Act 4 - The Plot
Here is basic plot information for Act 4. Please note that this does not cover many important
points in terms of ideas, but it may help you get the gist of what happens so that you can
concentrate on the more interesting aspects of the play.
Gertrude lies to the king by telling him that Hamlet killed Polonius in a mad rage which
he now regrets and Claudius lies to her by saying that his love for Hamlet prevented him from
restraining the Prince. Emotionally (perhaps), Claudius calls his loyal servants, Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern, to search for Hamlet and worries about how he can avoid being blamed for the
murder.
Hamlet is found by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He explains why the former is like a
sponge and runs away again.
Claudius will not prosecute Hamlet because of his popularity. He interrogates Hamlet and
is eventually told where Hamlet has hidden the dead body. The conversation between the two
protagonists is filled with scarcely veiled threats. After Hamlet and the others leave, Claudius
reveals his plan to have Hamlet killed by the English king.
On his way to England, Hamlet encounters Fortinbras and his army on their way to
Poland to fight over a small patch of land. In his final soliloquy, Hamlet ponders (a) the
difference between men and beasts, (b) the reasons for which he has delayed his revenge, (c) the
way in which Fortinbras, despite being despicable in terms of his ambition, provides Hamlet with
an example to follow, and (d) the nature of greatness. He resolves to think only warlike thoughts
from now on.
Gertrude is persuaded to speak to Ophelia on the grounds that her mad speech will allow
suspicious people to create their own suspicious interpretations. Ophelia enters and sings songs
which concern faithless love and the death of an old man. Claudius interprets her madness as
mourning for the death of her father. He then bewails the catalogue of woes that his rule has
recently encountered. He finishes with the news that Laertes has arrived secretly from France
and is listening to rumours of the King's involvement in Polonius' murder. At this moment,
Laertes enters, at the head of a riotous rabble, who want him to be king. He wants to kill
Claudius but the Queen holds him back. Laertes is determined to have his revenge, and is made
considerably more angry by the arrival of the mad Ophelia who gives everyone cryptic flower
messages. Laertes interprets this as her wish to have him take revenge. Claudius manages to talk
Laertes out of killing him, first by calling his bluff regarding the blasphemous idea of killing a
king and, second, by telling Laertes that another person is to blame. He takes Laertes out of
Gertrude's hearing in order to tell him about this other person.
Horatio receives letters from Hamlet (via seamen) who has done a deal with some pirates
who captured Hamlet while he was defending the ship.
Claudius and Laertes plot against Hamlet. Claudius will not take overt action against
Hamlet because of the peoples' and Gertrude's love for him. The two plot to engage Hamlet in a
fencing match involving an unblunted rapier which is also poisoned and, as a backup, a poisoned
drink. The Queen enters with the sad news that Ophelia has accidentally drowned (Note that
Gertrude is likely aware that Ophelia has killed herself, but in saying that the death was
accidental she softens the news for Laertes and ensures that Ophelia can receive a Christian
burialwhich would not have been possible in the case of suicide (compare to gravediggers’
comments). Claudius finishes the act by lying to Gertrude again that he has been trying to calm
Laertes' rage.
4.5
1. When the Gentleman reports to Gertrude that Ophelia has gone mad, he warns that
although “her speech is nothing ….the unshaped use of it doth move/The hearers to
collection,” meaning that the very formlessness and nonsense of her utterings make those
who hear it draw their own conclusions. Later, after Ophelia’s exit, Claudius picks up on
this idea again when he says, “the people muddied,/Thick and unwholesome in their
thoughts and whispers,/For good Polonius' death” are spreading the rumor to Laertes that
Claudius was responsible for Polonius’ murder.
Both of these comments suggest an atmosphere of suspicion and betrayal, but are also
significant in that they show little compassion for Ophelia’s suffering (Note also how
Claudius shows no sorry over the death of Polonius but merely exclaims: “It had been so
with us, had we been there”). What does this suggest about the values and morals of most
of Claudius and the court? What is important to Claudius? Is the treatment of Ophelia
here in any way indicative of the treatment of women in this society? In what way might
this link up, in a highly ironic sense, with Hamlet’s earlier statement to Ophelia that no
matter how chaste she may be, she “shall not escape calumny”?
2. In this scene, Ophelia appears to have gone mad, and the songs she sings indicate the
reasons for her madness. Although Claudius states, “O, this is the poison of deep grief; it
springs/All from her father's death,” Ophelia’s mad songs suggest an additional cause
(i.e. not only the loss of her father). Cite and analyze specific song lyrics from Ophelia’s
mad ranting that show this.
3. When Laertes bursts into the castle, Gertrude tells him to calm down, to which he replies:
“That drop of blood that's calm proclaims me bastard, / Cries cuckold to my father,
brands the harlot / Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow / Of my true mother.”
To paraphrase his lines, Laertes is saying that any part of him that could react calmly to
his father’s murder would make him a disloyal and unnatural son, i.e. not Polonius’ son at
all. That would mean that his mother had had him with someone not her husband, so that
Polonius would be a cuckold and his mother would be a harlot. But since he is indeed
Polonius' son, his reaction must be passionate outrage, rather than a calm and measured
response.
How does Laertes attitude toward revenge here compare and contrast to Hamlet’s? Note
the interesting ties to “Oh what a rogue and peasant slave” and “How all occasions…” as
well as the ghost’s line to Hamlet in 5.1: “I thou has nature in thee, bear it not”. Also
compare how Laertes compares to Hamlet’s characterization of Fortinbras in “How all
occasions…” and Hamlet’s characterization of Horatio in 3.2.
4. How came he dead? I'll not be juggled with:
To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil!
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!
I dare damnation. To this point I stand,
That both the worlds I give to negligence,
Let come what comes; only I'll be revenged
Most thoroughly for my father.
Compare Laertes’ lines above with a) Hamlet’s lines about Fortinbras in “How all
occasions” and b) Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” - What do you suppose the audience is
supposed to think of a character who is willing throw away allegiance and vows
(presumably to the state), do away with conscience and grace, and “dare damnation” in
the name of revenge? How does Laertes’ attitude affect our view of Hamlet?
5. In 4.7, Claudius and Laertes discuss the murder of Hamlet. Here again Laertes serves as a
foil for Hamlet which affects our view of revenge and our assessment of Hamlet’s actions
(or the lack thereof). Analyze how the following points serve to deepen the contrast
between Hamlet and Laertes and additionally suggest that the single-minded pursuit of
revenge - letting oneself become passion’s slave - could have disastrous and immoral
consequences.
 When Claudius asks Laertes what he would be willing to do to avenge his Polonius’
murder, Laertes answers that he would “cut [Hamlet’s] throat i’ the church.”
 The fact that Laertes agrees to go along with Claudius’ dishonorable means of
murdering Hamlet (it would appear to be an “accident” not a public display of revenge
for honor). Note the irony of the plan, which is to appeal to Hamlet’s sense of honor to
lure him into a duel with Laertes.
General note: Revenge is presented very ironically in the play. Prompted by the
demands of honor and loyalty, revengers become treacherous and dishonorable.
However, consider how Hamlet might be considered more honorable than
Fortinbras and Laertes!
6. Analyze how Claudius able to manipulate Laertes in Act 4. What exactly does he do to
channel Laertes’ rage and use it for his own purposes?
7. I know love is begun by time;
And that I see, in passages of proof,
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.
There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;
And nothing is at a like goodness still;
For goodness, growing to a plurisy,
Dies in his own too much: that we would do
We should do when we would; for this 'would' changes
And hath abatements and delays as many
As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift sigh,
That hurts by easing.
In the lines that precede this speech, Claudius asks Laertes if he loved his father not
because he has doubts about this but because he wants to make sure that Laertes
understands the necessity for restraint and at the same time the necessity for prompt
action. In the speech Claudius identifies a paradox involving time and love(emotion),
whereby it is shown that love grows dim not merely through the passage of time but also
through the very intensity through which love lives (love becomes self-consuming; it
burns itself out if it is too intense). This suggests interesting ties to Hamlet’s praise of
Horatio in 3.2, and indeed to Hamlet himself, who, despite his self-reproach for a lack of
emotional response, is one character who turns to reason frequently and is not solely
ruled by all- and self-consuming emotion (Note what happens when he does allow his
emotions to take over! What might be Shakespeare be suggesting?). In essence, Claudius
is telling Laertes to be wary of self-consuming love that might burn itself out, but
paradoxically to act upon his will to revenge soon before he might be reasoned out of it.