Polonius’ speech to Laertes from Hamlet is not one of the most recognisable in Shakespeare. It lacks the fame of Portia’ courtroom oratory, or Mercutio’s dying curse. Its has given the English language some often-used phrases, however, such as “neither a borrower nor a lender be” and “to thine own self be true”. A look at the context in which these "Shakespeare quotations" were first uttered casts doubt on their apparently simple wisdom.
Life wisdom
Polonius’ speech in Act 1, Scene iii of Hamlet is made to his son Laertes, just leaving to live in Paris. It contains a lot of rather aphoristic “life advice”, such as “Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,/ Bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee” (essentially “don’t the guy who starts the fight, be the guy who ends it!”), “Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice” (“listen to what people have to say, but don’t support everyone’s cause.”) and “Costly thy habit as they purse can buy/ But no expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy” (“buy good quality clothes, not flashy fashionable ones.”)
Famous phrases
Amidst this advice are phrases which have passed into common usage: “neither a borrower nor a lender be” and “to thine own self be true.” They’ve probably become so widespread because they’re easy to remember, well phrased and express simple ideas which many people agree with. And quoting Shakespeare always has a weight of authority behind it which is far more impressive than simply saying “I wouldn’t take out that loan if I was you.”
Glib and dishonest
Unfortunately, in quoting these phrases people aren’t quoting Shakespeare himself, they’re quoting one of his characters. And Polonius is not exactly an exemplary character. He’s dull, pedantic, wields no real power at court and manages to get himself killed by hiding in the Queen’s bedroom. More to the point, having made this speech full of homely wisdom to Laertes, he is next seen talking to Reynaldo (Act 2, Scene i), a spy he is intending to set on his son. His sincere man-to-man conversation earlier is shown up as a sham, and we see that he neither trusts his son, nor believes that he will take any of the advice.
Even whilst briefing a secret agent, Polonius appears pedantic and incompetent, forgetting the instructions he meant to give at one point:
REYNALDO: Very good, my lord.
POLONIUS: And then, sir, a does this – a does –
what was I about to say? By the mass, I was about to
say something. Where did I leave?
REYNALDO: At “closes in the consequence”, at “friend,
Or so” and “gentleman”.
POLONIUS: At “closes in the consequence” – ay, marry,
Polonius is hardly a character one can admire, or even particularly respect in Hamlet. In this case, the homespun wisdom which people have borrowed from Shakespeare was actually being used by the playwright to mock old fools who ladle out homespun wisdom.
Jem Bloomfield - Jem Bloomfield was educated at the universities of Oxford and Exeter, and is currently working on a PhD on Webster's revenge tragedy "The ...
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