirty old man’ seeking a vicarious thrill as he remembers his own “wanton, wild and usual slips/As are companions noted and most known/To youth and liberty”? I will return to this question later in the commentary.

LORD POLONIUS
God be wi' you; fare you well.

REYNALDO
Good my lord!

LORD POLONIUS
Observe his inclination in yourself.

REYNALDO
I shall, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS
And let him ply his music.

REYNALDO
Well, my lord.

LORD POLONIUS
Farewell!

Exit REYNALDO

For this next sequence, in which a clearly distressed Ophelia bursts in to tell a very strange tale about Hamlet, we need to understand the concept of dramatic irony, where the significance of a character’s words or actions is understood by the audience/reader in a way different from other characters in the story. It is essentially a matter of our knowing something that at least some of the other characters in the work of literature do not. In the upcoming part of the scene, we remember that when we last saw Hamlet, he told Marcellus and Horatio that he was going to periodically put on an ‘antic disposition,’ playing the role of a madman.

Enter OPHELIA
How now, Ophelia! what's the matter?

OPHELIA
O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!

LORD POLONIUS
With what, i' the name of God?

OPHELIA
My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle;
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.

This is indeed a strange tale that admits of more than one interpretation. If we take Ophelia’s description at face value, we could very much be justified in believing that this is simply Hamlet enacting his plan. After all, the fact that his clothes are disheveled (unbuttoned jacket and dirty stockings down around his ankles) is a classic representation of the Elizabethan belief that the state of one’s apparel was often a reflection of one’s inner state. In this case, the turmoil of his clothing reflects the turmoil of his mind. If this is the reason, Hamlet is using his relationship with Ophelia to further his plans, as he can surely anticipate that this will be reported to Polonius, who will then report it to the King. As we see in the next line, her father interprets it as madness over unrequited love for her.

However, like so many other aspects of Hamlet,, there is an ambiguity here that reminds us that not all is necessarily at it appears to be in this play (i.e., the disparity between appearances and reality.) I used to ask my students to consider the description given by Ophelia and consider what part of Hamlet’s appearance would be difficult to engineer. Many wondered how he could make himself “[p]ale as his shirt.” I would then ask them when we tend to be pale, and the answers invariably were when we are sick, have received a shock, or are frightened. If we couple the later possibility with the look on Hamlet’s face (“a look so piteous in purport/As if he had been loosed out of hell/To speak of horrors”) and the fact that “his knees [were] knocking each other,” we are at least justified in questioning whether or not this is all an act. Has Hamlet perhaps gone to Ophelia in the hope of some comfort, maybe after having had a nightmare about his revenge mission, or in some other way greatly disturbed over the job that lies before him?


LORD POLONIUS
Mad for thy love?

OPHELIA
My lord, I do not know;
But truly, I do fear it.

LORD POLONIUS
What said he?

OPHELIA
He took me by the wrist and held me hard;
Then goes he to the length of all his arm;
And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow,
He falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so;
At last, a little shaking of mine arm
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being: that done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd,
He seem'd to find his way without his eyes;
For out o' doors he went without their helps,
And, to the last, bended their light on me.

If we look at this further description of Hamlet, he could indeed be playing the role of the jilted lover pantomiming a kind of farewell. The holding of her wrist, the deep sigh, the staring at her face, all are consistent with such an interpretation. On the other hand, what if he went to Ophelia for some comfort from his distress? She apparently offers none to him, perhaps because of her father’s earlier orders to have nothing more to do with him, or perhaps because she is so shocked and disturbed by his demeanour. In that case, perhaps his shaking of the head three times is simply confirmation of what he already deduced from his mother, that all women are frail.


LORD POLONIUS
Come, go with me: I will go seek the king.
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. I am sorry.
What, have you given him any hard words of late?

OPHELIA
No, my good lord, but, as you did command,
I did repel his fetters and denied
His access to me.

LORD POLONIUS
That hath made him mad.
I am sorry that with better heed and judgment
I had not quoted him: I fear'd he did but trifle,
And meant to wreck thee; but, beshrew my jealousy!
By heaven, it is as proper to our age
To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions
As it is common for the younger sort
To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king:
This must be known; which, being kept close, might
move
More grief to hide than hate to utter love.
Exeunt

Whatever the reason for the Prince’s visit, Polonius draws the inference that Ophelia’s rejection of him accounts for his present disordered state, and resolves to tell the King immediately. That he draws this immediate conclusion is typical of someone who has a very high opinion of his astuteness. Yet as he does with the majority of his characters, Shakespeare manages to evoke a measure of sympathy for the King’s counselor as he berates himself for having misjudged Hamlet. This sympathy, however, will not prove sufficient to leaven the overwhelmingly negative impression we have of Polonius, based on his behaviour up to this point, as well as the actions he will soon take.
As readers/audience members, thanks to dramatic irony, the one thing we can be certain about is that Polonius is wrong in the inferences he has drawn about the young Prince. And as we shall see, this incorrect deduction is going to lead to a series of very serious consequences.