I heard a good description of Polonius as being a pedant. He is one of those guys who can say all the right words but do all the wrong things. It is what the characters do that is important. Goneril, Regan, Mark Antony and Richard III all have a good line in fine words. They are not the sort of people I would want for friends though. I have always thought of Hamlet as a nasty piece of work - probably the least pleasant of all Shakespeare's villains.