Words, Words, Words

POLONIUS What do you read, my lord?
HAMLET Words, Words, Words.
ham_pol.jpg

Hamlet is reading from a book as he walks, and Polonius attempts to converse with him,

but Hamlet, apparently absent-minded, focuses on the powerful magic of words...

Enter Hamlet. Exeunt King and Queen:
The King agrees to Polonius' plan for spying on Hamlet, but just then Hamlet himself comes wandering into the room,
reading a book. Polonius is eager to examine Hamlet for himself, and he shoos away the King and Queen, so that he can
"board" Hamlet. He starts right in, saying "Do you know me, my lord?" as though Hamlet is so far gone that he can't
recognize Polonius. Hamlet replies, "Excellent well; you are a fishmonger" (2.2.174). And so goes the rest of the encounter,
with Polonius asking more dumb questions and Hamlet replying with insults which Polonius doesn't understand because he
thinks they only show just how crazy the prince is. In the course of the conversation Hamlet mocks Polonius' attitude
towards Ophelia, telling him that "conception is a blessing: but not as your daughter may conceive" (2.2.184-185). And
Hamlet also mocks Polonius' appearance and lack of self-knowledge by pretending to read a passage from his book that
describes old men as having wrinkled faces and a "plentiful lack of wit"; of course, he is really describing Polonius. Polonius
sort of gets the idea that something is going on, but all he can figure out is that "Though this be madness, yet there is
method in't" (2.2.205-206).- http://www.clicknotes.com/hamlet/H22.html#192

Words can be magical, powerful, meaningful, healing . Hamlet used them to get Polonius

confused and misled. But since then, Shakespeare's quotation Words,words,words

reminds us of the importance of language. Man's universe is full of words: in advertisements,

the media, the press, the radio, on tv, the internet.

There words to empress quantity, like adverbs such as: fairly, rather, quite

Words that convey time, like in the case of verb tenses: the perfect future or the continuous one

Words in comparative patterns, such as gradual increase: faster and faster, or the sooner, the better.

Words in conjunctions such as: 'as if' or 'as though' after a sentence including a verb of the senses and

followed by a clause in the past: It smells as if you had spilt perfume all over or The rain sounds as

if all the sea water was pouring down.(Structures taken from U1 in Longman New Citizens 2)