Act 4; Scene 1

ACT IV

SCENE I. A room in the Castle.

Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

KING.
There’s matter in these sighs. These profound heaves
You must translate; ’tis fit we understand them.
Where is your son?

QUEEN.
Bestow this place on us a little while.

[To Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who go out.]

Ah, my good lord, what have I seen tonight!

KING.
What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet?

QUEEN.
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!’ Another reference to the mousetrap, but Polonius is a rat.
And in this brainish apprehension kills
The unseen good old man. Does she really believe he is mad? Was she humoring him earlier when she told him she would not tell anyone what he told her about not being mad? Is she really going to turn on Claudius after what he told her? We shall see.

KING.
O heavy deed!
It had been so with us, had we been there. He’ll kill us all; his madness will kill us all. Is this all a pun on madness, as in anger or madness as insanity?
His liberty is full of threats to all;
To you yourself, to us, to everyone. Claudius is panicking…that he is about to be found out, that Gertrude will side with Hamlet over him, that Hamlet is a threat to him.
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer’d?
It will be laid to us, whose providence The people of Denmark will blame us for not restraining Hamlet when we knew he was dangerous.
Should have kept short, restrain’d, and out of haunt
This mad young man. But so much was our love But was that really love? Or was it I’ve just killed my brother, and it will look suspicious if the heir to the throne suddenly dies too, leaving me unopposed and in charge. Claudius is above all a master at self-preservation. He may have appeared to love Hamlet, but I doubt he truly does…He might have if Hamlet had behaved himself and hadn’t suspected Claudius of murdering his father. Claudius is overreacting to Hamlet’s antics because of his guilt. An innocent man would not react to Hamlet as Claudius does.
We would not understand what was most fit,
But like the owner of a foul disease, There is something rotten in the state of Denmark, and it’s Hamlet. He’s been a bad, bad boy. Let’s give him a time-out. We should have grounded him when we had the chance.
To keep it from divulging, let it feed
Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?

QUEEN.
To draw apart the body he hath kill’d,
O’er whom his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,
Shows itself pure. He weeps for what is done. Hamlet is not sorry he killed Polonius. Polonius got what he deserved because he was sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.