Shakespeare's Hamlet Act 4 Scene 2 - Where is the body of Polonius?

Hamlet

Please see the bottom of the page for full explanatory notes and helpful resources.

ACT IV SCENE II	Another room in the castle.
[Enter HAMLET]
HAMLET	Safely stowed.
GUILDENSTERN AND ROSENCRANTZ	[Within.] Hamlet! Lord Hamlet!
HAMLET	But soft, what noise? who calls on Hamlet?
	O, here they come.
[Enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN]
ROSENCRANTZ	What have you done, my lord, with the dead body?
HAMLET	Compounded it with dust, whereto 'tis kin.
ROSENCRANTZ	Tell us where 'tis, that we may take it thence
	And bear it to the chapel.
HAMLET	Do not believe it.
ROSENCRANTZ	Believe what?	10
HAMLET	That I can keep your counsel and not mine own.
	Besides, to be demanded of a sponge! what
	replication should be made by the son of a king?
ROSENCRANTZ	Take you me for a sponge, my lord?
HAMLET	Ay, sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his
	rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the
	king best service in the end: he keeps them, like
	an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to
	be last swallowed: when he needs what you have
	gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you
	shall be dry again.	20
ROSENCRANTZ	I understand you not, my lord.
HAMLET	I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a
	foolish ear.
ROSENCRANTZ	My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go
	with us to the king.
HAMLET	The body is with the king, but the king is not with
	the body. The king is a thing --
GUILDENSTERN	A thing, my lord?
HAMLET	Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.
[Exeunt]

Next: Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 3

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Explanatory Notes for Act 4, Scene 2
From Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Ed. K. Deighton. London: Macmillan.

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1. stowed, put away.

6. Compounded ... kin, mixed with the earth of which it was originally formed; cp. the Burial Service, "earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Cp. ii. H. IV. iv. 5. 116, "Only compound me with forgotten dust."

11. Keep your counsel, keep your secret; referring perhaps to his discovery, in ii. 2. 284, 5, that they had been sent to sound him.

12. Besides ... sponge! besides, to think of my being questioned by a fellow like you, who would get everything out of me, suck me dry, with the same insidiousness that a sponge sucks up water! Some editors follow the quartos and folios in putting a connna, instead of a note of admiration, after sponge; with that punctuation the meaning will be, 'in the case of one's being questioned,' etc.

12, 3. what ... king? what sort of answer do you expect to receive from one, like me, of royal birth? do you expect that such a one would submit to be sucked dry by a fellow like you? Rushton says that replication is "an exception of the second degree made by the plaintiff upon the answer of a defendant." In the jargon of Holofernes, L. L. L. iv. 2. 15, the word is used, as here, for 'reply'; in J. C. i. 1. 51, for 'echo.'

15. countenance, favour.

16. authorities, the several attributes of power; cp. Lear, i. 3. 17.

17. like an ... nuts, as an ape does nuts; the later quartos read "like an apple," for which Farmer conjectured 'like an ape, an apple'; the reading in the text is that of the first quarto, and is adopted by Staunton and Furness.

18. mouthed, taken into his mouth.

19. gleaned, picked up in the way of information: it is but squeezing you, all he needs to do is to squeeze you like a sponge.

22. a knavish ... ear, I am glad you should not understand it, as that shows you are only a fool, fools never seeing the point of knavish words.

25, 6. The body ... thing, various subtle meanings have been read into these words, but they were probably used for no other purpose than that of mystifying Guildenstern -- and commentators.

28, 9. Hide fox, and all after, an allusion to the game of hide and seek, in which one of the players, called the fox, hides, and all the rest have to go after him and find out his hiding-place. Here, of course, merely a continuation of Hamlet's feigned madness.

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How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Ed. K. Deighton. London: Macmillan, 1919. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2010. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet_4_2.html >.

How to cite the scene review questions:
Mabillard, Amanda. Hamlet: Scene Questions for Review. Shakespeare Online. 27 Dec. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet_4_2.html >.

Scene Questions for Review

1. Hamlet does an excellent job of confusing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern -- and critics -- with his paradox (line 25). It could mean: Claudius is in the vicinity of the body of Polonius, but the King (Hamlet's father) is not with his own body. More likely it means: Claudius is in the vicinity of the body of Polonius, but Claudius is not with the body (i.e., body politic). Earlier in the play Laertes says that when Hamlet becomes king he will certainly be on the side on the people, and his choices will "be circumscrib'd unto the voice and yielding of that body whereof he is the head" (1.3.19-24). There are many interpretations of this line. What do you think Hamlet means?

2. What is the purpose of this short scene? Do you feel an increase in the speed of action at this point?

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More to Explore

Hamlet: The Complete Play with Explanatory Notes

Analysis of Uncle Claudius

Claudius and the Condition of Denmark

O Jephthah - Toying with Polonius

The Death of Polonius and its Impact on Hamlet's Character

Blank Verse and Diction in Shakespeare's Hamlet

Analysis of the Characters in Hamlet

Introduction to Hamlet

The Hamlet and Ophelia Subplot

The Norway (Fortinbras) Subplot

Deception in Hamlet

Hamlet: Problem Play and Revenge Tragedy

Plot Summary of Hamlet

The Elder Hamlet: The Kingship of Hamlet's Father

Hamlet's Relationship with the Ghost

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Did You Know? ... According to Robert Neres (1753-1829), the phrase "a thing of nothing" or "of naught" was a common way to express anything very worthless. In his Glossary on the Works of English Authors he cites an example from a play by Shakespeare's contemporaries, John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont:

Shall then that thing that honours thee,
How miserable a thing soever, yet a thing still,
And though a thing of nothing, thy thing ever. (The Humourous Lieutenant, iv, 6)

Shakespeare uses the phrase again in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "a paramour is, God bless us, a thing of naught" (4.2.12).

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Philological Examination Questions on Hamlet

Quotations from Hamlet (with commentary)

Hamlet Study Quiz (with detailed answers)

Analysis of I am sick at heart (1.1)

Hamlet: Q & A

Soliloquy Analysis: O this too too... (1.2)

Soliloquy Analysis: O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!... (2.2)

Soliloquy Analysis: To be, or not to be... (3.1)

Soliloquy Analysis: Tis now the very witching time of night... (3.2)

Soliloquy Analysis: Now might I do it pat... (3.3)

Soliloquy Analysis: How all occasions do inform against me... (4.4)

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Essential Resources ... Explore our Shakespeare Glossary and find the meanings of old and unusual words used in Elizabethan England and, of course, in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. Just what is a rabbit-sucker anyway? The Shakespeare Glossary.

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Ophelia's Burial and Christian Rituals

The Baker's Daughter: Ophelia's Nursery Rhymes

Hamlet as National Hero

Claudius and the Dumb-Show: Why Does he Stay?

Claudius and the Mousetrap

In Secret Conference: The Meeting Between Claudius and Laertes

Defending Claudius - The Charges Against the King

Hamlet's Silence

An Excuse for Doing Nothing: Hamlet's Delay

Foul Deeds Will Rise: Hamlet and Divine Justice

Shakespeare's Fools: The Grave-Diggers in Hamlet