Hamlet is love-sick with Ophelia and is mad since he isn't able to see her anymore.
He shows them a love-letter Hamlet wrote to Ophelia.
Hamlet was crazy. She follows Hamlet's instructions and says that "Hamlet hath in madness Polonius slain."
Claudius and Gertrude set Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet to discover the cause of his apparent madness
To spy on him. First of all he wants to spy on him when interacting with Ophelia, and when this fails to support his theory, he wants to spy on him while interacting with Gertrude.
The quotation is from Hamlet, Act II Scene 2 "Polonius: Though this be madness, yet there is method in't"
Gertrude tells Claudius that it was out of madness. This means that Gertrude had not divulged the knowledge that Hamlet was faking his madness.
He shows them a love-letter Hamlet wrote to Ophelia.
Hamlet was crazy. She follows Hamlet's instructions and says that "Hamlet hath in madness Polonius slain."
Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, the father of his love interest Ophelia and the advisor to King Claudius, Hamlet's deceased father's brother who recently married Hamlet's mother. Polonius is hiding behind a tapestry in the room of Hamlet's mother Gertrude, planning to eavesdrop on their discussion about Hamlet's apparent madness of late. They all assume it is because Ophelia has broken up with him. However, in reality it is a ploy to keep from arousing suspicion as he plots to kill Claudius, because Hamlet was visited by the ghost of his father telling him that Claudius had murdered him to usurp the throne and instructing Hamlet to avenge his death. When Hamlet hears a noise behind the tapestry, he assumes it is Claudius and stabs into the curtain, killing Polonius. This occurs at the beginning of Act 3, Scene 4.
Claudius and Gertrude set Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet to discover the cause of his apparent madness
He asks her not to go to Claudius' bed.
To spy on him. First of all he wants to spy on him when interacting with Ophelia, and when this fails to support his theory, he wants to spy on him while interacting with Gertrude.
It's mostly Polonius's scheme, not Claudius's. Polonius is a spymaster and his answer to everything is to spy on the person. He proposes that by spying on Hamlet's supposedly private conversation with his mother, Polonius may learn something relating to Hamlet's madness. It's an Elizabethan wiretap. Polonius suggests the scheme in 3,1 as follows: My lord, do as you please, But if you hold it fit, after the play, Let his queen mother all alone entreat him To show his grief. Let her be round with him, And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear Of all their confidence. Claudius agrees because "madness in great ones should not unwatched go." In 3,3 Polonius tells Claudius "he's going to his mother's closet. Behind the arras I'll convey myself to hear the process." he then says And, as you said, and wisely was it said, 'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother, Since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear The speech of vantage. Claudius said no such thing. Polonius is putting his own words in Claudius's mouth and then congratulating the king on how clever he is for saying them. Polonius knows how to be a courtier.
1. The death of Polonius 2. Hamlet's madness and exile 3. Popular unrest 4. Ophelia's madness 5. Laertes' return from France and attempt to take over the kingdom.
Revenge. Madness and abnormal states of mind/ melancholy Play within a play Antique disposition Death & Disease supernatural Intrigue and deception the impossibility of certainty is also quite important as all of Hamlets procrastinating and deliberating, and attempting to justify his actions over killing the king, unfortunately not only leads to the kings death, but also Laertes, Gertrude, Ophelia, Polonius and his own.
Polonius is sure that Hamlet has gone mad with love for Ophelia. See these lines by Polonius in Act 2 scene 1: ~Polonius: Come, go with me! I will go seek the King;This is the very ecstasy of love,...Ophelia: ... I did repel his letters, and denied His access to me.Polonius: That hath made him mad;~ So Polonius thinks Hamlet is suffering from the "ecstasy of love" for Ophelia, which has driven him mad.
The quote "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't" is spoken by Polonius in Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Polonius says this to indicate that while Hamlet's behavior may seem crazy, there is a hidden reason or purpose behind it.