An Analytical Essay on Humor in Hamlet Humor was added to Hamlet by two major scenes, along with Hamlet's use of his old-fashioned disposition . These two were: the scene between Hamlet and Polonius in the library and the scene with the gravediggers (clowns). The scene between Hamlet and Polonius took place in Act II, scene 2. In Hamlet's first meeting with Polonius, he immediately insulted the old man by calling him “fishmonger”. Then he quickly changed his opinion and complemented Polonius by calling him an honest man. Hamlet said, “to be honest, as the world goes, is to be a man chosen out of ten thousand.” As we know Polonius was certainly no such man. Hamlet was portrayed as a clever boy, who was playing a psychological game with a crazy old man. He asked Polonius whether or not he had a daughter, pretending not to know that Ophelia was Polonius' daughter. When Hamlet was asked what he was reading, he responded by saying, "words, words, words." During this scene, Hamlet revealed himself to Polonius as a mentally unstable man. He too was behaving ridiculously, as he ingeniously used this to make Polonius look like an even bigger fool. He cleverly indirectly insulted Polonius' appearances by referring to the book he was reading. According to that book the elders had gray beards, their faces were wrinkled, they were very spiritless and so on. He was describing Polonius exactly. Perhaps the funniest part took place when Hamlet, while saying, "for you, sir, would grow old like me, if like a crab you could go backwards," advanced on Polonius, making him walk backwards. Those words and actions on the scene revealed that Hamlet was a bold young man. When Polonius finally left, Hamlet abandoned his pretense and cried, "These tiresome old fools!" In Act III, scene 2, Hamlet used a tape recorder, the musical instrument, as a telescope when Polonius entered the scene. He asked Polonius: "Do you see that cloud that is almost in the shape of a camel?". Hamlet always pretended to be the madman in front of Polonius, while in reality he made him seem like a crazy old man. The scene with the undertakers (clowns) took place in Act V, scene I. The clowns were discussing Ophelia's death and were making fun of the case of Sir James Hales, who also drowned.