What happens to polonius?

Answer 1

Polonius dies in the play. Hamlet kills him while he is in Gertrude's room. Polonius was spying on Hamlet. Hamlet thought that there was a mouse behind the curtain so he swung his sword and killed polonius while he was behind the curtain.

Answer 2

Polonius is the chief counsellor to the King of Denmark and father to Ophelia and Laerates.He is killed by Prince Hamlet who thinks it is Claudius while Polonius was hiding behind curtain to listen to Ophelia & Hamlet .

Answer 3

He is Lord Chamberlain. This means he oversees the royal household and is an important advisor to the king. In reality, this is a purely English title, and it's never actually used in the play.

Answer 4

Polonius is characterized as being long-winded and sententious, inclining to complicated and pointless wordplay and statements of the obvious. "Your noble son is mad. Mad call I it, for to define true madness, what is it to be nothing else but mad?" he says. Thank you Captain Obvious. Gertrude, whose own mode of expression is extremely terse and pithy, hates this drivelling. "More matter, with less art." Gertrude knows how to put things succinctly.

We also see this blathering on in Polonius's interminable advice to Laertes. (Many people forget that "neither a borrower nor a lender be" and "this above all, to thy own self be true" fall from the lips of this tedious bore) He is also a hypocrite, as we see in his sleazy dealings with the spy Reynaldo. This scene also shows us Polonius's deviousness as a spymaster while at the same time once again showing him being over-wordy and pompous to the extent that he forgets what he is saying.

Polonius is a man of the idee fixe. Instantly concluding after Ophelia tells him of Hamlet's bizarre behaviour that he is in love with Ophelia and that this is the cause of the behaviour, he refuses to abandon this idea, even after witnessing the harrowing nunnery scene. He has one plan of action--get Hamlet talking to someone he loves and listen in. (Admittedly the King has the same idea, which is why he sends for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern)

He lavishes love upon his son but treats his daughter with contempt, insulting her when she tries to argue with her. "You are a green girl, unsifted in such matters." His overbearing treatment of her strips her of the independent judgment she needs to be able to survive without him. He is, however kind to her in his way: his line after the nunnery scene "You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said" is probably to spare her the pain of reliving the scene.

Claudius treats Polonius with great respect, as a trusted advisor and invaluable assistant. He thinks of him "as a man faithful and honourable." In his dealings with Hamlet, it becomes clear that Hamlet can easily buffalo him and leave him bewildered. Hamlet is utterly contemptuous of him, calling him a "tedious old fool", a "baby . . . not yet out of his swaddling-clouts" and a "foolish prating knave". There's a lot of truth in that, though the expression is very harsh, as harsh as the penalty Polonius pays for being a spy once too often.

Answer 5

Polonius was King Claudius's chief advisor, and also happened to be the father of Hamlet's girlfriend Ophelia.

Answer 6

Hamlet kills Polonius by accident.