Vol. 08 · Shakespeare ·Hamlet, Act II.ii ·Polonius
"There's a method to the madness."
Not quite the line.
How it's usually quoted
"There's a method to the madness."
What Shakespeare actually wrote
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." Polonius — Hamlet, Act II.ii
Why it matters
The common idiom inverts the preposition (to the madness vs. in the madness) and drops Polonius entirely. The line is his observation of a pretended madness he has badly misread.
More from the canon.
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