In Defense of Polonius

I think this view has changed over time. Polonius’ advice was my late father’s favourite passage in Shakespeare. I was surprised, at university for a degree in Literature, to hear that it was thought of as a bunch of passé rambling.

And nowadays I agree 100% with my dad - it’s great advice.

As advice, it's fine. The humor comes from the context. He's dumping this mountain of adages on his son, a full-grown man, in lieu of a goodbye.

I don't buy the article author's contention that these are "dad jokes" or that Polonius is self-aware. He may be the best parent in the play (a low bar), but he's still a deliberately comic figure.

The advice might sound sensible in isolation. But immediately after, Polonus hires a spy to report on Laertes conduct in Paris, and literally instructs the spy to slander Laertes in order to trick people into revealing if these slanders are correct. All this from the man who in the previous scene said "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."

Shakespeare quotes should not be considered in isolation, they are always part of a larger context. Taking Polonious advice at face value is like the people taking the "greed is good" or "coffee is for losers" speeches at face value.

Because of the length of the play, the scene with the spy is often cut, since it doesn't directly concern Hamlet and doesn't really lead anywhere (we never hear from the spy again). But without this scene, Polonius advice to Laertes stands alone and is taken in earnest. The scene with the spy shows it is all dishonest bullshit which plays into the larger themes of the play, e.g. Polonius later using his daughter as bait and spying on Hamlet.

To be true to oneself means that one must not lie to others?

I thought leverage was important? Guess I better move to all cash