Laertes agrees, and they settle on a plan. Laertes will use a sharpened sword rather than the customary dull fencing blade. Laertes also proposes to poison his sword, so that even a scratch from it will kill Hamlet.
The king concocts a backup plan as well, proposing that if Hamlet succeeds in the duel, Claudius will offer him a poisoned cup of wine to drink from in celebration. Gertrude enters with tragic news. Ophelia , mad with grief, has drowned in the river. Claudius summons Gertrude to follow. The scheming Claudius encounters Laertes at approximately the same moment as he learns that Hamlet has survived and returned to Denmark.
In Act IV, scene v, Claudius decided that the way to appease Laertes was by appearing frank and honest. She pleads with him to stop, saying that he has turned her eyes onto her soul and that she does not like what she sees there. Hamlet continues to denounce her and rail against Claudius, until, suddenly, the ghost of his father again appears before him. Hamlet speaks to the apparition, but Gertrude is unable to see it and believes him to be mad.
The ghost intones that it has come to remind Hamlet of his purpose, that Hamlet has not yet killed Claudius and must achieve his revenge. Noting that Gertrude is amazed and unable to see him, the ghost asks Hamlet to intercede with her. Hamlet describes the ghost, but Gertrude sees nothing, and in a moment the ghost disappears. Hamlet tries desperately to convince Gertrude that he is not mad but has merely feigned madness all along, and he urges her to forsake Claudius and regain her good conscience.
He urges her as well not to reveal to Claudius that his madness has been an act. Hamlet reminds his mother that he must sail to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, whom he says he will regard with suspicion, as though they were poisonous snakes, since he assumes that their loyalties are with Claudius, not with him. What is Hamlet trying to do in his confrontation with his mother? Or it may be that Hamlet wants to know whether she was complicit in the crime.
He tells it himself in the latter part of the play. Throw yourself back into impulse, and abandon control through intelligence. But what will be the result of such a doctrine? Death — the thinking being who cannot act from thought must perish. Through the death of Polonius, Hamlet has committed the very crime which he was seeking to punish; the son of a father murdered has himself murdered a father. Retribution will call up against him a son, at whose hands he will meet his fate.
What kind of person is Polonius? How is Polonius selfish? How does Polonius treat his daughter? Is Polonius a good character? What mental illness does Polonius have? What does this reveal about Polonius character? Did Polonius deserve to die?
Is Polonius innocent? Was Polonius death an accident? What are the likely consequences of Polonius death? Why did Hamlet kill Polonius so easily? Who is the last character to die in Hamlet?
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