Hamlet – Act 4 Skeletal Notes and Questions
Scenes 1through 3 are full of action (and black humour). They show the chase between Hamlet and
Claudius and the continued game-playing between them.
Imagery (throughout Act)
4.1
look for death imagery – Hamlet is doomed to death, his imagination is diseased by it and
revenge scheme
look for disease imagery – Hamlet is disease in Claudius’ blood
increasing military imagery (“When sorrows come, they come not single spies,/ But in
battalions” (4.5.76-77)
Hamlet’s madness
“Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend/ Which is the mightier” (4.1.7-8)
Is Gertrude covering for Hamlet when she blames the murder of Polonius on Hamlet’s madness?
What is Gertrude’s response to Claudius’s question, “Where is he gone?” (4.1.23)? Is it reasonable
to believe that Hamlet is really doing what Gertrude, here, says he’s doing?
4.2
-
he feels the need to maintain his “madness” – not that people would believe him anyway (he
listened to a Ghost)
Hamlet’s chance to kill Claudius has passed – and it appears that he will be unsuccessful in his
revenge bid
Claudius uses Hamlet’s “madness” to send the threat away to England
Claudius’s Power
has Rosencrantz and Guildenstern completely under his control
knows Hamlet is popular in Denmark and fears uprising should he punish him
“Decode” Hamlet’s answer to Rosencrantz’s question about the whereabouts of Polonius’s body:
“The body is with the kind, but the kind is not with the body” (4.2.26).
4.3
-
Traps Continue
Hamlet and Claudius continue their verbal sparring
Neither wants to reveal he knows the truth
In his opening speech, what reason does Claudius give for not dealing swiftly with Hamlet’s
‘problem’ behaviour?
What is the line (in Claudius’s final speech in the scene) that describes the content of the letters that
will be sent to England?
4.4
the foil of Fortinbras, Hamlet’s final soliloquy
1. What does the Captain tell Hamlet the army is going to fight for?
2. What is Hamlet’s opinion on the ‘cause’ of the army’s insistence on challenging for the “little
patch of ground” (4.4.18)?
From the Falcon edition: “This speech is not found in the Folio and is sometimes sacrificed in the
interest of a shorter production of the play; yet it is intensely important for the analysis Hamlet
gives of himself in it” (xxxiv).
3.
What is that analysis now? How does it contrast with his earlier soliloquies?
4.5 – 4.7 Hamlet Offstage (longest period of play he’s absent, actor needs rest before final scenes)
Meanwhile . . .
4.5
Shakespeare develops fate of other characters
-
Gertrude – feeling guilt? About what? (has she betrayed Hamlet, did she know about
the murder of Old Hamlet, was she unfaithful to her dead husband, is she feeling bad
about Ophelia’s state?) “To my sick soul, as sin’s true nature is,/ Each toy seems
prologue to some great amiss:/ So full of artless jealousy is guilt,/ It spills itself in
fearing to be split” (4.5.16-20)
-
Ophelia – pathetic madness – the most innocent figure within the tragedy is the one
most deeply affected
“So would I ha’ done, by yonder sun,/ An thou hadst not come to my bed” (4.5.63-64) –
does the song indicate that Hamlet has betrayed Ophelia.
Why is Claudius so quick to pin her madness on her father’s death? “this is the poison of
deep grief; it springs/All from her father’s death” (4.5.73-74)
4.6
Laertes – returns from France to avenge his father’s death - “That drop of blood that’s
calm proclaims me bastard” (4.5.115) - and then his sister’s madness – “By heaven, thy
madness shall be paid with weight,/ Till our scale turn the beam” (4.5.154-55)
Is Laertes another foil to Hamlet?
Claudius – ever the politician; has dispatched Hamlet and now tries to mold Laertes
into his own tool
calm and confident when faced with the rabble in support of Laertes – “There’s such
divinity don’t hedge a king” (4.5.121) – do you think Claudius truly believes he is the
ruler of Denmark “by Divine Right”?
4.4.199-216 – cuts a deal with Laertes – does it represent diplomacy on his part or
something else about his character?
A letter from Hamlet
-
describes offstage events
good fortune for Hamlet – falls prisoner to pirates, escapes his fate in England
Is this “fortunate” turn of events valid? Why or why not?
-
Horatio – the only character left who is completely on Hamlet’s side, thus he becomes
the messenger
4.7
1.
Claudius’ story: “he which hath your noble father slain/ Pursued my life” (4.7.4-5)
Is Claudius, in any way, misrepresenting the truth here? Did Hamlet “pursue” Claudius’s life?
2.
Claudius’ rationale: When Laertes asks why Claudius did not punish Hamlet, Claudius offers two
equally curious reasons:
(i)
Gertrude thinks too highly of Hamlet, and Claudius cares too much about Gertrude and
her feelings.
Hamlet is too much loved by the people.
(ii)
Is Claudius making these up, or does he really believe what he says?
3.
Plot Against Hamlet: When Claudius and Laertes find out that Hamlet will be returning to Denmark
(via the letter delivered by a messenger), Claudius says “I will work him/ To an exploit, now ripe in
my device” (4.7.63-64). However, Claudius does not explain what his “device” will be. Instead, he
launches into a lengthy description of Lamord, and further goes on to talk about how love can change
over time. Claudius seems to have Hamlet’s delay problem here. He doesn’t get to the point, but
instead talks about the fact that people delay doing what they “would” (4.7.118) and “should”
(4.7.122) do. He ends the delay by asking Laertes what he would do to avenge his father’s death.
Why does Claudius delay? Does it indicate anything about his character? Is Claudius like Hamlet in
any other ways?
4.
The Elizabethans (English) believed that honour involves one thinking before acting whereas a more
Machiavellian (Italian) approach would be to put deeds over thoughts. We know that Shakespeare
was attempting to “rethink” the revenge tragedy, with an eye on the traditional Italian plays. In what
ways is Laertes similar to the “Italian” revenge hero? Find lines that show his commitment to deeds
(even somewhat dishonourable deeds) over thought.
5.
Imagery
poison – both the sword and the victory drink will be tainted
“I’ll have preferred him/ A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,/ If he by chance escape your
venomed stuck,/ Our purpose may hold there” (4.7.158-161)
Where else has poison been used to eliminate a rival?
entrapment
-
once again, something will not be what it seems in order to entrap a victim
the fight will look like an honourable duel, but in reality favours Laertes due to plotting
weeds
“There on the pendent boughs her crownet weeds/ Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,/
When doesn her weedy trophies and herself/ Fell in the weeping brook” (4.7.173-176 )
6.
Ophelia’s death: Is Ophelia’s death an accidental drowning or a suicide?