In ACT II Scene 1 of Hamlet Polonius is instructing Reynaldo to go to France and spread rumors and lies about his son Laertes. Why? This does not make any sense.
Reynaldo wonders the same thing:
Polonius pretty much answers that he hopes the person to whom Reynaldo is speaking will, on hearing the lie, pipe up with some truth about Laertes’s dirty deeds. Polonius seems pretty sure that his son is doing dishonorable things in Paris, and hopes that Reynaldo, by starting with some false gossip, will get some true gossip, and spread it along to Polonius.
It took me a bit to figure it out too.
As I read it (or heard it), Polonius is trying to advise Reynaldo on the best ways to draw out an honest answer about Laertes’ behavior in France. His reasoning seems to be that if Reynaldo hints that he already knows something questionable about Laertes, whoever he is speaking to is more likely to share whatever they know in the same vein, however reluctant they might otherwise have been. It’s basically a way for Reynaldo to grease the wheels of the conversation, so to speak.
Of course, Polonius’ plan would backfire abominably, as it would end in giving Laertes a bad reputation whether he had one in the first place or not… but perhaps Polonius has reason to believe that he already has one.
Then again, perhaps Polonius is a “foolish, prating knave” after all, and really didn’t have a clue what he was doing. shrug
That should be “And thus do we of wisdom…”
The irony being that you can screw up the grammar in Shakespeare and many people (including me, I must admit) wouldn’t notice.
Ahh, that seems to make sense. I only wish that it was more explicitly stated in the text. I still find Shakespeare an absolute pleasure to read.
When I am grasping it, of course.
One might wonder why Shakespeare put this scene into the play. It has no relevance to the rest of the play - who cares what Laertes is doing off stage. The only possible use of the scene is to allow Kenneth Branagh to wedge in a Gerard Depardieu cameo somewhere. If only Shakespeare had hired a better editor…