Dr. Thamir Az-Zubaidy – Third Stage – Hamlet – Acts IV & V– Dept.

of English – Wasit University – 2020/2021

William Shakespeare's Hamlet – Act Four

The major events in this act are as follow:

When he knows that Polonius is killed by Hamlet, the King realises that it is no longer safe to have Hamlet
in the Palace. Thus, he decides that Hamlet should leave immediately. At the end of Scene iii, Claudius
speaks his second soliloquy

And, England, if my love thou hold’st at aught –

As my great power thereof may give thee sense,
Since yet the cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe
Pays homage to us – thou mayst not coldly set
Our sovereign process, which imports at full,
By letters conjuring to that effect,
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;
For like the hectic in my blood he rages,
And thou must cure me. Till I know ‘tis done.
Howe’er my haps, my joys were ne’er begun. (57-67)

In this soliloquy, King Claudius discloses the reason for sending Hamlet to England. At the beginning, he
refers to that period of time when England was ruled by the Danish and then became free but accepted to
pay tribute to Denmark. His words in this soliloquy are addressed to the present King of England informing
him that in the letters he sent with Hamlet, he asks the King to get rid of the bearer of his letter – till this
moment that person is Hamlet – immediately. He asks the King of England to relieve him of Hamlet who
has become a wasting fever that rages in his blood. He will never feel joy until England cures him from this
source of threat and anxiety by killing Hamlet the moment he is admitted to the King of England.

In Scene iv, Hamlet is on his way to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. At the borders where the
ship is waiting to take him there, Hamlet notices a military expedition. This military expedition is from
Norway and led by Young Fortinbras. The soldiers are on their way to fight the Poles over a piece of a
disputed territory worth virtually nothing to either side. When the soldiers have gone, Hamlet, in a soliloquy,
compares the urgent and large-scale action of the army over a trivial point of honour, with his inaction in the
face of the gravest offence.

I do not know
Why yet I live to say, ‘This thing’s to do’,
Sith I have cause, and will, and strength, and means
To do 't. Examples, gross as earth, exhort me:
Witness this army, of such mass and charge,
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed,
Making mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death, and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour’s at stake. How stand I, then,
To have a father killed, a mother stained,
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 Dr. Thamir Az-Zubaidy – Third Stage – Hamlet – Acts IV & V– Dept. of English – Wasit University – 2020/2021

Excitements of my reason and my blood,

And let all sleep? (43-59)

In the above quotation, Hamlet is making a comparison between him and Fortinbras. Hamlet thinks that the
reason for Fortinbras’ expedition is utterly insignificant. Fortinbras is going to sacrifice the lives of his
soldiers for a trivial piece of land which he compares to an ‘egg-shell’. However, he admits that it is a mark
of greatness to dispute over a trivial matter if it is a question of honour. Again, he realises to his shame that
his own honour is by contrast genuinely at stake. He has a father who is murdered and a mother married to
the murderer. Yet, Hamlet is not motivated to take action. He concludes that there can be no excuse for his
own inactivity.

In Scene v, Laertes returns from Paris to find his father, Polonius, dead mysteriously and his sister, Ophelia,
mad. He goes directly to Elsinore castle with a band of men threatening the life of the King whom he takes
to be responsible for his father’s death. The King denies that he is implicated, but Laertes is unconvinced
because the King ordered that Polonius’ funeral is done simply and hastily. When his sister enters and he
sees her mad, his rage mounts. In this sense, Laertes' passionate accusation and threats show him to be at
this stage, like Hamlet, a menace to Claudius. The scene ends with Claudius trying to persuade Laertes
cleverly to pause and think who is guilty and responsible for his father’s death.

In Scene vi, Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet. In this letter, Hamlet tells Horatio that a pirate ship
chased their ship for two days. As Horatio finds in this letter, Hamlet has escaped from the ship bound for
England by getting aboard a pirate ship which attacked them. Moreover, he informs Horatio that he is now
back in Denmark and that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern continue their passage to England. He also tells
Horatio that when they meet, he will tell him other information that will make Horatio dumb. This, however,
is not the only letter Hamlet sends. There is another letter which he asks Horatio to carry to the King.

Scene vii completes scene v. In this scene, The King finishes his work of convincing Laertes that Hamlet,
not he himself, is guilty of Polonius' death and Ophelia's madness. At first, Laertes mistrust him because he
needs to know why Hamlet is set free. The King replies that he cannot kill Hamlet for two reasons: first, the
queen is devoted to her son and, consequently, he is afraid that punishing Hamlet would alienate the
Queen’s affection; second, the Danish people are very fond of Hamlet and the King does not want to arouse
them against him.

O, for two special reasons,

Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinewed,
But yet to me th’ are strong: The queen his mother
Lives almost by his looks; and for myself –
My virtue or my plague, be it either which –
She's so conjuctive to my life and soul
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,
I could not but by her. The other motive,
Why to a public count I might not go,
Is the great love the general gender gear him; (9-18)

Then, the King receives Hamlet’s letter. Knowing that Hamlet is free and in Denmark pushes the King to
think of a plan to get rid of him. His means will be Laertes who is thirsty for revenge. As he begins to gain
Laertes’ trust, he whips him into a passionate desire for vengeance on Hamlet. Then, he tells him that he has
a plan to help Laertes do so: ‘I will work him / To an exploit, now ripe in my device,/ Under the which he
shall not choose but fall./And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe;/ But even his mother shall
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 Dr. Thamir Az-Zubaidy – Third Stage – Hamlet – Acts IV & V– Dept. of English – Wasit University – 2020/2021

uncharge the practice,/ And call it accident.’ (62-67). Claudius thinks of a plan which will ensure Hamlet's
death and make it look like an accident to the extent that even the Queen will not suspect it. Claudius flatters
Laertes by praising his skill in fencing. Then, he tells Laertes that he will have the opportunity to avenge his
father by fencing with Hamlet. The King’s plan is that Laertes’ foil will have its point unguarded and, thus,
he would wound Hamlet when he touches him. It seems that every evil plan in this play incorporates poison.
This practice has become like a contagious plague spreading to persons who are in contact with the King.
This is apparent in Laertes’ following lines:

And for that purpose I’ll anoint my sword. / I bought an unction of a mountebank, / So mortal, that but dip a
knife in it, / Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, / Collected from simples that have virtue/ Under the
moon, can save the thing from death / That is but scratched withal. I’ll touch my point / With this contagion,
that, if I gall him slightly, / It may be death. (140-48)

In the above lines, Laertes notes that he will smear his foil with a deadly poison that is collected by
moonlight so that even a scratch with his foil would cause Hamlet's death. This proves the King's influence
on Laertes who is now totally committed, and goes further than the King by making his evil suggestion of
the poisoned sword. Laertes’ reference to poison, encourages the King to have a second or a back plan if
Laertes fails to wound Hamlet; that plan will be a cup of poisoned wine to be given to Hamlet during the
duel when he feels thirsty. One sip from this cup would be enough to kill Hamlet. The scene ends with the
Queen interrupting their plot against Hamlet to announce that Ophelia has drowned. Ophelia has fallen into
a river and her sodden clothes have dragged her body down. This incident pushes to the limit Laertes’ thirst
for revenge on Hamlet.

We may draw a comparison between Hamlet and Laertes in their reaction to their fathers’ murders. While
Hamlet delays taking action against his uncle for more than two months to make sure that the Ghost’s story
is true, we notice that Laertes acts quickly and irrationally. He appears ready, in Scene v, to attack the King
holding him responsible for his father’s death. When he is asked by the King if he is going to prove himself
to be the true son of his father in action not just in words, Laertes replies that no place, not even a church
would give protection to Hamlet. He would cut Hamlet's throat even he if finds him in a church. In contrast
to Hamlet who restrains himself from killing Claudius while kneeling to pray, Laertes will take his revenge
on Hamlet immediately regardless of how and where he finds him. Moreover, he would not waste time to
question Hamlet to find out whether he is complicit or not in his father’s death.

Hamlet, Act V, Scene ii

At the beginning of Scene ii, we see Hamlet with Horatio. Hamlet tells Horatio how he turned tables on
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He recalls that during the first night at sea, he crept from his cabin and went
to that of the two agents. There, he found the sealed packet containing the King’s letter to the King of
England. When he opened the packet, he discovered to his surprise that Claudius had ordered that Hamlet to
be killed once he arrived there. Acting quickly, he wrote a new letter requesting the English King to execute
the agents who carry the letter immediately:

An earnest conjuration from the king –

As England was has faithful tributary;
As love between them like the palm might flourish;
As peace should still her wheaten garland wear,
And stand a comma ‘tween their amities;
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 Dr. Thamir Az-Zubaidy – Third Stage – Hamlet – Acts IV & V– Dept. of English – Wasit University – 2020/2021

And many much-like As-es of great charge –

That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
Without debatement further, more or less,
He should the bearers put to sudden death,
Not shriving-time allowed. (38-47)

The above lines convey that the contents of the letter state that as a sign of friendship and as a tribute paid by
the King of England to the King of Denmark, the bearers of the letters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, are to
be killed immediately without giving them time to make a confession. Hamlet's discovery of the contents of
Claudius’ letter and replacing it with another one happened before the encounter with the pirates’ ship which
ended with Hamlet being taken as their captive and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern continuing their mission
to England where they would meet immediate death. Commenting on this Hamlet says: ‘they did make love
to this employment; / They are not near my conscience; their defeat/ Does by their own insinuation grow. /
‘Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes / Between the pass and fell incensed points / Of mighty
opposities.’ In these lines Hamlet notes that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s death and downfall spring from
their deliberate intrusion into the affair. Hamlet believes that they quite willingly became involved in the
plot, and used their subtlety to further it. He adds that they are not of noble birth but they accept to come
between the thrust and the fierce, angry sword-points of powerful opponents, himself and the King.
Although Rosencrantz and Guildenstern do not know the contents of the King’s letter they are carrying,
Hamlet believes that they deserve their expected punishment. This as well as other incidents starting with
the play-within-the play, depict Hamlet as a man of action who is no longer valuing the consequences of his
action. Moreover, instead of expressing his desire to commit suicide as a result of being unable to adapt to
the role he is commissioned to play, as we noticed in the first three acts, we find Hamlet, in this scene,
valuing himself as being an equal opponent to Claudius.

Horatio is surprised to know that Claudius is plotting against his nephew. Hamlet replies:

He that hath killed my king, and whored my mother;

Popped in between the’ election and my hopes;
Thrown out his angle for my proper life,
And with such cozenge – is’t not perfect conscience
To quit him with this arm? And is ‘t not be damned
To let this canker of our nature come
In further evil? (64-70)

In the above lines, Hamlet enlists his charges against his uncle. In addition to murdering his father, King
Hamlet, Claudius has seduced Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, interfered in Hamlet’s life and prevents him from
succeeding his father and be the new king. Hamlet maintains that he has just cause to take revenge upon his
uncle and to put an end to his villainy with his own hand because his uncle has become like a disease
spreading among humanity. In this and the previous speech, we become aware that Hamlet’s realisation of
his status and duty has attained its utmost stage. He is aware of his rank as a noble person, his chances of
being the next king and also his duty to put an end to his uncle’s crimes and mischief. This is no longer a
personal duty that ends with avenging his father but also a public one as Claudius’ evil is now affecting all
Denmark.

Before the beginning of the duel, Hamlet apologises to Laertes for mistakenly killing his father:

What I have done,

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 Dr. Thamir Az-Zubaidy – Third Stage – Hamlet – Acts IV & V– Dept. of English – Wasit University – 2020/2021

That might your nature, honour, and exception

Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was’t Hamlet wronged Laertes? Never Hamlet.
. . .
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.
Who does it, then? His madness. If 't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wronged;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy
. . .
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts
That I have shot mine arrow o’er the house,
And hurt my brother (212-26)

Hamlet asks Laertes to forgive him and attributes all his wrong deeds to madness. As he was mad, he is not
to be blamed for he had done. Hamlet ends his speech with Laertes by saying that he has acted blindly and
irresponsibly, like a man who shoots an arrow over a house, and, on the other side, which he cannot see,
hurts his own brother with it.

Laertes accepts Hamlet’s apology; then, they prepare to fence. Laertes asks for another foil. As we know, in
Act IV, Claudius made a plan to help Laertes wound Hamlet during the duel by providing with an
uncovered, or not blunted, foil and Laertes added that he would smear his foil with poison to ensure
Hamlet’s sudden death. Now Laertes changes his foil so that he will fence using the foil that is both
poisoned and not blunted. Believed to be weaker than Laertes in fencing, it is agreed that if Hamlet scores
four hits in twelve, it would prevent Laertes from winning the match. Hamlet scores two hits or touches and
the King asks for a cup of wine for Hamlet and pours poison in it. Claudius tells the attendants to give the
cup to Hamlet to drink in case he is thirsty, but Hamlet asks to delay it until he finishes the first round.
Happy to see her son winning the first scores, the Queen takes the cup and drinks. The King tries to prevent
her but it is too late.

King: Gertrude, do not drink.

Queen: I will, my lord; I pray you, pardon me. [drinks]
King: [Aside] It is the poisoned cup; it is too late. (273-75)

When they continue fencing, Laertes wounds Hamlet and they change rapiers or foils or swords. Changing
the swords or foils is a dramatic device to bring Laertes’ crime back upon himself. Now the foil, that is
smeared with poison and not blunted or covered is in Hamlet’s hands. As they exchange foils, they engage
in a great fight and Hamlet wounds Laertes. At this moment, the Queen falls and Laertes confesses his part
in the evil scheme: ‘as a woodcock to mine own springe, […], I am justly killed with mine own treachery.’
(288-89). Laertes states that he has been used as a trap to catch Hamlet like woodcocks when used as decoys
to entice other birds into traps where they are sometimes go too near the trap and they are themselves
trapped. Before she dies, the Queen tells Hamlet that she is going to die and the reason for that is the drink
which is poisoned. Hamlet orders that the doors in this hall in Elsinore castle are to be closed so that the
perpetrator would not escape. As he falls down, Laertes tells Hamlet that the perpetrator is here in the same
hall:

It is here Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain;

No medicine in the world can do thee good,
In thee there is not half an hour of life;

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 Dr. Thamir Az-Zubaidy – Third Stage – Hamlet – Acts IV & V– Dept. of English – Wasit University – 2020/2021

The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,

Unbated and envenomed. The foul practice
Has turned itself on me; lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again. Thy mother’s poisoned.
I can no more – the king, the king’s to blame. (295-302)

Laertes tells Hamlet that he will die within half an hour and no cure or medicine in the world will save him.
He adds the instrument with which Hamlet is killed is in his hand, which is the foil that is both poisoned and
not blunted. He maintains that he himself gets his share in this evil plan because he will die very soon. He
ends his speech by telling Hamlet that the Queen is poisoned and the person to be blamed for all this is the
King. Hearing this, Hamlet immediately stabs the King and forces him to drink from the same poisoned cup
saying: ‘Here, thou incestuous, damned Dane, / Drink off this poison. […] Follow my mother (307-309) ’.
As stated above, Hamlet starts acting quickly during the last two acts. In Act III, Hamlet refused to kill the
King while praying as this would send Claudius directly to heaven. He said that he would wait for a better
chance when the King is drinking or gambling. Now is Hamlet’s chance to do so while the King is
acknowledged to be complicit in murdering his mother and him as well. Whether Hamlet is avenging his
father and mother or avenging himself would not affect the conclusion that Hamlet finally takes revenge
upon his uncle. Moreover, he is able to achieve a reconciliation with Laertes. Finally, an ambassador arrives
from England to declare that the royal request has been fulfilled because Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
dead. Thus, Hamlet achieves his revenge upon all those who are complicit in plotting against him including
his friends at childhood. Hamlet’s reward is respect from the Danish people in the hall, including his friend
Horatio, and also foreigners who arrive to Elsinore castle, such as the English ambassador and Fortinbras
who returns victoriously from the fight with Poland. Fortinbras orders that Hamlet’s body is to carried by
four captains.

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