The Hamlet Project

If he love her not,
And be not from his reason fallen thereon,
Let me be no assistant for a state,
But keep a farm and carters.

It is a shame that Polonius does not keep this oath. If, once this theory had been disproved by the nunnery scene, Polonius had stripped off his chain of office and handed it to Claudius, he could have headed straight to buy a farm and carters and would, after the tragedy, be the one still standing. He could have resigned on the spot, as he said he would if he were wrong, and settled himself in with some crops and some livestock.
Polonius, in overalls, tossing hay with a pitchfork. Polonius, with a pail, pouring slop for the pigs. Polonius, his arm around his daughter in her gingham farmer’s daughter dress, surveys his land. Polonius, his head covered in a straw hat to protect him from the sun, speaks to the carters/farmhands and then pats his horse. Polonius, his cheeks rosy from work, hears the news from the capital of all the royal tragedy and shakes his head, glad to be well shod of it.