Polonius
Play
Summary
Lord Chamberlain to King Claudius, Polonius is an elderly, verbose, and self-important courtier who fancies himself a master of statecraft and human nature. As father of Ophelia and Laertes he is genuinely caring but recklessly uses both children as instruments of court intrigue; his habit of spying from behind the arras leads directly to his death at Hamlet's sword and triggers the play's catastrophic final sequence.
Notable Quotations
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be; / For loan oft loses both itself and friend." *(1.3)*
"This above all: to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man." *(1.3)*
"Brevity is the soul of wit." *(2.2)*
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." *(2.2)*