Dec 25, 2009

Hamlet | Act IV, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis

Summary
Claudius, Gertrude, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enter; Claudius remarks on Gertrude’s sighing, which he asks her to explain. She dismisses the two young men, and then relates to Claudius the recent events in her closet; she says Hamlet, “in his lawless fit,” has killed Polonius. Claudius notes that he himself would have been killed, had he been the one hiding behind the curtain. He regrets that, out of love for Hamlet, he neglected to do what was best; that is, he “Should have kept short, restrained, and out of haunt / This mad young man,” but...