The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 23.0286  Friday, 7 July 2012

From:        Abraham Samuel Shiff < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >

Date:         July 5, 2012 11:47:07 PM EDT

Subject:     SHORTHAND - Justin Alexander’s Reliance on Hibbard’s Hypothesis

To the editor:

Justin Alexander, in his communication of June 29, relies on Hibbard’s hypothesis that the name ‘Polonius’ was changed due to similarity with ‘Polenius of Oxford’.

Your readers may care to consider an argument that the name change was a pun to mock Paulus Dzialinski, the ambassador who famously insulted Queen Elizabeth in 1597.

See: “Transition from Corambis to Polonius: The Forgotten Pun on a Diplomatic Scandal in a Hamlet Q2 stage direction” published in Hamlet Works (hamletworks.org) under the category “Hamlet Criticism.”

Abraham Samuel Shiff