Essay from the year 1993 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, University of Reading, language: English, abstract: The role of Polonius is a comparatively short one, since he is killed in the third act and thus does not appear in the last two acts. And although his death exerts a decisive influence on the further ...

Essay from the year 1993 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, University of Reading, language: English, abstract: The role of Polonius is a comparatively short one, since he is killed in the third act and thus does not appear in the last two acts. And although his death exerts a decisive influence on the further plot of the play, the consequences of his death are not really part of his role, they rather relate to and depend on Ophelia´s and Laertes´s reactions to his being killed. That might explain why many critical studies of Hamlet seem to neglect Polonius or at least are far from giving a full portray of this character. However, it is remarkable that Polonius appears in all the scenes of the second and the third acts and also in the scenes 2 and 3 of the first act. And the fact that his entrances are so frequent indicates a certain importance. So what can be said about this character?