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All Site ContentHamletAct 2Scene 2
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"loose"
Wordplay
Act 2,
Scene 2
Lines 160-167a

An explanation of the pun on “loose” in Act 2, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Polonius

You know sometimes he walks four hours together
Here in the lobby.

Gertrude

                              So he has indeed.

Polonius

At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him. 
Be you and I behind an arras then,
Mark the encounter. If he love her not,
And be not from his reason fallen thereon,
Let me be no assistant for a state
But keep a farm and carters.

The wordplay here means that “loose” can be read in two ways:

  • Leave unchaperoned
  • Farm terminology: to put a male animal in with a female in heat.

This unintentionally crude pun is reinforced when Polonius makes another farming reference a few lines later.