My lord, do as you please, But if you hold it fit, after the play Let his Queen mother all alone entreat him To show his grief.

September 28, 2015erainbowd

I never noticed before, but this is a direct counter-proposal to Claudius. Claudius has said, “England. He’s going to England, that’s it.”
Polonius very diplomatically, doesn’t agree.

What I’d like to understand is why.
Why doesn’t Polonius just agree with The King?
That would be the soundest political strategy, you’d think.
Could it be that Polonius somehow understands what “sending him to England” means euphemistically? Like, is it an accepted code between them – a way to say “send him to sleep with the fishes”
If so, this idea about the queen is a last ditch effort to save Hamlet’s life.
It does seem somewhat more likely that this is just a last ditch effort to prove his own hypothesis that Hamlet is mad because of Ophelia. And it is sort of sweet that Polonius thinks Hamlet will tell his mommy what he wouldn’t say to his girlfriend.