anyway. (loud) He’s a poor foreigner, coming from who knows what country that is poorer and has more thieves than ours.
POLONIUS
I’ll have him arrested for one reason or another. It’s a disgrace what’s happening in our high society! In fact, Hamlet’s is only the third royal generation. My family, though, has given a wealth of famous counsellors—even Noah must have had an ancestor of Master Polonius watching over his beasts! There have been so many kings of humble origin raised to the top of the table by some mob rebellion! A wave of boors pushed them to the throne hall, and once there they clawed to the throne and clung to it as the tide ebbed back. But we are the neck that guides the royal head in the right direction! Sometimes a king forgets, or doesn’t know, that he is just a king, subject to those subjects in high positions, like I. We, our clan, had an honourable cupbearer at Louis’ Court (counts on his fingers), a great chef at Charlemagne’s kitchens, a most reliable guard at Constantine the Great’s throne, and an impoverished, though brave, sword-bearer in Caesar’s army. Some Polonius most probably sat at Jesus’ table too—the Last Supper wasn’t called that for nothing. People of humble origin show their true colours even after three generations. Prince Hamlet doesn’t face me openly, yet tries to seduce my daughter, encroaching on her virtue....
DAISY
(aside) That’s one way of putting it.
POLONIUS
(shaking off his glorious memories) Have you confiscated the letter?
DAISY
(taking it out from her bosom) Here it is. Poor child, I fully understand her—she hasn’t even had a good look at him! Only once or twice, in passing. She keeps his picture at her bosom, in his mourning clothes which fit him so well, with a loathsome skull in his hand, having on its back the words, “To be or not to be?” What a question!
POLONIUS
Well at her age, girls are diddled quickly and cured slowly!
DAISY
But she’s seen him only once or twice!
POLONIUS
Too much! Or too little—I wish she’d seen him daily, she might have got over it if she had known the real Hamlet. I’m afraid that neither she nor I will be able to say “No” someday.
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