Jonathan O'Neill’s Reviews > Hamlet: Revised Edition > Status Update
Jonathan O'Neill
is 25% done
POLONIUS
'[I know] in part him, but', you may say, 'not well.
But if't be he I mean he's very wild,
Addicted so and so', and there put on him
What forgeries you please. Marry, none so rank
As may dishonour him – take heed of that –
But, sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty
REYNALDO
As gaming, my lord?
[...cont]
— Aug 27, 2026 07:10AM
'[I know] in part him, but', you may say, 'not well.
But if't be he I mean he's very wild,
Addicted so and so', and there put on him
What forgeries you please. Marry, none so rank
As may dishonour him – take heed of that –
But, sir, such wanton, wild and usual slips
As are companions noted and most known
To youth and liberty
REYNALDO
As gaming, my lord?
[...cont]
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Jonathan’s Previous Updates
Jonathan O'Neill
is 26% done
The finale to Prokofiev's 'Hamlet, Op.77', 'Fortinbras' Final March'... Wow! It's sublime, assertive, heroic and cathartic in a sweeping, cleansing way. However, it's also devastating with a sense of mourning and a subtly nagging ominousness beneath the surface. Bravo, Prokofiev! Bravo!
— Aug 27, 2026 07:48PM
Jonathan O'Neill
is 16% done
I feel like every one of Polonius' lines are quotable and want to commit them all to memory! Here's one I could use on my own daughters one day when warning of the affectations of those treacherous young men:
POLONIUS
...
Do you believe [Hamlet's] 'tenders', as you call them?
OPHELIA
I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
POLONIUS
Marry, I will teach you; think yourself a baby
[cont.]
— Aug 24, 2026 12:01AM
POLONIUS
...
Do you believe [Hamlet's] 'tenders', as you call them?
OPHELIA
I do not know, my lord, what I should think.
POLONIUS
Marry, I will teach you; think yourself a baby
[cont.]
Jonathan O'Neill
is 8% done
HAMLET
Ay, madam, [death] is common.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?
HAMLET
'Seems', madam — nay it is, I know not 'seems'.
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, cold mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
[...]
— Aug 21, 2026 07:15AM
Ay, madam, [death] is common.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?
HAMLET
'Seems', madam — nay it is, I know not 'seems'.
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, cold mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
[...]
Ay, or drinking, fencing, swearing,
Quarrelling, drabbing – you may go so far.
REYNALDO
My lord, that would dishonour him.
POLONIUS
Faith, as you may season it in the charge.
You must not put another scandal on him
That he is open to incontinency –
That's not my meaning – but breathe his faults so quaintly
That they may seem the taints of liberty,
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind,
A savageness in unreclaimed blood
Of general assault.
*Polonius is sending Reynaldo to France to keep an eye on his son, Laertes, and is instructing him to spread a few falsehoods thereby, "with windlasses and with assays of bias", gathering information on his son's inclinations. This is performed to great comedic effect by David Bradley in the 'BBC Radio Shakespeare Tragedies' collection!