1. Hamlet- Act 4
Scene by Scene

2. Scene 1
Claudius questions Gertrude on Hamlet’s whereabouts and condition. Faithful to the promise she gave her son, Gertrude tells the king that Hamlet is “mad as the sea and wind when both contend/Which is the mightier.”
She relates the circumstances of Polonius’s death, and the king becomes even more alarmed, saying that Hamlet would have killed him if he had been in Gertrude’s chamber.
He declares that Hamlet must depart that very day, and he orders Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find Polonius’s body.

3. Scene 1- Digging Deeper
The queen is often described as a weak character with a will corrupted and paralyzed by lust. In this scene, however, she takes a considerable risk to protect Hamlet as she cooperates with his pretense of madness.

4. Scene 2
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern attempt to find out from Hamlet where he has hidden the body of Polonius. Hamlet mocks them with insults, puns, and black humor.
Continuing to “play mad,” he runs offstage as if he were the target in a game of hide-and-seek.
Hamlet uses an elaborate extended metaphor, mockingly comparing Rosencrantz to a “sponge” that soaks up the king’s favor and is then squeezed dry.

5. Scene 3
Claudius enters alone, remarking that he must treat Hamlet cautiously because of the prince’s great popularity with the people. Rosencrantz enters and reports that he and Guildenstern have failed to discover Polonius’s body.
When Hamlet enters, along with Guildenstern and attendants, Claudius demands to know the whereabouts of Polonius’s body, and after some mocking banter, Hamlet tells him that he has left it in the lobby.

6. Scene 3
Claudius then tells Hamlet to prepare for an immediate departure. After everyone exits, Claudius reveals that the journey to England is in fact a death trap; sealed letters command the king of England to execute Hamlet immediately after his arrival.

7. Scene 3- Digging Deeper
This brief scene advances the plot by dramatizing Hamlet’s departure and by revealing Claudius’s murderous intent in his letter to the king of England. At the same time, the scene increases suspense because Hamlet’s aside shows that he is on his guard against the king’s treachery.

8. Scene 3
The imagery of the scene reinforces the theme of disease and corruption. Hamlet puns on the decomposition of Polonius’s body, and he significantly points out that even kings rot in the grave. Claudius uses the imagery of disease to refer to his own fears of Hamlet: “Diseases desperate grown/By desperate appliance are relieved,/Or not at all.”
Toward the end of the scene, Claudius boasts of his power to coerce the king of England to murder, referring to a recent “cicatrice,” or scar, inflicted on England by the Danish sword. Hamlet is like a “hectic,” or fever, raging in Claudius’s blood: “Do it, England;/For like the hectic in my blood he rages,/ And thou must cure me.”

9. Scene 4
The scene shifts from the dark interior of the castle (where most of the play is set) to an open plain in Denmark, where the Norwegian general Fortinbras leads a large army toward combat in Poland. A captain explains to Hamlet the absurdity of the expedition, in which many will die fighting for an insignificant piece of land. Left alone, Hamlet compares himself to Fortinbras and reproaches himself in a soliloquy for delaying his vengeance and makes a definite decision to carry it out.

10. Scene 4- Digging Deeper
This scene marks the first appearance of Fortinbras, whom Claudius has characterized as aggressive and ambitious. Here his chief importance is as a decisive foil to Hamlet, who watches as the Norwegian army crosses Denmark to engage in a petty action in Poland. However gratuitous the military action of the Norwegians may prove, it is their capacity to act and risk their own death that impresses the prince.
In Hamlet’s last great soliloquy in the play, he makes it clear that he has compelled his thoughts of revenge to action and is determined to kill Claudius.

11. Scene 5
At the castle, Gertrude and Horatio are confronted with Ophelia’s insanity, caused evidently by the shocks of Hamlet’s rejection and Polonius’s death. Claudius enters and observes Ophelia’s pathetic and demented behavior.
When Ophelia exits, Claudius tells Gertrude that Laertes has arrived from France, bent on revenge for his father’s death. Rumors also abound that the people are ready to overthrow Claudius and make Laertes king of Denmark.

12. Scene 5 (continued)
Laertes bursts in, demanding that Claudius defend himself against rumors charging the king with Polonius’s death. Claudius calmly promises that he will reveal the identity of Laertes’s true enemy, but before he can prove his innocence, Ophelia reenters to sing an incoherent lament for the dead, scattering flowers as if on a coffin.
Laertes is shocked by this display of his sister’s madness. After Ophelia’s exit, Claudius assures Laertes that he will explain all the circumstances of Polonius’s death. The king says that he is ready to surrender his power if Laertes remains unconvinced.

13. Scene 5- Digging Deeper
Shakespeare characterizes Ophelia’s madness convincingly by merging in the lyrics she sings the motifs of her father’s death and her rejection by Hamlet. For example, her “true-love” is “dead and gone,” like her father. Her pathetic lines when she exits, “Good night, sweet ladies/Good night,” hint that she imagines herself at a court party or banquet.
The theme of revenge receives new emphasis with reports of insurrection against Claudius and with Laertes’ excited entrance.

14. Scene 6
A sailor delivers a letter from Hamlet to Horatio. In the letter, Hamlet tells his friend to make sure that the seafarers deliver other messages to the king. He also reports that, two days after his departure from Denmark for England, his ship was attacked by pirates.
Hamlet boarded the pirate ship just before the Danish vessel got clear. He thus became the pirates’ sole prisoner. He reassures Horatio that the pirates have treated him well and hints that he has landed in Denmark. Finishing the letter, Horatio order the messengers to lead him to Hamlet.

15. Scene 6- Digging Deeper
By leaving many questions unanswered, Hamlet’s letter contributes to suspense, or uncertainty about what will happen next in the play. These questions exist:
What exactly happened in the rather implausible incident with the pirates, and how has Hamlet managed to return to Denmark?
What are the marvelous events that Hamlet will relate to Horatio in person?
What of Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Claudius’s plot to have Hamlet murdered in England?

16. Scene 7
Claudius tells Laertes that Hamlet slew Polonius and is plotting against Claudius’s life. When Laertes asks why Claudius has not punished Hamlet more severely, the king rationalizes his inaction by referring to Gertrude’s love for her son and to Hamlet’s great popularity with the people. Incited by Claudius, Laertes broods on revenge.
A messenger enters to deliver letters from Hamlet to Claudius and Gertrude. In his letters, Hamlet announces mysteriously that he has returned to Denmark and will appear in person on the following day at court.

17. Scene 7 (continued)
Claudius reveals to Laertes a plot through which they can both be rid of Hamlet: The king will arrange a fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes, and Laertes will use a foil with a poisoned tip. As a back up, Claudius will prepare a poisoned drink to offer Hamlet if he fails to be wounded in the match.
Queen Gertrude enters, announcing that Ophelia has drowned, news that adds to Laertes’ fury.

18. Scene 7- Digging Deeper
Shakespeare uses the convention of in media res to start the scene: Laertes and Claudius appear in the middle of a conversation, and it is clear that the king has exploited the young man’s thirst for revenge by filling him with half-truths about the death of Polonius. Laertes questions Claudius’s failure to take stronger action against the prince; Claudius’s answers, ironically, are more true than false.

19. Scene 7- Digging Deeper
The themes of revenge and appearance versus reality are especially dominant in this scene. Hamlet’s planned murder at court must satisfy the claims of Laertes for revenge, but the death must appear accidental to avoid any trouble from Gertrude, whose love for Hamlet has been emphasized by the king earlier in the scene.
Claudius takes special pains to flatter Laertes at length for his skill in fencing. His reference to Hamlet’s “envenomed” envy of Laertes is probably an attempt by Claudius to spur on Laertes’ hatred and desire for revenge, because Hamlet’s “jealousy” has no independent support elsewhere in the play.