Day: October 19, 2015

The king prepares to send Hamlet to England, Polonius enters to tell him that Hamlet is talking to Gertrude to work out Hamlet’s madness. Polonius leaves and Claudius is left on his own, He then admits killing his brother “A brother’s murder. Pray can I not.” and attempts to pray but cannot as he can’t be forgiven for such a sin. Hamlet then enters the scene and has the chance to kill to Claudius but doesn’t as he thinks he has prayed meaning he won’t be punished in the afterlife. “A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven.”

The scene is just before the play where Hamlet is giving some advice to the actors of the play as to not be too over dramatic but make sure they show enough emotion. Hamlet tells Horatio that the play will re-enact the killing of his father and that he is testing Claudius’s guilt, Horatio agrees to look at Claudius’s reaction. The play, The Mousetrap, gets underway and when the murder scene happens, Claudius calls for lights out. Hamlet and Horatio are convinced that the king is guilty. Polonius enters and tells Hamlet that he should go speak with his mother.