Act IV, Scene iv
Synopsis of Hamlet Act IV scene iv
For the first time in the play, Hamlet leaves the palace, escorted by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on his way to England.
They come across Fortinbras' army, travelling across Denmark to attack the Poles, to fight over possession of a small piece of land. Hamlet sees the commitment of so many men and resources to such a trivial cause as a rebuke to his failure to act over the death of a beloved father.
Commentary on Hamlet Act IV scene iv
The imposthume of much wealth and peace — This is another image of corruption. Hamlet sees such wars over nothing as a symptom of a diseased society.
What is a man … A beast … he that made us with such large discourse … godlike reason — Hamlet is aware that, having a soul, and reason, mankind is higher in the chain of being than animals, and has a duty to use reason and judgement.
More on biblical echo to ‘Hamlet': His language would recall to Shakespeare's audience Psalms 8:4-5:
'What is man that thou art mindful of him ... ? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour.'
Excitements of my reason and my blood — Hamlet feels that both his reason and his emotion should have given him sufficient grounds to act against Claudius.
Investigating Hamlet Act IV scene iv
- What do you think are Shakespeare's possible purposes in:
- removing the setting of the play from the palace?
- reminding us of Fortinbras and his army at this point in the play?
- English Standard Version
- King James Version
1O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
1O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 3When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
The spirit which gives life to a human being; the part which lives on after death; a person's inner being (personality, intellect, emotions and will) which distinguishes them from animals.
A theoretical view of the universe, often reflected in Shakespearean drama, in which every creature in the universe is in a hierarchical line of descent from the overall creator, God.
