How Is Polonius A Foil To Hamlet

Character foils are important to any story or play as they compare and contrast character traits as the story unfolds. The use of character foils allows the audience to understand a characters way of thought and the actions that they take. Character foils show the moral behaviour and can help the audience see contradictory factors that help advance the plot. Although characters may seem similar, the use of character foils can show their differences. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the use of character foils proves Fortinbras is a stronger political leader over Hamlet, the contrasting view of Laertes as a son in comparison to Hamlet and Horatio being thought of as the better man in contradiction to Hamlet.

Delaying, Hamlet continues to avoid murdering Claudius. After hesitating to kill Claudius, Hamlet flees to his mother’s room. Polonius hides in Gertrude’s room while Hamlet is speaking with his mother, but Hamlet soon catches on and murders Polonius. Shocked, Gertrude confronts Hamlet about the murder, but Hamlet retaliates by asserting, "A bloody deed! almost as bad, good

In addition, Hamlet was a philosopher rather than a man of action, unlike Claudius and Laertes. He himself sees that one of his problems is to "think too precisely on the event." He is intellectual and reflective, preferring to ponder rather than take action.

He waits forever to actually take any action. In the words of John Lennard, he is “a man of words rather than action.” After the ghost tells him what really happened, he keeps quiet and waits. He has to make sure that the ghost was telling the truth. He devised a plan: he presented a play that strongly resembled the story of his father’s murder. After watching his uncle abruptly arise and say, “Give me some light: away!” and rush off, he is convinced without a doubt that Claudius really did kill his father (Meyer 1654). When he finally does do something about it, he accidently kills the wrong person. As he prepares to kill “Claudius”, who is hiding in Gertrude’s room, it does not occur to him that he should check who is there before he acts. He ends up killing Polonius, lord chamberlain to the king. Now Laertes and Opehlia, Polonius’ son and daughter, are now fatherless. Sound familiar? Hamlet ends up putting Laertes and Ophelia in the same position that he himself is in. Laertes is now intent on getting revenge on Hamlet and says, “Let this be so; no trophy, sword, nor hatchment o’er his bones, no noble rite nor formal ostentation – cry to be heard, as ‘twere from heaven to earth, that I must call ‘t in question” (Meyer 1677). All Hamlet wanted was revenge for his father’s murder, but he ends up being the cause of his own death and the death of four others, including the one he loves.

Polonius played a vital role in Hamlet even though he was not one of the main characters. He continued to reinforce the theme of corruption and displayed the social and ethical collapse of Denmark. His deceitful actions show the reader that he is one of dishonesty and chicanery. In the play, Polonius was portrayed as someone who is a deceiver and pretender that betrays people he is supposed to be devoted to; and who only cares about things that will benefit him. These characteristics of Polonius are seen through his interactions with Ophelia, Hamlet, Laertes, Reynaldo and the King.

`Hamlet' is no doubt one of the greatest literary works ever written. William Shakespeare presents in it complexity of human nature and examination of human behavior. After reading this drama one of the main questions we have to ask is ` Why does Hamlet delay?'. Why does he wait so long before taking revenge on Claudius for killing his father? While answering the question about postponement we have to take under consideration few aspects.

In Hamlet, the main character tries to get revenge on his father’s death by plotting the murder of Claudius, but it is his indecisiveness that leads to many problems. He is supported or opposed by characters who are considered foils to him. A foil is when a main character is compared to another character to better reveal the characteristics of the main character, as well as his intentions and motivations. There are many characters who can be considered foils to Hamlet. However, the characters that truly stand as foils to the protagonist are Laertes, Fortinbras, and Claudius. Hamlet and his foils are all put in a similar situation, but it is how they react and deal with their issues that makes them distinct from Hamlet.

A foil is a minor character that helps the audience better understand a major character. A foil may exist as a comparison character, with similarities between the two, as well as differences that bring to light an important contrast between the foil and the main character. A foil may also just be someone for the main character to talk to, so we can know and understand their thoughts and feelings. Foils help us understand the obvious as well as the arcane. In the classic tragedy Hamlet, we see William Shakespeare employ foils to illustrate both examples. They become important literary tools that help the reader rationalize the concurrent theme of the play -

Issues of power are foremost in Polonius' mind. He immediately seeks the King in order to legitimate his accusations concerning Hamlet. By doing this, not only does Polonius gain power over Hamlet, but also with the King himself. Polonius tries to control the way Hamlet is seen around the court so as to rise in stature himself. Through his manipulation of Ophelia, Polonius becomes a character not as much concerned with familial ties as one whose concern rests within the world of court intrigue and position.

In Act 3 Hamlet finally decides that now is the time for action, he must betray both Claudius and Ophelia if he is to get anywhere. The first scene in act 3 includes Hamlet acting berzerk towards Ophelia while Claudius and Polonius watch from the shadows. In this scene the pride of Polonius is what will lead to his demise. Due to Polonius thinking so very highly of himself, he must get involved in the affairs of Hamlet and Ophelia. This ends up draws him into

In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Hamlet, the main character, Hamlet, struggles with procrastination throughout the play. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge said, "No brilliant intellect can be considered valuable if one withdraws from action." It is this tragic flaw of inaction that eventually brings about Hamlet’s downfall. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet is given explicit instructions by the ghost to kill his uncle/step-father Claudius to avenge his father’s murder; yet, he fails to do so. Hamlet’s inaction and hesitation to kill Claudius is justified in his own mind and to the audience. Hamlet’s initial disbelief in the reliability of the

As with many plays, actors in Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, are at liberty to alter the portrayal of their characters. Because of this, the significance and subtleties of various characters can be lost in varying adaptations of the play. This holds true for the character Polonius, who is often incorrectly portrayed as a oblivious and foolish yet caring father. Rather, Shakespeare implicitly and explicitly establishes Polonius as a character in full control of his wits. Polonius’ interaction with other characters throughout the play highlights his cunning, wit, and selfishness.

Polonius' pre-occupation with his courtly duties overshadows his character as the wise old man and marks his role as the fool. As the fool, Polonius provides comic relief, and a "busybody" messenger for the court. His speech, for all its wisdom, "makes him so comic and absurd. All his ludicrous exhibitions of pedantry and expertise, his mouthings of clichés and commonplaces, his observations and definitions--all imprison the mind's potential range in littleness" (Long 137). In addition to his speech being superfluous, Polonius' messages to Hamlet are quite ironic. The arrival of the Players and Gertrude's request to speak with Hamlet have already been relayed to Hamlet before Polonius repeats the messages. This foolish redundancy is comic and even more so is Polonius'

From his soliloquies, it is evident that Hamlet is a deep thinker which is another reason he delays the King's death. With each he delves into serious introspection, which awakens his mind to all sorts of discoveries, each of which causes the reader to see Hamlet become more and more isolated from the other characters. As a student at Wittenberg, his mind has become quick and sharp; some claim him to be a typical renaissance man, skilled in both the arts and the sciences. Such training helps him to pick apart the traps that Polonius and the King have set for him. In this case he quickly realizes

This comment gives us an insight that Hamlet’s tragic flaw is in fact his procrastination to killing Claudius. Although the literal text does not offer a valid reason for his procrastination, the sub-text imposes a compelling argument.