Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews December 9, 2023 December 2, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Polonius is a proud and concerned father. In his first line he tells us he hesitates to let his son Laertes go abroad, and he draws out his last meeting with Laertes because he’s reluctant to see him go. In the same scene, Polonius advises his daughter Ophelia to avoid Hamlet because he’s worried about her. The secure and happy family unit of Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia provides a stark contrast with the dysfunctional unit formed by Claudius, Gertrude, and Hamlet. The happiness of Polonius’s family is reflected in his children’s reaction to his murder. Laertes passionately pursues revenge, and Ophelia feels so struck with grief that she goes mad. At the same time, Polonius reveals himself to be a far from perfect father. He sends Reynaldo to spy on his son, and he uses his daughter as bait to trick Hamlet. Polonius’s actions suggest that in Hamlet, even relationships that seem loving are ambiguous, a fact which contributes to the play’s atmosphere of doubt and uncertainty.
Polonius also provides Hamlet with its main source of comic relief. As a comic character, he consistently shows himself less wise than he thinks. For instance, in Act Two he cleverly announces that “brevity is the soul of wit” (II.ii.), but he does so in the middle of a tediously long speech. The fact that Polonius gets himself so wrong contributes to one of Hamlet’s central themes: the challenge of self-certainty. Polonius’s amusing lack of self-awareness serves as a comic foil to Hamlet’s existential struggle with self-knowledge. In this sense Polonius offers an alternative and far less extreme perspective on the impossibility of perfectly knowing oneself. This difference between Polonius and Hamlet results in a powerful example of irony in Act Three, when Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius, thinking it’s Claudius. Whereas Polonius’s lack of self-awareness is ultimately harmless, Hamlet’s lack of self-certainty drives him to his first act of violence, which completely and tragically misfires.
Take the Analysis of Major Characters Quick Quiz
Please wait while we process your payment