Why is polonius so eager to tell Claudius and Gertrude that hamlet is in love with his daughter?

Answer 1

Polonius never explicitly states what he feels about a marriage between Hamlet and Ophelia. In the play, Polonius urges Ophelia to stop interacting with Hamlet because he believes that Hamlet's duty to the royal family would not allow him to marry Ophelia despite what the young couple feels for each other. Basically, he doesn't believe a marriage between the two is even possible, so he's not "eager" for her to marry Hamlet.

Answer 2

Yes. Ophelia first reveals that fact when she says to her father, Polonius, the following line:

~

And hath given countenance to his speech,

My Lord, with almost all the holy vows of Heaven.

~

Holy vows = marriage vows. She is saying that she and Hamlet are "almost" at the point of marriage vows, or in other words, they're engaged. Polonius is so wrapped up in lecturing Ophelia that he misses what she means.

Their engagement is further confirmed in the Nunnery Scene (Act 3 scene 1) when Hamlet speaks of marriage and dowry. Then, Ophelia herself alludes to it again in one of her "mad" songs, when she sings the line, "you promised me to wed." A promise to wed is an engagement, of course.

Answer 3

He doesn't do so incessantly. He does it in Act 1 scene 3. He thinks Hamlet is just trying to get into Ophelia's pants and that she should give him the push. After Hamlet starts acting crazy he changes his mind about this but it is already too late. When Hamlet and Ophelia do meet again, they are a little cautious with each other, not helped by the fact that they know they are being spied on.

Answer 4

Like many people, Polonius is a proud man who doesn't like to admit that he is wrong. He jumps to the conclusion that Hamlet is mad for Ophelia's love, and then, having told the king that this is what is going on, and that the king may "take this [his head] from this [his neck] if this be otherwise", the king says "Love? His affections do not that way tend." Polonius thinks that Claudius is calling him a fool for thinking that love was Hamlet's problem (which he totally is), and like most fools, his reaction is to stubbornly stick with his theory no matter how much evidence is against it.

Had he lived, Polonius would probably have founded the "Hamlet was mad because of love" conspiracy theory.