Polonius is Claudius’ right-hand man. He is the Lord Chamberlain of the Danish court, so he is in charge of supervising all the household departments, advising and communicating with the King and his kingdom. He is the father of Laertes and Ophelia, and though he shows good intentions to take care of them, it does not always translate well. He seems to be overprotective of his family, and the issues of Claudius (whose issues are, in turn, issues of Denmark), though does whatever he can for the greater good. However, there is definitely more to Polonius than meets the eye. He does a lot of things in secret and as such demonstrates significant distrust in his children. This leads to him jumping to a lot of incorrect conclusions. He also is deceptive in his actions toward Hamlet, such as when he spied on Hamlet and Gertrude’s conversation for Claudius’ benefit. Though, for the duration of the play he can never quite figure out what Hamlet is up to. Meanwhile, Polonius camouflages his somewhat manipulative actions through long and comical rants, which redirects audiences to believe that he is just a man motivated by his care for his children and his country.
