The Hamlet Project

Ye? I thought ye was like y’all – a sort of collective you – the vosotros or ustedes form of you. . . as in “God rest ye merry gentleman” or “Ye olde shoppe” – that is, the shop for ALL of you.
But – Polonius is pretty clearly just talking to Reynaldo here – which suddenly makes me wonder if this is an attempt to connect with Reynaldo. I have seen many a Northerner attempt a “Y’all” in the most clumsy fashion, not understanding the construction at all, just throwing in “y’all” as a signal for Southern-ness. I would like to give you an example of that here – but it is so outside of my own logic, I actually can’t imagine it at the moment. It’s like singing out of tune on purpose. It’s really hard to do. Suffice it to say that “y’all” just signals “South” and perhaps “Ye” for Polonius just signals “common people”?
This is all assuming that I haven’t misunderstood “ye” myself. . . which, given the years between when this was written and now, is very very possible.