Old Men in the Book of his Brain - thyorisons/#Old_Men Busy-body Polonius will join the other tedious old men occupying Hamlets brain: POLONIUS (2.2.184) Ill board him presently Polonius sees Hamlet reading a book (the book and volume of his brain) and asks him what he is reading. HAMLET (2.2.212) Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams: all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for you yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if, like a crab, you could go backward. POLONIUS [Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method int... old men have grey beards = Hamlets father His beard was grizzled, no? eyes purging thick amber = Polonius. Poland was famous for its amber. For more on the Polonius/Poland motif, see Polonius Well-Ended - thyorisons/#Polonius_Well_Ended An Envious Sliver - thyorisons/#Envious_Sliver a plentiful lack of wit = Claudius With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts, O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power So to seduce! Wit and gifts refers to Bishop Whitgift, the man who instigated the crack-down on recusants which perhaps caused the decline in fortunes of Shakespeares father. Also, Whitgift signed Shakespeares marriage license (when he married an older woman) and later he signed the license for the publication of Shakespeares Venus and Adonis, a poem about a boy seduced by a goddess. Plentiful lack mocks Claudius first speech: defeated joy. weak hams = Hamlet, weakened but still present in his own brain. This is related to: HAMLET (1.5.99) And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee! Hamlets sinews have grown instant old because he has just been possessed by the ghost of an old man - his father. I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down. Hamlet knows he was not being true to himself when he set down these tedious old men in the book and volume of his brain. Polonius also usurped the sovereignty of reasoning of his own daughter. He told her what think: OPHELIA (1.3.108) I do not know, my lord, what I should think. POLONIUS Marry, Ill teach you: think yourself a baby; (Perhaps think yourself a baby was also part of the rebirth motif. Ophelia represented all of Shakespeares plays. Perhaps he was envisioning some kind of rebirth for his dramatic talent. His greatest works were all written about the same time as Hamlet.) Later Polonius handed Ophelia a book to study. It was metaphorically the book full of old men - old men whose corrupt values Polonius wanted to occupy Ophelias mind. Yet both Polonius and Claudius recognized their own corruption in that book (We are oft to blame . . . with devotions visage and pious action we do sugar oer the devil himself). POLONIUS (to Ophelia) (3.1.51) Read on this book; That show of such an exercise may colour Your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this,-- Tis too much proved--that with devotions visage And pious action we do sugar oer The devil himself. CLAUDIUS [Aside] O, tis too true! How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience! Also see The Madness of Hamlet - thyorisons/#Madness
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 16:10:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015