Hamlet Themes Essay, Research Paper

Hamlet is supposedly centered on one character; Hamlet himself, but the play is

driven by plots and schemes that are derived from other characters in the play.

In the play Hamlet, the character Polonius causes misconstrued emotions in other

characters, and this is due in large part to his position as a confidant to many

main characters. He is acting as a ?middleman? and manipulates others

characters? feelings to lead up to final conflict. Polonius is a man that

confuses most, but intrigues all. For the beginning of the play he is the

readers guide, and helps to inform the reader of all that is happening within

the lives of the main characters. He was not meant to be a main character, but

any character that is put in the position of an informant instantly becomes a

main character. Polonius is a character in the play for just long enough to give

the reader a good start with what is going on. Polonius is the one character who

communicates and interacts with every other character in the play. He pieces the

play and the characters together to make them more understandable to the reader.

Communication is what Polonius does well, but it is also what he does for his

living. He is dedicated to the King, but at the same time he is dedicated to his

daughter, Ophelia, his son, Laertes, and the Queen, Gertrude. His connections

with these powerful people is a great example of how they are all getting

information from Polonius, and using it to wreak their own havoc. Polonius?

position as the ?middleman? gives him an indescribable amount of power,

which he takes advantage of. He uses what others tell him to supply others with

valuable information, all the way up until his sudden demise. Polonius changes

very little throughout the several Acts for which he is present, but that

doesn?t take away from his importance as a character. He establishes himself

as a liar and as someone that is not to be trusted, constantly going behind the

backs of others. We see an example of this when Polonius was spying on his

daughter and Hamlet, ?You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said; we heard it

all?(Act 3, Sc. 1). He constantly gathers information on others, and uses it

to boost his own standings with Claudius. Throughout Polonius? involvement, he

is portrayed and depicted as someone that uses others, even his own daughter,

but he can be viewed in a different light as well. Polonius was simply doing

what every human being strives for; he wanted to know the whole truth about

everything. He used his knowledge in a negative manner, but he maintained his

composure and did what he needed to do. He had his limits, and it can certainly

be fathomed that he could have done much more damage than he actually did. He

was the confidant to many people, and knew a lot about everyone, but he only

told the king what he really needed to know, he was just doing his duty as

Claudius? partner. Polonius? sense of loyalty to Claudius was maintained up

until the last minutes of his life; things are not adequately explained without

him there. Claudius lost his informant, Ophelia and Laertes lost their father,

and Gertrude lost her confidant. With the demise of Polonius came the demise of

the play. Without that buffer between characters, conflicts began to arise

directly. It can be gathered that Polonius was what kept everyone together, yet

apart at the same time. He was what kept direct conflicts out of the picture,

and now that he was dead, the pinnacle of conflict came into play. There was no

one there to confuse the characters, so there was nothing left to do but

confront each other, hence, the death of Polonius lead to the deaths and demise

of the other characters.