Act IV. Let’s review where we are. Claudius “proves” his guilt by reacting to the play-within-a-play, freaking out when the king is murdered. Gertrude, Hamlet's mother and the queen, summons Hamlet to her chambers to angrily ask him what’s up. Polonius, an old noble, hides behind the chamber curtains, keeping an eye on things. Hamlet bursts in and berates his mother, discovers Polonius and kills him, generally acting all sorts of crazy throughout. Hamlet leaves and finds Claudius alone, in prayer. Almost killing him, he backs down (again).
After Hamlet drags Polonius’ dead corpse around a bit, Ophelia wanders in, mad as a loon. She commits suicide soon after. Laertes, her brother and Polonius’ son, is totally distraught over all this murdering and vows to kill Hamlet, with Claudio’s urging. The method: a swordfight with a poison-laced sword and, if that fails, a stiff drink from a lethally poisoned beverage.
Quite the soap opera, eh? The action is rising for sure; things are going from bad to worse, and how. That’s it for now, just along for the ride at this point. All set for the final act.
Oh yeah, one other thing. The first post on the blog was exactly one year ago. Imagine that.
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