Polonius is a character in
William Shakespeare's
Hamlet. He is chief counselor of the king, and the father of
Laertes and
Ophelia. Generally regarded as wrong in every judgment he makes over the course of the play, Polonius is described by
William Hazlitt as a "sincere" father, but also "a busy-body, [who] is accordingly officious, garrulous, and impertinent." In Act II Hamlet refers to Polonius as a "tedious old fool" and taunts him as a latter day "
Jeptha".