Jacqueline Go

Period 5
February 27, 2009

Analyzing Act IV
Identifying Facts

1. The King does not confront Hamlet directly because he is more concerned with
himself which is why he asks him about his own adviser, Polonius instead. He is
also intimidated with what Hamlet has done and he is also convinced that Hamlet
has gone mad which is why it’s futile to reason with him.
2. Hamlet mocks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern they do not understand Hamlet’s
words. That they are just a sponge that sucks up the King’s rewards and they are
just used for tasks that the king needs. Claudius is mocked when Hamlet claims
that he is just an ordinary man just the same as a beggar.
3. He decides to take affirmative action just as what Fortinbras has done and he
realizes that he should as well stop just thinking and do what Fortinbras is doing
which is to do what he is planning to.
4. Ophelia sings about her lover and about love in general. Her songs tell us that she
is devastated by the death of her father though most of the things in the song can
be said as random; they convey words of love and sorrow.
5. People have become angry and have lost their trust on their monarchy that they
decide to revolve against it and make Laertes the new king. Removal of Hamlet
has annoyed the crowd because everyone loves the young prince Hamlet.
Everything has been quite a mess after Polonius’s death as we learn that Ophelia
has died, Laertes is angered and the angry mob has gone against the monarchy.
6. Laertes becomes Claudius’s new ally against Hamlet. Claudius proposes that
Hamlet is mad and that is why he killed Polonius. Laertes should then be
cautioned because Hamlet is a threat to the Kingdom especially because he is
capable of killing.
7. Ophelia was sitting down a tree branch near the weeping brook when the branch
snapped. However, her clothes were buoyant enough that kept her afloat but
instead of saving herself, she sang songs until she drowned instead.
8. Horatio receives a mail from Hamlet saying that he has boarded a pirate ship and
he has become their prisoner but he will do something for them in return for their
trust. Hamlet is going back to Denmark while Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
still going to England since they haven’t noticed that Hamlet has gone.

Interpreting Meanings

9. Hamlet goes mad due to his anger while Ophelia goes mad due to her
vulnerability as she finds out about her father’s death. Hamlet is not as vulnerable
as her because he uses his madness to calculate what he needs to do next.
10. Horatio must give letters to King Claudius that Hamlet has enclosed with the
letter. Horatio’s course of action is very small because Hamlet is going back to
 Denmark where he will confront Claudius himself. Horatio’s task is to give the
letter as a form of a thread to Claudius from Hamlet.
11. Hamlet finds action as a bold and efficient move that he admires in Fortinbras. He
is able to take action unlike Hamlet, where he just thinks and it takes him quite a
while to take action. He thinks that honor is worthless, that it is just a lie given to
soldiers to make them feel good.
12. Ophelia knows that she is just someone that Hamlet will not be able to marry
while she does not know that Hamlet will be the ultimate cause of her death
overall. Hamlet knows that he is capable of killing Claudius but he didn’t know
that he would be a murderer of several people and that he might actually be
classified as someone insane. Gertrude knew that her marrying Claudius is going
to be an issue to Hamlet but she didn’t know that she would be labeled as an
incestuous adulterer.
13. Mocking the king saying that he goes through the guts of the beggar, saying that
he is fat and that he is nothing but just the same as a beggar. These things would
enable the King to charge him with treason.
14. At the end of act 4, Hamlet is coming back to Denmark while Laertes and
Claudius are waiting for him to eliminate him. Laertes suffers from the death of
his father and sister. Also, the whole population is unhappy and displeased with
what the king has done, which is killed Polonius and shipped Hamlet away. It can
be resolved if Claudius is gone from the throne, Laertes has accepted forgiveness
from Hamlet’s wrongdoing and if Claudius apologizes to what he has done to the
former king.