Scholars on both sides of the question have believed Polonius is based on Lord Burghley.

The second adaptation was broadcast on 15 July 2007 as part of a celebration of Stoppard's 70th birthday ; the production was directed by Peter Kavanagh with Danny Webb as Rosencrantz, Andrew Lincoln as Guildenstern, Desmond Barrit as The Player, John Rowe as Polonius, Abigail Hollick as Ophelia, Liza Sadovy as Gertrude, Simon Treves as Claudius and John Dougall as Hamlet.

In the final scene, Niles, on graduation day at his college, idealistically quotes the words of Polonius: " This above all, to thine own self be true.

Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet.

In his last attempt to spy on Hamlet, Polonius hides himself behind an arras in Gertrude's room.

Israel Gollancz also suggested that Polonius might have been a satire on Burghley.

* In an episode of Gilligan's Island broadcast 3 October 1966, Phil Silvers performed a memorable send-up of Polonius ' " Neither a borrower nor a lender be " speech in the role of a producer who appears on the island and stages a musical version of Hamlet with the castaways.

* Actors who have played Polonius on film and television include Ian Holm, Michael Redgrave, Ian Richardson, Oliver Ford Davies, Bill Murray, and Richard Briers.

Polonius feels a need to send a servant to France to spy on his son's behaviour.

Several Russian authors published works critical on Custine's La Russie en 1839, among them Un mot sur l ' ouvrage de M. de Custine, intitulé: La Russie en 1839 by Xavier Labensky ( Jean Polonius ) and Examen de l ' ouvrage de M. le marquis de Custine intitulé " La Russie en 1839 " ( Paris, 1844 ) by Nicolas Gretch.

Hamlet speaks this on his entry to Act 3 scene 1 ( known as the ' nunnery scene ' because of the Hamlet / Ophelia dialogue after the speech ) which is when Polonius and Claudius put into effect their plan, hatched in Act 2 scene 2, to watch Hamlet with Ophelia to determine whether, as Polonius thinks, his ' madness ' springs from " neglected love ".

" In Act three, she eagerly listens to the report of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on their attempt to cheer him, and supports the King and Polonius ' plan to watch Hamlet from a hidden vantage point as he speaks with Ophelia, with the hope that her presence will heal him.

Image created by User: Polonius based on information from the West Wing episode 2162 Votes, using a public domain image from the Wikimedia Commons as a base.

* Like Laertes, who received the famous list of maxims from his father Polonius, Robert Cecil received a similar list from his father Burghley — a list that E. K. Chambers suggested as Shakespeare's likely source.

G. R. Hibbard argues that the name was originally Polonius, but was changed because Q1 derives from a version of the play to be performed in Oxford and Cambridge, and the original name was too close to that of Robert Polenius, founder of Oxford university.

In most productions of the 20th century, up to about 1980, Polonius was played as a somewhat senile, garrulous man of about seventy-five or so, eliciting a few laughs from the audience by the depiction.

Among the memorable performances ( including some from before Papp had the Delacorte for his Shakespeare ) were George C. Scott's Obie-award winning Richard III in 1958 ; Colleen Dewhurst's Kate, Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra ( opposite George C. Scott's Mark Antony ), and Gertrude ; the Prince Hamlet of Stacy Keach opposite Dewhurst's Gertrude with James Earl Jones ' King Claudius, Barnard Hughes's Polonius and Sam Waterston's Laertes ; Sam Waterston's Hamlet ( opposite the Gertrude of Ruby Dee ) with the Laertes of John Lithgow and Andrea Marcovicci's Ophelia ; the Benedick and Beatrice of Sam Waterston and Kathleen Widdoes in Much Ado About Nothing with Barnard Hughes's Keystone Kops version of Dogberry ; the early work of Meryl Streep as Isabella in Measure for Measure ; Mary Beth Hurt as Randall Duk Kim's daughter in Pericles ; James Earl Jones as King Lear ( 1973 ) with Rosalind Cash and Ellen Holly as his wicked daughters ; Raul Julia as Edmund in Jones ' 1973 King Lear, as Osric to Keach's Hamlet, and as Proteus ( in a musical adaptation of Two Gentlemen of Verona which transferred to a Broadway run ).

Adrian was one of the original members of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company at the Old Vic from 1963, and appeared as Polonius in the opening production of Hamlet, in which Peter O ' Toole played the Prince.

Hamlet, believing it is Claudius hiding behind the arras, stabs wildly through the cloth, killing Polonius.

Polonius echoes the request for help and is heard by Hamlet, who then mistakes the voice for Claudius ' and stabs through the arras and kills him.

In the next act, Gertrude tells Claudius of Polonius ' murder, convinced that Hamlet is truly mad.

Hamlet unknowingly kills Polonius, provoking Ophelia's fit of madness and death and the climax of the play: a duel between Laertes and Hamlet.

When, however, Amleth slew the eavesdropper hidden ( like Polonius in Shakespeare's play ), in his mother's room, and destroyed all trace of the deed, Feng was assured that the young man's madness was feigned.

Also, rather than ascribing Hamlet's sudden madness to Ophelia's rejection ( as thought by Polonius ), she believes the cause to be his father, King Hamlet's death and her quick, subsequent marriage to Claudius: " I doubt it is no other but the main ; His father's death and our o ' erhasty marriage.

Polonius is Claudius's trusted chief counsellor ; Polonius's son, Laertes, is returning to France, and Polonius's daughter, Ophelia, is courted by Hamlet.

Both Polonius and Laertes warn Ophelia that Hamlet is surely not serious about her.

Polonius assumes that the " ecstasy of love " is responsible for Hamlet's " mad " behaviour, and he informs Claudius and Gertrude.

When he realises that he has killed Ophelia's father, he is not remorseful, but calls Polonius " Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool.

Proponents of this view claim that the character of Polonius in Hamlet is a parody of Cecil, an interpretation which a minority of mainstream scholars have agreed with.

Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Generally regarded as wrong in every judgement he makes over the course of the play, Polonius is described by William Hazlitt as a " sincere " father, but also " a busy-body, is accordingly officious, garrulous, and impertinent.

It is important to note that throughout the play, Polonius is characterized as a typical Renaissance " new man ", who pays much attention to appearances and ceremonious behaviour.

In Act 1, Scene 3, Polonius gives advice to his son Laertes, who is leaving for France, in the form of a list of sententious maxims.

Laertes is not the only character Polonius spies upon.

" Polonius " is Latin for " Polish ".

In the first quarto of Hamlet, Polonius is named " Corambis ".

Since Polonius is a parody of a pompous pseudo-intellectual, the name might have been interpreted as a deliberate insult.

Polonius adds a new dimension to the play and is a controlling and menacing character.

Although Hume Cronyn plays Polonius mostly for laughs in the Burton production, Polonius is more sinister than comic in Branagh's version.

Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel? Polonius: By the mass, and ' tis like a camel, indeed. Hamlet: Methinks it is like a weasel.

The King explains to him who the real killer was, and incites Laertes to kill Hamlet and avenge Polonius ' death.