HAMLET (8)
Act IV scene i
Clauidius shows himself compassionate and concerned about the reason for Gertrude's sighs and "profound heaves" and she does tell Claudius that Hamlet is "Mad as the sea and wind" as she has promised and evidences the sudden killing of Polonius; Claudius seizes on this as justification for his plan to have Hamlet sent away and killed. He is the self-regarding politician here and claims that he would be criticised if he did not take measures, although he does not admit Gertrude to all his plan. Disease imagery is prominent in his speech although Gerturde uses a simile of purification. Hamlet does seem both mad and dangerous and Claudius, the crafty statesman, can use his strange manner to call a council and plan for his voyage to England. We are not clear whether or not he is genuinely suffering when he claims that his "soul is full of discord and dismay" but he is not an entirely unsympathetic character here.
The very brief scene ii has of interest Hamlet's disillusionment with courtiers and flatterers and his teasing of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern whom he no longer trusts and sees as part of the corrupt entourage of Claudius. Yet this attitude is unjust at this point as they were not part of the original crime and have done nothing yet except watch him, which is what he expected when he undertook his "antic disposition."
Scene iii shows Hamlet again fencing with the opposition but first we learn of his popularity with the ordinary people and Claudius' awareness that, if he acts openly against him, he will endanger his own popularity. His phrase "smooth and even" describes himself perfectly as it refers to his plan to send Hamlet away which must appear as a "deliberate pause" [the result of careful deliberation/thought]. Hamlet's refusal to say where he has left the corpse of Polonius does not have the note of tragedy and touches on the comic or grotesque. His repetitious stress on the word "fat" recalls his phrase "bloat king" used to Gertrude and underlines his disgust at the over-indulgence of the court and its lack of self-respect and decorum. The humour is morbid but makes an audience laugh out loud: Hamlet is quick-witted and finds pointed gibes to insult and fox his opponents, telling Claudius that, if his messengers cannot find Polonius in heaven, he should "seek him i' th' other place" [hell] himself. The jokes are verbal but also arise appositely from the situation: Hamlet has the upper hand for the moment and is more subtle and intelligent than they are. This scene should be compared in tone with that with the grave-diggers later but here the characters concerned are central to the plot and the attitude to death is loaded. Claudius is the hypocritical oily-tongued politician when he bids Hamlet go, urgent when he makes the arrangements and, when he runs through his plan for his murder in England, he is the crafty unrepentant stateman, weighing up the situation and using any weak spots to his criminal advantage. The disease imagery now states explicitly that Hamlet is a "hectic" [wasting fever] within Claudius: the irony is that he blames Hamlet for being the illness in him whereas his crime is the main cause of the sickness in Hamlet.
Scene iv introduces another young man to form a contrast with Hamlet: Fortinbras, man of action, leading his army. He is the force for the restitution of law and order and yet is not truly connected with the other characters in the play and so his role is functional and thematic. He speaks directly and plainly and is competent to do what is necessary, all of which shows Hamlet as different. We now have three young avengers, if we include Laertes as potentially ready to deal with his father's slayer. These troops are the ones who had permission to pass through Denmark in Act II scene ii and are about to fight over a tiny, worthless piece of land. Hamlet is struck by the situation and the cost in life and money needed to "debate the question of this straw" [battle over so little]. (These lines 25,26 may be more naturally spoken by the Captain as Hamlet cannot know the facts stated). He again resorts to disease imagery with the metaphor of the "imposthume" [inner abscess] feeding on a too affluent society and breaking within it whilst showing no outward symptom - he cannot forget the "fat" element in the Danish court. The disease imagery throughout the play is frequently that of a hidden corruption lurking beneath apparent health.
Hamlet's fourth main soliloquy: "How all occasions do inform against me" also draws attention to his own delay, this time because he is disgusted with himself by comparison with the daring Fortinbras. The situations are not parallel, however, since Hamlet, as avenger, must act alone outside the law to repair a hidden crime. He questions the use of the God-given capacity to reason which distinguishes man from beast (another reference to the theme of what makes a man) and which he feels he is allowing to "fust ... unused" whereas he might equally argue that he is over-doing that faculty. The phrase "craven scruple" [cowardly misgiving] needs us to recognise that contemporary attitudes to revenge would have expected him to have scruples but do the task nevertheless. That audience would have thought that he should kill Claudius and set right the disjointed time but also that he should have doubts and misgivings. They would have accepted that he had to perform wrong deeds in pursuit of a rightful end. His tragedy is a particular example of a universal predicament: action is necessary but all action in a fallen world involves the person in evil. Because of the disease which has spread to his mind and soul, he is more and more involved in the world's evil. His introverted thoughts do not deal with whether or not he should obey his father but why he is not doing so. He is aware he has "cause, and will, and strength, and means" and sees such pointed examples as Fortinbras who is willing to "find quarrel in a straw" but Hamlet confesses obsessively that he cannot act. We do wonder when he uses the word "mortal" if he is afraid of death as he sees the unfearing man of action, "a delicate and tender prince/Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed ..." as an ideal although it is not rational of him to make the comparison: his dilemma is both political and personal and extremely complex on both levels as he could be accused of ambition and is damaged psychologically. He places the concept of honour at the centre and feels his has been corroded by "a father killed [his father has been killed not that he has killed his father], a mother stained [ditto]" whilst he lets "all sleep." He knows that the dispute for Fortinbras is trivial compared to his and vows: "from this time forth/My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth", but the astute reader or listener will note that he is merely vowing that his mind will be vengeful, not his actions. He thoughts are already bloody but his deeds are not. The play contains many near parallels and Fortinbras is an explicit one but Hamlet's position is unique.
Scene v adds to the theme of madness as Ophelia has lost her wits as a result of Hamlet's treatment of her and because her father has been killed (another parallel) by her ex-lover. It also revives the theme of families whilst delaying the main plot to further the sub-plot. The description of Ophelia's derangement is moving and convincing with a detailed account of the physical behaviours which her madness triggers; spoken by the trustworthy Horatio we know there is no exaggeration or histrionics. The mood of the scene is altered by music when she enters and, in its sadness and poignancy, it forms a contrast with the previous war-like appearance of Fortinbras and his men.
Claudius is deeply moved and feels that. "When sorrows come, they come not single spies [single scouts]/But in battalions" listing six such causes of grief: Polonius slain; Hamlet's just removal; the ordinary people unsettled; the misjudged hasty burial of Polonius; the madness of Ophelia; the arrival of Laertes, returned to avenge his father's death. He is both self-justifying over his treament of Hamlet but self-reproaching over the interment of Polonius and is the anxious ruler when he realises there is trouble in the country, which we accept is mostly the result of his crime, the major cause of sickness in the body politic. He compares all this to a "murdering piece" [a small cannon which shoots many scraps of metal at once] and is profoundly agitated about his position. When there is a noise he calls for his Swiss Guards and we are reminded that Hamlet has had no recent opportunity to kill him as either he or the King has been closely guarded. In that sense his play back-fired as it proved he was dangerous and needed constraints (Lucianus was nephew to the King.)
Laertes is a threat to Claudius' rule and the common people admire him although their fickleness is a sign of corruption in the state - there are few mentions of them in the play, however. When he enters he seems to think Claudius killed his father, an error which emphasises the parallel with Hamlet as he is willing to attack the villain directly. His misunderstanding is improbable as is the sudden meeting with his mad sister, but both are for dramatic effect and blatant contrast. Laertes over-does the flowery language for further contrast as the honourable young avenger but Claudius is apparently unafraid, claiming that as King he is hedged by divinity, although, almost comically, Gertrude has to be told twice to refrain from clutching at Laertes as protection for her husband. Laertes' violent language again has the function of contrast although Hamlet is not short of extreme words and phrases. The effect of this episode dramatically is that Laertes will risk all: unprompted by an instruction from anyone else; erroneously (he has less information than Hamlet); for a less significant figure; openly and acknowledging that he has little power but that he will use it effectively (ll. 135,6)
The derangement of his sister's mind gives Laertes further cause for revenge when he realises that the same man has killed his father as sent his sister mad. The word "rose" was also used by Ophelia of Hamlet and so that scene is evoked as an added poignancy. Leartes stresses the absence of an instructing figure in his story (l 165) and the pathos continues with Ophelia's giving out herbs and flowers with distracted references to the cause of her loss of wits. These phrases make us ask what it was that sent her mad: Hamlet's "antic disposition" and inexplicable behaviour or her father's sudden death. If the first, we have the irony that Hamlet's pretended madness caused true derangement in someone else. A further irony is that there was no need for her family's caution: a marriage to Hamlet would have been approved. Laertes and Claudius come to an agreemen but the young man is also aware of the meagre funeral given to his father, for which no reason is given. This is a long scene concerned with Polonius' family at the point when the main plot might be advancing and so is probably for change of mood, dramatic contrast and parallels. Laertes will risk all (but not now alone) for his garrulous old father as Fortinbras (again accompanied) is risking all for a trifle.
Continue to Act IV scene vi on Hamlet page 9
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Act IV scene i
Clauidius shows himself compassionate and concerned about the reason for Gertrude's sighs and "profound heaves" and she does tell Claudius that Hamlet is "Mad as the sea and wind" as she has promised and evidences the sudden killing of Polonius; Claudius seizes on this as justification for his plan to have Hamlet sent away and killed. He is the self-regarding politician here and claims that he would be criticised if he did not take measures, although he does not admit Gertrude to all his plan. Disease imagery is prominent in his speech although Gerturde uses a simile of purification. Hamlet does seem both mad and dangerous and Claudius, the crafty statesman, can use his strange manner to call a council and plan for his voyage to England. We are not clear whether or not he is genuinely suffering when he claims that his "soul is full of discord and dismay" but he is not an entirely unsympathetic character here.
The very brief scene ii has of interest Hamlet's disillusionment with courtiers and flatterers and his teasing of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern whom he no longer trusts and sees as part of the corrupt entourage of Claudius. Yet this attitude is unjust at this point as they were not part of the original crime and have done nothing yet except watch him, which is what he expected when he undertook his "antic disposition."
Scene iii shows Hamlet again fencing with the opposition but first we learn of his popularity with the ordinary people and Claudius' awareness that, if he acts openly against him, he will endanger his own popularity. His phrase "smooth and even" describes himself perfectly as it refers to his plan to send Hamlet away which must appear as a "deliberate pause" [the result of careful deliberation/thought]. Hamlet's refusal to say where he has left the corpse of Polonius does not have the note of tragedy and touches on the comic or grotesque. His repetitious stress on the word "fat" recalls his phrase "bloat king" used to Gertrude and underlines his disgust at the over-indulgence of the court and its lack of self-respect and decorum. The humour is morbid but makes an audience laugh out loud: Hamlet is quick-witted and finds pointed gibes to insult and fox his opponents, telling Claudius that, if his messengers cannot find Polonius in heaven, he should "seek him i' th' other place" [hell] himself. The jokes are verbal but also arise appositely from the situation: Hamlet has the upper hand for the moment and is more subtle and intelligent than they are. This scene should be compared in tone with that with the grave-diggers later but here the characters concerned are central to the plot and the attitude to death is loaded. Claudius is the hypocritical oily-tongued politician when he bids Hamlet go, urgent when he makes the arrangements and, when he runs through his plan for his murder in England, he is the crafty unrepentant stateman, weighing up the situation and using any weak spots to his criminal advantage. The disease imagery now states explicitly that Hamlet is a "hectic" [wasting fever] within Claudius: the irony is that he blames Hamlet for being the illness in him whereas his crime is the main cause of the sickness in Hamlet.
Scene iv introduces another young man to form a contrast with Hamlet: Fortinbras, man of action, leading his army. He is the force for the restitution of law and order and yet is not truly connected with the other characters in the play and so his role is functional and thematic. He speaks directly and plainly and is competent to do what is necessary, all of which shows Hamlet as different. We now have three young avengers, if we include Laertes as potentially ready to deal with his father's slayer. These troops are the ones who had permission to pass through Denmark in Act II scene ii and are about to fight over a tiny, worthless piece of land. Hamlet is struck by the situation and the cost in life and money needed to "debate the question of this straw" [battle over so little]. (These lines 25,26 may be more naturally spoken by the Captain as Hamlet cannot know the facts stated). He again resorts to disease imagery with the metaphor of the "imposthume" [inner abscess] feeding on a too affluent society and breaking within it whilst showing no outward symptom - he cannot forget the "fat" element in the Danish court. The disease imagery throughout the play is frequently that of a hidden corruption lurking beneath apparent health.
Hamlet's fourth main soliloquy: "How all occasions do inform against me" also draws attention to his own delay, this time because he is disgusted with himself by comparison with the daring Fortinbras. The situations are not parallel, however, since Hamlet, as avenger, must act alone outside the law to repair a hidden crime. He questions the use of the God-given capacity to reason which distinguishes man from beast (another reference to the theme of what makes a man) and which he feels he is allowing to "fust ... unused" whereas he might equally argue that he is over-doing that faculty. The phrase "craven scruple" [cowardly misgiving] needs us to recognise that contemporary attitudes to revenge would have expected him to have scruples but do the task nevertheless. That audience would have thought that he should kill Claudius and set right the disjointed time but also that he should have doubts and misgivings. They would have accepted that he had to perform wrong deeds in pursuit of a rightful end. His tragedy is a particular example of a universal predicament: action is necessary but all action in a fallen world involves the person in evil. Because of the disease which has spread to his mind and soul, he is more and more involved in the world's evil. His introverted thoughts do not deal with whether or not he should obey his father but why he is not doing so. He is aware he has "cause, and will, and strength, and means" and sees such pointed examples as Fortinbras who is willing to "find quarrel in a straw" but Hamlet confesses obsessively that he cannot act. We do wonder when he uses the word "mortal" if he is afraid of death as he sees the unfearing man of action, "a delicate and tender prince/Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed ..." as an ideal although it is not rational of him to make the comparison: his dilemma is both political and personal and extremely complex on both levels as he could be accused of ambition and is damaged psychologically. He places the concept of honour at the centre and feels his has been corroded by "a father killed [his father has been killed not that he has killed his father], a mother stained [ditto]" whilst he lets "all sleep." He knows that the dispute for Fortinbras is trivial compared to his and vows: "from this time forth/My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth", but the astute reader or listener will note that he is merely vowing that his mind will be vengeful, not his actions. He thoughts are already bloody but his deeds are not. The play contains many near parallels and Fortinbras is an explicit one but Hamlet's position is unique.
Scene v adds to the theme of madness as Ophelia has lost her wits as a result of Hamlet's treatment of her and because her father has been killed (another parallel) by her ex-lover. It also revives the theme of families whilst delaying the main plot to further the sub-plot. The description of Ophelia's derangement is moving and convincing with a detailed account of the physical behaviours which her madness triggers; spoken by the trustworthy Horatio we know there is no exaggeration or histrionics. The mood of the scene is altered by music when she enters and, in its sadness and poignancy, it forms a contrast with the previous war-like appearance of Fortinbras and his men.
Claudius is deeply moved and feels that. "When sorrows come, they come not single spies [single scouts]/But in battalions" listing six such causes of grief: Polonius slain; Hamlet's just removal; the ordinary people unsettled; the misjudged hasty burial of Polonius; the madness of Ophelia; the arrival of Laertes, returned to avenge his father's death. He is both self-justifying over his treament of Hamlet but self-reproaching over the interment of Polonius and is the anxious ruler when he realises there is trouble in the country, which we accept is mostly the result of his crime, the major cause of sickness in the body politic. He compares all this to a "murdering piece" [a small cannon which shoots many scraps of metal at once] and is profoundly agitated about his position. When there is a noise he calls for his Swiss Guards and we are reminded that Hamlet has had no recent opportunity to kill him as either he or the King has been closely guarded. In that sense his play back-fired as it proved he was dangerous and needed constraints (Lucianus was nephew to the King.)
Laertes is a threat to Claudius' rule and the common people admire him although their fickleness is a sign of corruption in the state - there are few mentions of them in the play, however. When he enters he seems to think Claudius killed his father, an error which emphasises the parallel with Hamlet as he is willing to attack the villain directly. His misunderstanding is improbable as is the sudden meeting with his mad sister, but both are for dramatic effect and blatant contrast. Laertes over-does the flowery language for further contrast as the honourable young avenger but Claudius is apparently unafraid, claiming that as King he is hedged by divinity, although, almost comically, Gertrude has to be told twice to refrain from clutching at Laertes as protection for her husband. Laertes' violent language again has the function of contrast although Hamlet is not short of extreme words and phrases. The effect of this episode dramatically is that Laertes will risk all: unprompted by an instruction from anyone else; erroneously (he has less information than Hamlet); for a less significant figure; openly and acknowledging that he has little power but that he will use it effectively (ll. 135,6)
The derangement of his sister's mind gives Laertes further cause for revenge when he realises that the same man has killed his father as sent his sister mad. The word "rose" was also used by Ophelia of Hamlet and so that scene is evoked as an added poignancy. Leartes stresses the absence of an instructing figure in his story (l 165) and the pathos continues with Ophelia's giving out herbs and flowers with distracted references to the cause of her loss of wits. These phrases make us ask what it was that sent her mad: Hamlet's "antic disposition" and inexplicable behaviour or her father's sudden death. If the first, we have the irony that Hamlet's pretended madness caused true derangement in someone else. A further irony is that there was no need for her family's caution: a marriage to Hamlet would have been approved. Laertes and Claudius come to an agreemen but the young man is also aware of the meagre funeral given to his father, for which no reason is given. This is a long scene concerned with Polonius' family at the point when the main plot might be advancing and so is probably for change of mood, dramatic contrast and parallels. Laertes will risk all (but not now alone) for his garrulous old father as Fortinbras (again accompanied) is risking all for a trifle.
Continue to Act IV scene vi on Hamlet page 9
To go to the Home Page and list of other texts click here
