t, as this world goes, is to be oneman picked out of ten thousand (II. ii. 194-195), when Polonius is one of the plays mostdishonest characters. Polonius also ingratiates Hamlet later in Act II. sc. ii by agreeing withHamlets comment to the first player, The mobled queen?.Polonius third mask is the one he shows to the King and Queen. He decides to tellGertrude and Claudius that he has discovered the reason for Hamlet's odd behavior, which is inhis opinion caused by Hamlet's love for Ophelia. The fact that this kind of love relationshipshould make Polonius extremely proud because of Hamlet's princely status, does not affectPolonius because he is too overcome with bliss over the fact that he has solved the mystery that isso important to the King and Queen and everyone is trying to solve. This is evident in hislanguage full of mannerisms and vanity."My liege, and madam, to expostulate what majesty should be, what duty is,why day is day, night night, and time is time were nothing but to waste night, dayand time. Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs andoutward flourishes, I will be brief. Your noble son is mad (Hamlet II. ii. 94-99,Shakespeare)This speech is a wonderful relief from the tension and tragic seriousness. Here it is evident thatPolonius is the clown of the play. His use of parallelisms, metaphors, and play on words are alldelivered in the supreme confidence in his own ability. Most amusing is that Polonius is his owncritic, as when, after a bombastic sentence about night, day, and time, he concludes, "brevity is thesoul of wit." (II. ii. 97) Also, after indulging in another such exercise involving the words true andpity, he exclaims, "A foolish figure!" (II. ii. 106). Polonius tries to put on a show of his wit bydelivering a tirade addressing what he considers philosophical questions such as those about thenature of night, time, day, and duty. However, this is all obvious and not worth sp...
