ever since a friend watched stratford festival 2022 (i think thatās the one?) hamlet with me and said āautistic poloniusā iāve been haunted by how maybe if you do play polonius completely straight (not heterosexually i mean like. straightforward) itās actually kind of tragic. because then the guy is genuinely trying his best and failing so hard on every account. i kept on feeling insane about him putting his stupid schemes over his daughterās well being while watching but if he genuinely thinks that the schemes are reasonable and likeā¦make sense to do. dear God. he was literally trying his best for his family for real. awful! i am so sad. it also i guess makes me feel even More about ophelia and laertes mourning their father. Like of course any kid can care about a parent who sucks but I think it hits harder if itās a parent whose suckage is likeā¦not entirely intentional. When itās like āyeah you shouldnāt have been doing that anyways but horrifying to realize your heart was in the right place.ā
the actor of that prod also had a moment where he pretends to go catatonic for a bit / lose his place which implies old man dementia which genuinely does make me wonder if before oldmanification polonius was actually fairly competent but the decades are eating his brain and maybe laertes and ophelia are experiencing likeā¦a more controlling/overly wordy version of their dad that has not always existed. like maybe he was always a bit wordy/on edge but his age (and the potentially implied death of their mother?) changed him. sometimes when ur parent gets old they change. yāknow. which is also um so sad.
