Act 4 continued and Act 5

Claudius begins reasoning with Laertes, telling him he was his father's friends, and Laertes should only hurt the enemies of Polonius, to which Laertes agrees. Just then Ophelia enters in her mad state, and Laertes lets out a tragic wail, completely devastated by her madness. He believes Ophelia's sanity has died with his father, and it makes him even more bent on revenge, he promises to avenge Ophelia too. Ophelia begins giving out flowers, but surprisingly in her madness she seems to have realised the sins of Gertrude and Claudius. She gives Gertrude a flower to symbolise adultery, and she gives Claudius a flower to represent repentence. There is absolutely no evidence Ophelia knows of Claudius's great sin, but somehow in her madness she seems to have realised, perhaps there is a greater theme in the play linking madness to knowledge. Ophelia leaves, still singing a song about her dead father and Laertes is incredibly distressed. Claudius tells Laertes to go and find his wisest friends to question him, and should they find him guilty in being involved in the murder of Polonius he will give up his crown and life. Should they find him innocent Claudius will help Laertes gain revenge on the one who is really responsible (Hamlet.) Claudius knows he will be found innocent of having any involvement, however from a wider perspective the audience knows that Claudius was the one who caused Hamlet's madness, so very indirectly he is responsible for Polnius's death. Laertes says the way he was buried quickly with no state funeral made him think he was murdered, Claudius says he is right and the one who did it must die. This is foreshadowing the death of the guilty Hamlet and also the death of Claudius himself, who as i have said is indirectly responsible.

In scene 5 Horatio receives a letter from some sailors from Hamlet, who had been travelling to England. In the letter Hamlet tells Horatio that these men also have letters to the King. Hamlet then tells Horatio the story of his escape, telling him that their ship to England was pursued and caught by pirates. In the ensuing battle Hamlet escaped onto the pirate ship, who left with he as their sole prisoner. The pirates treated him well, mainly as they knew he could do favours for them. Hamlet tells Horatio he has some shocking stories to tell him, particulalry about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who have continued their journey to England. Horatio goes to show the messengers to the king so that Horatio may go and see Hamlet. Horatio by this point seems to be Hamlet's only true friend, the only one that really knows what Hamlet is doing why and the only one Hamlet trusts.

Between scene 5 and 7 Claudius seems to have been judged by Laertes's wise friends, and in scene 7 Laertes has accepted that it was Hamlet who killed Polonius, thinking it was Claudius. Laertes asks why Claudius didn't punish his nephew, and Claudius replies because of the devoution of Gertrude and the devotion of the public to Hamlet. Laertes still wants his revenge and Claudius is keen to help him, with his own safety threatended, he is about to tell Laertes of his play to have Hamlet killed in England when the messengers with the letters arrive. Hamlet's letter to Claudius says that Hamlet is coming back to look upon the King and ask forgiveness, and that he will tell the King the story of his sudden return when he gets to the palace. Claudius is alarmed, and believes it may be false, but he recognises the handwriting. Laertes wishes him to come, and to be able to accuse Hamlet to his face before killing him.

Claudius feels it is right for Laertes to feel this way, and offers to guide and direct him. Laertes agrees, as long as Claudius doesn’t lead him towards peace and as long as Laertes is the tool for Hamlet’s demise. Claudius tells him if Hamlet does not mean to continue to England then Claudius will set a trap which will kill him, and will do it so cunningly it will seem to everyone like an accident. Claudius tells Laertes that Hamlet is extremely jealous of Laertes’ skill with a sword, which was decribed by a Laertes’ Norman friend Lamond to Claudius as being the best he has ever seen (though we are unsure if this is a real story or merely one to flatter Laertes, Claudius already flattered him by saying “and that in my regard of the unworthiest siege.”) Claudius then rifles Laertes, asking if he’s sure he actually loved his father, egging him on for the next part of Claudius’s plan. He tells Laertes not to kill Hamlet immediately; instead Claudius and his men will praise Laertes’s talent so much that Hamlet will get angry and challenge Laertes to a duel. Then Claudius will have one of the swords sharpened, and Hamlet, who is so careless and unsuspecting, will not realise so Laertes can choose the sharp sword and run it through him. From Claudius’s point of view, I hardly think unsuspecting is the right word to use for Hamlet, but never mind. Laertes agrees, and also says he will dip his sword into some deadly poison, which will kill anyone who sustains as little as a scratch. Claudius then says they need a back-up plan, and says he will have a cup of drink for Hamlet, which he will ask for when he gets hot from the fight, which will also be filled with deadly poison. This cunning and dastardly plan really gets the audience excited for the finale, but the audience identifies that with so much poison about someone else could easily end up mistakenly taking some. Poison was also the method Claudius used to kill King Hamlet, and poison seems to be becoming a theme in the play, both literally and metaphorically.

Gertrude enters, and tells Laertes Ophelia has drowned. She recalls that Ophelia was making flower wreaths from the flowers by the willow tree that overhangs the brook. She climbed up the willow tree to hang her wreaths on the willow branches, then fell into the water. She seemed to be completely unaware of her danger, still singing while floating for a while, before she was pulled under and drowned. While it is not explicably said that Ophelia killed herself, it seems most likely she did, certainly the gravediggers in the next scene think so. Ophelia is perhaps the most tragic character in the play, simply a girl in love controlled by her father and manipulated and tortured by her troubled lover. The man she loved killed her father, and through no wrong or malice of her own she has lost all she has, including her very sanity. Ophelia is a fairly one-dimensional character, and in comparison has few lines in the play, but even so she provokes the most audience sympathy, and is one of the main reasons for disliking the character of Hamlet.

Laertes says that Ophelia has suffered too much water, so will refrain from crying. But his emotion overcomes him, and he begins sobbing, cursing himself for acting like a woman. The death of Ophelia has made him even more bent on revenge, and he is angry again, but that emotion is currently overcome with pure, raw grief, and he leaves crying. Claudius follows him, annoyed that after so much effort in calming him down he may do something rash. Laertes sobbing is a very poignant moment in the play. Laertes has lost his father and his sister, and both deaths are down to Hamlet, and his temporary madness caused by his delay in avenging his father. Hamlet has proved to be incredibly destructive to all those around him, and this is perfectly epitomised in the sight of the brave and dashing Laertes reduced to sobbing for the losses Hamlet has caused.

In Act 5 Scene 1 there is a rare showing of comedy with the gravediggers scene. The two gravediggers are arguing over wether Ophelia should be given a Christian burial, when it is common knowledge she committed suicide. The second gravedigger is merely carrying out orders and digging a Christian grave while the first gravedigger questions the verdict, how it is possible for one to throw herself into the water and not be judged to have committed suicide, unless she acted in self defence. The second gravedigger relents and admits she only gets a Christian burial because she was rich. The first clown likens gravediggers to Adam, saying it is one of the oldest professions there is. He then asks the second “What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright or the carpenter?” The second replies the man who makes gallows, as his building outlives thousands of tenants. The first laughs but says the correct answer is a gravedigger, as what he builds lasts till judgement day. He sends the second to fetch him some booze, and continues digging the grave while singing, just as Hamlet and Horatio enter. Hamlet finds it inappropriate that the gravedigger sings while digging a grave, and that he throws old bones and skulls up from the grave without any care or gentleness. Hamlet reflects who the skull once belonged too, and what he did in his life, returning to the thoughtful Hamlet of earlier in the play. The skulls and dead bodies are also foreshadowing the coming of death of almost all the main characters.  Hamlet asks the gravedigger who the grave belongs too, the gravedigger replies it belongs to him, and Hamlet must ask who is to be buried in it, a man or woman. The gravedigger replies neither, but someone who used to be a woman but is now dead. Hamlet comments that the peasants have almost become as clever as the nobles to Horatio. Hamlet himself appears in conversation, and in a moment of dramatic irony Hamlet asks the gravedigger for information about himself. The gravedigger reveals one of the skulls belonged to Yorick, the king’s jester. Hamlet remembers him from childhood, and is upset and disgusted by the decay that has happened. Hamlet seems to be extremely troubled by the concept of death, perhaps explaining why it has taken him so long to murder Claudius and risk execution for treason. Hamlet discusses how the ashes of Alexander the Great or someone else of such calibre can end up being used to plug up barrels, a concept he has already mentioned, earlier in the play he talked about how worms that eat noblemen are eaten by animals which are then eaten by peasants.

The Funeral procession enters, and Hamlet and Horatio wait out of sight and watch Claudius, Gertrude and Laertes enter with the coffin and some other lords and attendants. Hamlet wonders who is in the coffin, and comments that with so few guests the person must have killed themselves. With such noble guests the person must have also come from a wealthy family. The priest refuses to perform any more rites for Ophelia, as she had committed suicide, and the priest only let her be buried within the graveyard and hymns be sung for her because the king made it so. Laertes wants more rites, and wants violets to bloom on her grave. He says the pure Ophelia will be in heaven while the priest burns in hell for refusing to perform rites for his sister. At this point Hamlet realises it is Ophelia who is in the coffin. Gertrude scatters flower for her, saying how she had wished for Hamlet and Ophelia to marry, reinforcing the waste that has been caused and reinforcing the tragedy. Laertes curses Hamlet one again for robbing him of his sister, and suddenly jumps into the grave, overcome with emotion, wishing to hold her again and be buried with her. At this point Hamlet comes forward, and claims his grief is greatest of all, and he also jumps in the grave. Laertes tells Hamlet to go to hell and begins attacking him, putting his hands around Hamlet’s throat. Hamlet warns Laertes that he is dangerous, though not rash and quick to anger (though you could argue sometimes Hamlet is rash, jumping into the grave being an example.) Attendants separate the two men. Hamlet claims he loved Ophelia, and the love of forty thousand brothers can’t match his own love for her. He asks Laertes if he will cry, fight, stop eating or eat a crocodile out of grief, and Hamlet says he will do all of these things, and anything Laertes does will he will outdo. This seems to be an immature thing to do, instead of trying to comprehend the losses Laertes has suffered by his own hand and understanding how upset Laertes is, he wants to fight Laertes to prove who loved Ophelia the most, almost like a child-like game. The issue of wether Hamlet did love Ophelia as much as he says in Act 5 is left ambiguous, after all he did treat her with extreme cruelty and didn’t attempt to see her after the play was performed. But perhaps he was just caught up in his task, and didn’t want to see Ophelia after he had murdered her father. Gertrude dismisses Hamlet’s behaviour as insanity, and Hamlet leaves. Claudius sends Horatio and guards to keep an eye on Hamlet, and implores Laertes to be patient and implement the plan they had already discussed. He also promises to erect a monument for Ophelia, again acting in a slimy and over complimentary towards Laertes, thrilled he has someone else to do his dirty work for him.

Act 5 Scene 2 begins with Hamlet recalling the rest of the tale of his escape to Horatio. He says that while on the ship he began to get a bad feeling about the intentions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and acted rashly and impulsively. Interestingly Hamlet defends impulsiveness, saying sometimes it is great when well laid plans fail. Certainly it may have served Hamlet well at the beginning of the play, but he seems to only be realising this now. This fits with one of the conditions of classic Shakespeare tragedy, that the tragic hero realises his flaw at the end of the play when it is too late, Hamlet is now doomed, but at least he is realising the error of his ways. Hamlet tells Horatio he searched the bags of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and found a letter from Claudius to the king of England, telling the English King to kill Hamlet as soon as he got there. Hamlet says he carefully re-wrote the letter, flattering the King of England and then asking him to kill the carriers of the letter without letting them go to a priest and confess. Hamlet luckily had his uncle’s signet ring with the emblem of Denmark, so could seal the letter and replace it in the bag. Hamlet says he feels no guilt for the demise of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as they brought it upon themselves by allying with Claudius. Even so it seems harsh that he didn’t even let them go to a priest before they were killed, but Hamlet seems to have become hardened by events in the play. It is interesting that after suffering with the concept of murder so much, Hamlet has now murdered three individuals. (There is a question over why Rosencrantz and Guildenstern would deliver the letter to the King, when their quarry has escaped, if they have any sense they would have gone off on a jolly in England instead of delivering the letter.) Hamlet tells Horatio that now that Claudius has killed his father, whored his mother and tried to kill him, that Hamlet can now feel absolutely no guilt in killing him. Perhaps this was the reason Hamlet failed to kill his uncle, he was too worried about his own conscience. Hamlet tells Horatio he feels bad for his behaviour in front of Laertes, and he promises to be nice to him from now on, showing still a glimpse of humanity and sensitivity.

Unusually for this late stage of the play, a new character, Osric, is introduced. Hamlet has met him before, he is rich so is part of the court, but according to Hamlet he is an insect and very annoying. He is also very effeminate, choosing to take off his hat like a lady instead of keep it on, claiming it is very hot (It’s Denmark!?) Osric tells Hamlet that the King has placed a large bet on Hamlet, and also describes Laertes as the finest gentlemen there is, hinting he has a crush on him. Hamlet agrees that Laertes is a great man, and the only man equal to him is his own reflection. Hamlet toys with Oscric, using language he can’t understand. Osric claims Laertes is a fantastic fencer, and describes the size of the bets placed, and tells him Claudius has bet that Laertes won’t beat Hamlet by more than three hits. Osric asks Hamlet if he will accept the dual, and Hamlet does, falling into the trap lain for him. Horatio believes Hamlet will lose the bet, but Hamlet reveals he has been practising ever since Laertes went to France, so unsuspecting of his talent Laertes will be caught unawares and Hamlet may end up winning. Even so he has a sinking feeling, foreshadowing what it to come. Horatio thinks Hamlet shouldn’t fight, but Hamlet reveals he believes in destiny, and he must fight now.

Everyone comes to watch the dual, and at the handshake Hamlet apologises to Laertes, saying it was his madness that insulted him and caused his grief, not Hamlet himself. He almost tries to absolve himself of guilt, but he does show remorse. Laertes reveals that in his heart he forgives Hamlet, a very nice thing. But says he will still fight him to protect his honour and reputation. They begin duelling, with Osric as referee, and Hamlet hits Laertes. As a reward Claudius offers Hamlet a drink with a rich pearl in it (which is actually the poison.) But the men go on, and Hamlet hits Laertes again. By this point Hamlet has gotten hot and out of breath, and the queen goes to wipe his brow. She takes the wine meant for Hamlet and goes to drink it to his health. Claudius quickly tells her not to drink, but she does so anyway, and Claudius knows she has drunken the poison. The men duel on, with Laertes more fired up, as Hamlet bates him and Claudius doesn’t think he can win. Laertes expresses some guilt in what he is about to do, but still wounds Hamlet with the poisoned, sharpened tip. In more fighting the men end up swapping swords, and then Hamlet wounds Laertes with the same poisoned blade. Claudius wants them to be separated, but then Gertrude collapses. Horatio and Osric ask how the two fighters are, Laertes replies he feels like a mouse caught in its own trap, and collapses, saying he is “justly killed with mine own treachery.” Hamlet asks after the Queen, and Claudius replies she fainted from the blood, but Gertrude suddenly shouts to Hamlet that she has been poisoned from the wine, before dying. Hamlet demands to know who is responsible, and Laertes tells him everything. About the blade which is going to kill Laertes and Hamlet in a matter of minutes, the poison that killed the Queen, the fact that is was planned and Laertes then blames the King for the death of Gertrude. Hamlet realising he has the poisoned blade, turns around and wounds Claudius. The other noblemen cry treason, but Hamlet still grabs the cup and forces the rest of the poison down Claudius’s throat. Finally, after the longest play in Shakespeare, Claudius is finally killed by Hamlet. Phew. Laertes says Claudius got what he deserved and he absolves Hamlet of any guilt for his or Polonius’s death, also claiming it is not his fault for Hamlet’s oncoming death. In a way Laertes is right, as all action in the play can be attributed to Claudius’s original sin. Laertes dies. Hamlet then collapses, and begins to say goodbye to Horatio and the others, calling his mother a wretched queen. He tells Horatio to tell everyone the story of what really happened, as he no longer has the time. Horatio doesn’t wish to be left behind, and is about to drink the little poison left in the cup but Hamlet stops him, imploring Horatio to tell the story to the world, so they may know why Hamlet acted so strangely.

Outside a military march and cannons are sounding, and Osric announces it is the young Fortinbras, returned victorious from Poland, now looking to avenge his father and conquer Denmark. Hamlet does not live to see Fortinbras appear, but says he is sure Fortinbras will get the Danish throne by popular choice, and says he is happy for him to take over. The poison overcomes Hamlet, and he dies-satisfying the main condition of a tragedy – the end death of the main character. Horatio mourns Hamlet, but doesn’t have much time to do it before Fortinbras enters the palace with an English Ambassador. Fortinbras is shocked by the sight of all the dead bodies, and Horatio comments that if he wanted to see a tragedy, he has come to the right place. Fortinbras thinks it unnecessary that so many deaths have come at once, especially when the ambassador announces Guildenstern and Rosencrantz have been put to death supposedly on the orders of the King. This could be argued against Shakespeare, that perhaps the deaths of so many main characters in the space of a few lines is dramatic overload, though it could also be said it makes Hamlet a truly great tragedy, with complete destruction and loss of life, and in this case kingdom. Horatio tells Fortinbras to display the bodies, so he may tell the story of all that happened. Fortinbras agrees, but also considers his rights to the kingdom, now the entire royal family of Denmark has been wiped out. Horatio and Fortinbras go to sort out the mess that has been left, and Fortinbras orders Hamlet’s body to be carried like a soldier onto the platform where they are all to be displayed, and orders military music and military rites to be peformed in his honour and a cannon fired again in his honour. The reason for this, as Fortinbras explains, is that Hamlet was the most noble and would have “proved most royally had he been put on.” Fortinbras doesn’t realise yet that Hamlet blessed his acquisition of power, as Horatio hasn’t told him, so this can be judged purely to be Fortinbras’s own opinion. One of the hallmarks of a tragedy is that at the end the other characters realise the greatness of the tragic hero and really feel the loss of that individual. Horatio is grieving for Hamlet, while Fortinbras, who did not know Hamlet very well, seems to have thought him very noble, so this certainly fits with the general outline of Shakespearean tragedy. Another hallmark of tragedy is the new hope right at the end, and this is represented by Fortinbras’s new rule of Denmark, and the purging of the rottenness and poison within Denmark, as now all the characters involved at all with the plotting and bad actions in the story are dead.