C 41
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Ploy
“Claudius is flummoxed but Laertes is grimly pleased as he would like nothing better than to personally see to Hamlet’s reckoning. ”
Lie
on the sadness of it all when there is a great uproar. Laertes storms into the castle and demands retribution. Laertes vows that his father’s ignoble death will be avenged one way or the other. Claudius confronts Laertes and tries to reason with him when Ophelia reappears. Her madness devastates Laertes, rendering him pliable to Claudius’ machinations. SCENE 6
Scam
Sailors arrive to deliver Horatio a letter. The letter is from Hamlet. As per the letter, Horatio is to take the sailors to the king to whom they will deliver letters from Hamlet. Apparently, while at sea, Hamlet had been taken captive by pirates for whom Hamlet is to do a good turn. (The pirates have spared Hamlet’s life.) The letters delivered, as fast as he can, with the sailors as his guide, Horatio is to rendezvous with Hamlet. SCENE 7
Joke
Claudius has swayed Laertes to believe that Hamlet is their mutual enemy when a letter arrives. The letter is from Hamlet who writes that he has returned to Denmark all alone the inexplicability of which he will explain when face to face. Claudius is flummoxed but Laertes is grimly pleased as he would like nothing better than to personally see to Hamlet’s reckoning. Laertes is more than happy to do his part. They have all but sealed their villainy with a notarized contract when Gertrude appears. Ophelia is dead.
Summary Act V
Fake Jest
SCENE 1 Two clowns are digging a grave when the 1st Clown objects to the work that they are doing, arguing that the body for which that they are digging the grave for had drowned itself when alive. Consequently, he argues, as befitting Christian law, consecration should be denied the drowned body. The 2nd Clown is doubtful at first, but then he too finds the objection valid, conceding that people of rank and status (Ophelia is referred to as a gentlewoman) can get away with things that normal folks could only dream of doing. They console themselves with a bit of sophistry that elevates their lowly status to a level equal to history’s first gentleman and gravedigger: Adam. And to top it off, they decide to refresh themselves with drink which the 2nd Clown is only too happy to go and fetch. The 1st Clown continues to dig, singing all the while. The singing attracts Hamlet and Horatio, who are nearby. Hamlet is astounded that the clown could be so irreverent while performing such a grave and solemn task. Horatio posits that custom must have made it so. Intrigued, Hamlet engages the clown, plying one question after another, most of which the clown avoids answering by grotesquely twisting the meaning of the questions. An exception is the identity of skull that the clown has dug up. It is Yorick’s skull. Hamlet recalls Yorick, his father’s jester with whom Hamlet as a child had laughed and cavorted. The thought that Yorick’s fate is everyman’s fate, including Alexander’s (The Great) and Julius Caesar’s, fascinates Hamlet. He is thus absorbed when a funeral procession approaches. Among the procession is Laertes who objects to the sparseness of the funeral rites.
Prank Ruse