The Psychological Health of Polonius
In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Knight in shining armor of Denmark, several character types exhibit the signs of possible emotional disorders, including Prince Hamlet, Ophelia, and Polonius. With Polonius, William shakespeare seems to define a underhanded, untrustworthy fish of a guy. Upon even more inspection, yet , it seems most likely that Polonius suffered from much more possibly more psychological disorders which travel him to the extremes of manipulating his daughter, sending someone to spy on his son, and becoming enthusiastic about Prince Hamlet and his madness.
While all the scenes with Polonius serve to develop his character, certain moments light up his conceivable psychological express. While discussing with the crazed Hamlet, Polonius mentions “how pregnant at times [Hamlet’s] responses are” (II. ii. 106-107), indicating that though Hamlet appears to be rambling in a single of his fits of madness, Polonius believes particular number of patterns and hidden cues given which will shed light on the actual cause of the prince’s insanity. Schizophrenia could affect people in numerous different ways, one making an individual believe he / she discovers a hidden meaning or pattern which exist. His obsession with breaking down Hamlet’s thoughts and actions trigger him appearing almost weird and almost obsessed because of his hunch, which suggests that Polonius has its own psychological characteristics very similar to schizophrenia. This individuality trait is usually exhibited too many times throughout the enjoy as well. Whilst conversing with Hamlet in the fortress, Polonius admits he is convinced the knight in shining armor “is much gone, significantly gone” (II. ii. 188), yet continues to closely evaluate each and every expression uttered simply by Hamlet, and later decides to hide behind a curtain to spy on Hamlet and his mother. So if he supposed to or certainly not, Shakespeare imparted Polonius with several characteristics and behaviours that, specially in modern times, may well warrant a psychological evaluation.
One other figure attribute of Polonius that can possibly bring about a emotional disorder is his understanding of him self. In several scenes, Polonius displays his inflated ego and delusional understanding of him self. For example , when the player formerly performs the speech regarding Pyrrhus and Priam, Polonius interrupts the performance over a few independent occasions along with his comments about the perform, first worrying of the size, then enhancing the actor or actress on his word choice, exhibiting his high self-importance. One more example takes place when Polonius is asked by Hamlet if perhaps he had ever before performed in theatre prior to. Polonius with confidence responds that he “was accounted a great actor” (III. ii. 96-97) for his performance of Julius Caesar when he was younger. Those two scenes clearly reveal that Polonius is usually an conceited and pompous man who have could possibly experience a delusional perception of himself, which in turn also brands those who suffer by schizophrenia. Additionally , while chatting with Claudius and Gertrude, Polonius claims that he “will discover where the truth is hid” (II. ii. 155-157), once again showing his overinflated ego. During your time on st. kitts certainly is evidence that Polonius offers schizophrenic habits, many of these instances seem a lot more typical of any narcissistic character disorder. Yet , if Polonius simply is narcissistic, instead of schizophrenic, the narcissistic diagnosis fails to account for Polonius’s character flaw: the constant remark and examination of Prince Hamlet’s just about every action and word that plays a far larger part and contributes to his eventual demise.
Whether Shakespeare intended to portray Polonius as somebody who suffers from mild schizophrenia, only a narcissist who will be obsessed with advertising himself each and every possible chance, or simply a scumbag of your man, evidence exists which could elicit an analysis of some kind of emotional disorder. Schizophrenia may seem extreme and far-fetched in some cases, nevertheless ultimately, most of the evidence provided reveals indications of the disorder, or the disorder itself.
In the long run, Shakespeare, either intentionally or perhaps not, embodies Polonius being a self-absorbed persona who warrants little to no esteem. Shakespeare obviously achieves his goal of painting Polonius in a bad light, although perhaps in light of his possible emotional disorders, we ought to not truly feel disgust toward Polonius, but instead accord with him because his psychological health drove him to this sort of extremes.
