''I'll board him presently . . . oh, give me leave . . .''

''I'll board him presently . . . oh, give me leave . . .''

''board him'' - address him; greet him.  Accost him.  From the nautical term ''board'' which means one ship coming alongside another.  ''Board'' is a word on the ship concept in the play, particularly, the pirate ship Hamlet will later tell Horatio about.

''board him'' - address him; greet him.  Accost him.  From the nautical term ''board'' which means one ship coming alongside another.  ''Board'' is a word on the ship concept in the play.

''presently'' - at this present time.  Now.

''presently'' - at this present time.  Now.

Polonius is now intent on having a friendly chat with Hamlet.  Since Polonius now accepts Hamlet as his prospective son in law, he wants to be sure he's friendly to Hamlet.  Also, Polonius wants to be friends with Hamlet so that if Hamlet does find out Polonius purloined his love letters, Hamlet won't kill him.

Polonius is now intent on having a friendly chat with Hamlet.  Since Polonius now views Hamlet as his prospective son in law, he wants to be sure he's friendly to Hamlet.  Also, Polonius wants to be friends with Hamlet so that if Hamlet does find out Polonius purloined his love letters, Hamlet won't kill him.

Doubly motivated, Polonius approaches Hamlet with a big smile, intending to have a nice, friendly chat with Hamlet.  Polonius is not intending to speak of Ophelia to Hamlet, since Polonius has already made the eavesdropping arrangement with Claudius about that.  This is to be simply a friendly chat.

Doubly motivated, Polonius approaches Hamlet with a big smile, intending to have a nice, friendly chat with Hamlet.  Polonius is not intending to speak of Ophelia to Hamlet, since Polonius has already made the eavesdropping arrangement with Claudius about that.  This is to be simply a friendly chat.

Knowledge of the action is vital to understanding this.  That is true of this entire passage.  If you don't know the correct action, you won't fathom any of this.

Knowledge of the action is vital to understanding this.  That is true of this entire passage.  If you don't know the correct action, you won't fathom any of this.

So, again, Polonius approaches Hamlet to have a friendly chat with him.  Just as Polonius gets within speaking distance of Hamlet, it suddenly strikes Polonius that he should not have spoken as he did to the King.  It wasn't proper for Polonius to say "away" to Claudius like that.

So, again, Polonius approaches Hamlet to have a friendly chat with him.  Just as Polonius gets within speaking distance of Hamlet, it suddenly strikes Polonius that he should not have spoken as he did to the King.  It was improper for him to tell the King to leave.

Hoping to make up for what he did, Polonius exclaims ''oh, give me leave'' as he turns away from Hamlet toward the royal doorway, and bows.  Polonius is afraid he's too late, but hopes to catch Claudius at the doorway, and show Claudius that he does know how to address the King properly, and bow properly.

Hoping to make up for what he did, Polonius exclaims ''oh, give me leave'' as he turns away from Hamlet toward the royal doorway, and bows.  Polonius is afraid he's too late, but hopes to catch Claudius at the doorway, and show Claudius that he does know how to address the King properly, and bow properly.

Polonius doesn't have eyes in the back of his head, so that he could see Claudius was already gone.  However, Hamlet can see beyond Polonius that Claudius has left, as have the others.  It's only the two of them, Hamlet and Polonius, in the room now.

Polonius doesn't have eyes in the back of his head, so that he could see Claudius was already gone.  However, Hamlet can see beyond Polonius that Claudius has left, as have the others.  It's only the two of them, Hamlet and Polonius, in the room now.