The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark - Act IV By: Rotten Denmark ( Briana Arevalo, Rebecca Costello, Robyn Lee, and Therese Cosgray)

Scene I Important characters: Gertrude, Claudius Important event: Gertrude tells Claudius that Hamlet killed Polonius and has gone mad. Claudius decides to send Hamlet to England. Then sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find Hamlet.

Scene II Important Characters: Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern Important Events: Hamlet has just finished getting rid of Polonius’s body. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern show up and ask where the body is. Hamlet does not give a straight answer. Then he goes with them back to Claudius.

Scene III Important Characters: Hamlet, Claudius Important Events: Claudius asks where Polonius’s body is and sends Hamlet to England.

Scene IV Important Characters: Fortinbras’s Captain, Hamlet Important Events: Fortinbras’s Captain is in Denmark and Hamlet asks him why he is there. Fortinbras’s Captain explains that Fortinbras wants to attack Poland in order to take back a small piece of land. Hamlet is surprised that people would go through so much violence and effort to fight for something that doesn’t have much worth. He is disgusted with himself for not killing Claudius for the revenge of his father, so he promises that his thoughts will be bloody.

Scene V Important Characters: Gertrude, Claudius, Ophelia, Laertes Important Events: Ophelia enters and she is very distracted and she is singing while Gertrude is trying to talk to her. Claudius enters and tries to question her also but Ophelia continues to sing incoherently. Ophelia leaves and eventually Laertes comes in and is angry about the death of Polonius. Ophelia comes back, still singing, and hands out flowers to the other characters. When Laertes sees how she has gone crazy, he becomes even angrier.

Scene VI Important Characters: Horatio, a sailor Important Events: The sailor gives Horatio a letter from Hamlet. Hamlet says that his ship was captured by pirates that returned him to Denmark. He also tells Horatio to escort the sailors to Claudius and Gertrude so they can deliver a message to them two. Horatio takes them to Claudius and follows them to try to find Hamlet who may be in the countryside near the castle.

Scene VII Important Characters: Laertes, Claudius, Gertrude Important Events: Claudius explains that he buried Polonius secretly and isn’t planning to punish Hamlet because Gertrude and the people love him so much. Laertes is happy to hear that Hamlet is back in Denmark so that he can properly seek his revenge and Claudius encourages him since Hamlet’s behavior was threatening his reign. He tells Laertes that he can tempt Hamlet into a duel so that he can have the opportunity to kill him by using a sharpened sword dipped in poison. Gertrude enters announcing that Ophelia drowned herself. Laertes flees in anger and Claudius and Gertrude follow him, afraid that they won’t be able to calm his rage.

Literary Devices Simile- “Mad as the sea and wind when both contend Which is the mightier” Act IV, Scene i Hamlet was talking to Gertrude in her closet and thought that the king was listening in. So without seeing who it was, he stabs the curtain and ends up killing Polonius. Gertrude uses this simile to emphasize Hamlet’s craziness in this moment. Metaphor- “And what’s untimely done. Whose whisper o’er the world’s diameter, as level as the cannon to his blank Transports his poisoned shot, may miss our name and hit the woundless air” Act IV, Scene i This is what the king says when Gertrude comes to him and tells him about Polonius’s death. By using this metaphor he compares Hamlet to a poisoned shot and explains that sending him away will protect himself and the queen from Hamlet.

Literary Devices Cont. Antithesis- “The body is with the King, but the King is not with the body” Act IV, Scene ii Rosencrantz is asking Hamlet where the body is and Hamlet is giving riddles in response to avoid answering the question. This use of antithesis shows that Hamlet is crazy and does not have remorse for what he has done. Dramatic Irony- “By letters congruing to that effect, The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England” Act IV, Scene iv The king is talking about sending Hamlet to England to get him killed. This is ironic because Hamlet is planning the king’s death at the same time. Soliloquy- Act IV, Scene iv “How all occasions do inform against me… My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!” Hamlet has been too cowardly to actually kill Claudius or do anything to avenge his Father’s death, but this plan of his had consumed his life and become his sole purpose to live but the deed is too great for him. This use of soliloquy shows how Hamlet continues to be all talk without actually doing anything.

Roles of Supernatural The Ghost is the guiding force of the play. It creates suspense and develops the major theme of revenge. The supernatural in the play is a way for Shakespeare to introduce the presence of evil. It creates an unsettling atmosphere, filled with fear and trepidation. Hamlet becomes consumed with questions about the nature of death, such as when he says, “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come” (III:I:73). This causes his mind to wander, and he becomes distracted from his original goal to “revenge his [father’s] foul and most unnatural murder” (I:V:31).

Disease and Poison Francisco claims at the opening of the play, “‘Tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart,” foreshadowing the misery that is to come throughout the play (I:I:9). Marcellus says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” further foreshadowing the downfall of the characters, especially Hamlet (I:IV:90). Hamlet says to Gertrude that what she has done “takes off the rose from the fair forehead of an innocent love and sets a blister there,” and that heaven is “thought-sick” (III:IV:42-44, 51). When Claudius sees that Ophelia has gone mad, he comments, “O, this is the poison of deep grief,” saying that losing her father has caused her to lose her sanity(IV:V:75). The inclusion of disease and poison throughout the play illustrates the corrupt state of Denmark and Hamlet’s increasing pessimissim and madness.