Hamlet: Act 4, Scene 7 – Analysis
Scene Profile – At a Glance
- Location: A room in Elsinore Castle.
- Key Characters: King Claudius, Laertes, and Queen Gertrude.
- The Core Conflict: Claudius successfully channels Laertes's grief into a lethal, treacherous weapon against Hamlet, only for their dark plotting to be interrupted by the devastating news of Ophelia's death.
- Famous Quote:
"There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream..."
Scene Summary
The scene opens with Claudius having successfully convinced Laertes that Hamlet is solely responsible for Polonius's death and intended to kill the King as well. When a messenger suddenly arrives with letters announcing Hamlet's unexpected return to Denmark, Claudius swiftly improvises a new assassination plot. He flatters Laertes's vanity regarding his renowned fencing skills and suggests a "friendly" exhibition match between the two young men. However, Claudius proposes that Laertes use an unbated (sharpened) sword.
Laertes, fully consumed by his desire for revenge, goes a step further and volunteers to coat the tip of his sword with a deadly poison he purchased from a mountebank. To ensure the plot cannot fail, Claudius adds a secondary trap: he will prepare a poisoned chalice of wine to offer Hamlet when he grows thirsty during the bout. Their dark pact is sealed, but Queen Gertrude abruptly enters with tragic news. She delivers a poetic, haunting account of Ophelia's death by drowning. Overcome with fresh grief, Laertes struggles to hold back his tears and flees the room. Claudius, feigning concern for Laertes but actually worried about losing control of his newfound assassin, follows him.
The Master Manipulator
This scene showcases Claudius at his most politically astute and psychologically lethal. Facing an enraged, armed nobleman who previously threatened to overthrow him, Claudius completely disarms Laertes and remoulds him into a loyal tool. He does this by questioning the validity of Laertes's grief, challenging his masculinity and filial devotion.
Original
Laertes, was your father dear to you?
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,
A face without a heart?
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse)
Laertes, did you really love your father?
Or are faking it, just like a painting
That’s just a heartless face?
By suggesting that Laertes's sorrow might just be a performance ("a painting"), Claudius forces the young man to prove his love through extreme violence. Claudius weaponises Laertes's honour, turning the grieving son's justifiable anger into a targeted, controllable missile aimed directly at Hamlet.
The Corruption of Honour
The tragedy of Laertes is cemented in this scene. Up until this point, he has acted as the quintessential, honourable revenge hero—direct, passionate, and open. However, under Claudius's toxic influence, the corruption of Elsinore finally infects him.
Original
I will do't:
And, for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal that, but dip a knife in it...
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse)
I will do it.
And, for revenge, I’ll consecrate my sword.
I bought a potion from a scallywag
That is so poisonous that, from a knife dip...
By enthusiastically volunteering to use poison in a sporting match, Laertes abandons all chivalry and honour. He stoops to the King's level of deception. The introduction of poison into the plot mirrors the original murder of King Hamlet; the cycle of underhanded, venomous assassination is repeating itself, proving that vengeance requires the avenger to become a monster.
The Aesthetic Death
The dark, claustrophobic plotting of the men is sharply contrasted by Gertrude's entrance. Her description of Ophelia's drowning is one of the most famous and beautifully written passages in all of Shakespeare, deliberately softening the horrific reality of a young girl dying alone in the mud.
Original
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death.
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse)
And soon her clothes were heavy by the water,
And pulled the poor girl, singing on her back,
To die a muddy death.
Gertrude’s lyrical recounting transforms Ophelia into a figure of tragic, natural beauty—a creature of flowers and water who simply faded back into the earth. However, this aestheticisation also serves a political purpose; by framing the death as an accidental, passive surrender to nature, Gertrude subtly attempts to steer the narrative away from the scandalous possibility of suicide, even as the tragedy fuels Laertes's rage.
Language and Technique
- Machiavellian Rhetoric: Claudius's dialogue is a masterclass in manipulation. He uses rhetorical questions to trap Laertes ("what would you undertake / To show yourself your father's son in deed?"), leaving Laertes no conversational exit but to pledge extreme violence. Claudius speaks in smooth, diplomatic blank verse, entirely masking his murderous intent.
- Tonal Whiplash: Shakespeare brilliantly shifts the tone of the scene from cold, calculating murder to overwhelming, lyrical grief in a matter of seconds. The transition from the men plotting with poison to Gertrude's pastoral imagery of "crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples" creates a jarring, highly effective emotional contrast.
- Water Imagery and Gender: Laertes’s reaction to his sister's death explicitly links weeping to female frailty ("the woman will be out"). The scene uses water as a multifaceted symbol: it is the element that claims Ophelia's life, the tears that Laertes attempts to suppress to maintain his masculinity, and the overwhelming tide of tragedy that is about to drown the entire court.
Key Quotes from Act 4, Scene 7
Quote 1
There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come...
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse)
There is a leaning willow by a stream
Whose greying leaves reflect within the water;
She went there wearing lovely floral wreaths...
Quote Analysis: The opening of Gertrude's famous elegy establishes a melancholic, pastoral setting. The weeping willow is a traditional symbol of forsaken love, perfectly encapsulating Ophelia's heartbreak. The imagery elevates her death from a grim reality into a haunting, mythological portrait of innocence destroyed.
Quote 2
To cut his throat i' the church.
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse)
I’ll kill him in the church.
Quote Analysis: When Claudius asks Laertes how far he is willing to go to avenge his father, Laertes replies with this brutal, blunt half-line. It stands in total contrast to Hamlet's refusal to kill Claudius while he was praying in the chapel. Laertes's bloodlust is so profound that he is willing to desecrate holy ground to achieve it.
Quote 3
No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;
Revenge should have no bounds.
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse)
No, not in there, he mustn’t have their shelter;
Revenge should have no limits.
Quote Analysis: Claudius eagerly validates Laertes's extreme aggression. It is a deeply ironic and hypocritical statement from the King; Claudius himself sought sanctuary in the chapel to pray for forgiveness for a murder. By declaring that revenge has "no bounds," he gives Laertes the moral permission to commit treachery.
Quote 4
Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet
It is our trick; nature her custom holds,
Let shame say what it will: when these are gone,
The woman will be out.
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse)
Ophelia, you’ve had far too much water,
And therefore I forbid myself to cry.
But it’s just human nature, so I’ll do it,
Even if I’m ashamed. But when I’m done,
I won’t cry like a girl.
Quote Analysis: Hearing of his sister's drowning, Laertes tries to suppress his tears. In Elizabethan society, weeping was viewed as a "womanish" trait. Laertes believes that shedding his tears will purge the "woman" (the emotional frailty) from his system, leaving behind only the hardened, masculine avenger ready to kill Hamlet.
Study Questions and Analysis
Why doesn't Claudius execute Hamlet publicly for Polonius's murder? +
Claudius gives Laertes two very pragmatic reasons: first, Queen Gertrude loves Hamlet deeply, and Claudius relies on her affection ("she's so conjunctive to my life and soul"); second, the common people adore Hamlet. A public execution or trial would likely trigger a popular revolt against Claudius. Therefore, Hamlet's death must look like an accident.
How does Claudius manipulate Laertes's ego? +
Claudius masterfully stokes Laertes's vanity. He tells Laertes that a famous French horseman praised his fencing skills so highly that it made Hamlet furiously jealous. By suggesting that Hamlet is desperate to test himself against Laertes, Claudius lays the perfect psychological groundwork to propose the deadly exhibition match.
What does the introduction of poison reveal about Laertes? +
While Claudius devises the unbated sword, it is Laertes who volunteers the poison. This marks his complete moral downfall. He transitions from a grieving son seeking justifiable justice into a treacherous assassin. It demonstrates that the desire for absolute revenge corrupts even the most traditional, honourable characters.
Why does Claudius insist on a backup plan? +
Claudius is a cautious, calculating villain. He knows that if the plot fails and Hamlet discovers the unbated sword, the King will be exposed. The poisoned chalice ensures that even if Hamlet wins the fencing bout or escapes being cut, the physical exertion will make him thirsty, guaranteeing his death via a seemingly innocent cup of wine.
What is the effect of Gertrude describing Ophelia's death instead of it happening on stage? +
In Shakespeare's theatre, it was difficult to stage a convincing drowning. More importantly, having Gertrude narrate it allows the death to be romanticised and poeticised. It focuses the audience's attention on the overwhelming grief of the survivors rather than the graphic physical horror of the act itself, cementing Ophelia's status as a pure, tragic victim.
Did Ophelia commit suicide? +
Gertrude’s speech leaves it ambiguous. She describes Ophelia falling into the brook by accident when a branch breaks, and then floating passively while singing, incapable of understanding her danger until the water pulls her under. It is presented as a death caused by madness and passive surrender to nature, rather than a deliberate, active suicide.
What is Claudius's true concern at the end of the scene? +
When Laertes leaves in tears, Claudius tells Gertrude, "How much I had to do to calm his rage! / Now fear I this will give it start again." Claudius is not mourning Ophelia; he is entirely focused on his political survival. He fears that this fresh trauma will make Laertes erratic and uncontrollable, threatening the carefully laid assassination plot.
