Brandwajn 9
Act IV, scenes i., ii, and iii/
“Mad as the sea and wind, when
both contend which is the
mightier: in his lawless fit,
behind the arras hearing
something stir, whips out his
rapier, cries, ‘A rat, a rat!’ And
in this brainish apprehension,
kills the unseen good old man”
(7-12).
“Tell us where ‘tis, that we may
take it thence and bear it to the
chapel” (6-7).
“Yet must not we put the strong
law on him: He’s lov’d of the
distracted multitude, who like
not in their judgement, but in
their eyes” (3-5).
“In heaven; send thiter to see: if
your messenger find him not
there, seek him i’ the other
place yourself” (31-32).
Gertrude shows to be one of the hardest
characters to figure out in the play. I
cannot tell whether she is on Hamlet’s
side because she is helping him with
his plan to kill the king or whether she
is on the King’s side telling him about
Hamlet. In my opinion, I would guess
that she loves them both no matter what
and she is on both sides.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern try to get
information about Polonius’ body as
the King instructed. Hamlet, being
smarter than both of them, already does
not let them extract any valuable
information. In the play, Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern never get rewarded
for being the King’s marionettes. I still
wonder, why do they keep working for
him? Maybe Sheakspeare uses them so
he can make fun of how manipulative
royalty is and how obsequious wealthy
people were in Elizabethan times.
The King wants to get rid of Hamlet
any kind of way possible. If he does,
however, he would lose popularity in
the kingdom because Hamlet is very
respected by the Danes.
At this point in the play, the tension
between Claudius and Hamlet has
grown to where Hamlet does not even
speak to Claudius with any respect.
Hamlet commands Claudius to seek for
Polonius in hell, where accordingly to
the ghost of King Hamlet’ metaphor, is
Claudius’ home.