Spying

SPYING Spying is the act of observing someone secretly and closely. There are many instances of spying within //Hamlet//, including:

__**Spying on Hamlet (indirect) **__ **Characters involved - Claudius ** **Purpose: **To keep watch on Hamlet and his actions


 * Act 1 Scene 2 **


 * "For your intent in going back to school in Wittenberg, It is most retrograde to our desire, And we beseech you, bend you to remain here in the cheer and comfort of our eye, Our chiefest courtir, cousin and our son." (1.2.116-121)
 * It can be infered from Claudius's reluctance to allow Hamlet to go back to the University of Wittenberg is not solely to please Gertrude but also because he wants to keep Hamlet close so that he can watch his behaviour

__**Spying on Laertes **__ **Characters involved - Polonius and Reynaldo ** **Purpose: **To find out what Laertes is doing in France, to make sure he is not doing anything dishonorable


 * Act 2 Scene 1 **


 * "Before you visit him, to make inquire of his behavior." (2.1.4-5)
 * Polonius sends Reynaldo to visit Laertes and pass him some "money" and "notes", but also to spy on what he is up to
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth" (2.1. 70)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"By indirections find directions out." (2.1.73) - paradox
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Polonius wants Reynaldo to inquire of Laertes' behaviour by talking to his acquaintances. Polonius wants Reynaldo to spread false rumours about Reynaldo to see if anyone would counter those false claims. The methods that Polonius wants Reynaldo to use are sneaky and well thought-out as he even tells Reynaldo specifically what to say, but also quite foolish because there is no guarantee how Laertes' acquaintances would respond to the false claims
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Instructions for spying, the actual process of spying on Laertes is not shown in the play, neither is the result

__ **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Spying on Hamlet ** __

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Characters involved - Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Claudius, Gertrude ** **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Purpose: **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">To find out the cause of Hamlet's erratic behaviour

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[Before spying] <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">**Act 2 Scene 2**
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Moreover that we much did long to see you, The need we have to use you did provoke our hasty sending." (2.2.1-3)
 * <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Claudius and Gertrude send for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hastily, showing how urgently they are trying to address and fix Hamlet's problem
 * <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">"I entreat you both that, being of so young days brought up with him" (2.2.10-11)
 * <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were specifically called for because they are childhood friends on Hamlet and Claudius believes that they know Hamlet the best and that Hamlet trusts them, thus helping Claudius and Gertrude to understand Hamlet's behaviour
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"so by your companies some little time, to draw him on to plesures, and to gather so much as from occasion you may glean, [Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus] That, opened, lies within our remedy" (2.2.13-18)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Claudius and Gertrude want Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet and find out the root cause for his crazy behaviour so that they can find a "remedy"

[During spying - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are involved]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Act 2 Scene 2**


 * "To visit you, my lord, no other occasion."
 * When Hamlet asks why Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have come to Elsinore, Rosencrantz states that they are here just to visit him
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"You were sent for, and there is a kind of confession in your looks which your modesties have no craft enough to color. I know the good king and queen have sent for you." (2.2. 300-305)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hamlet knows that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have impure motives for visiting him and infers that they were sent by Claudius and Gertrud

[Result of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spying on Hamlet]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Act 2 Scene 2**

[Result of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spying on Hamlet]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the King and Queen molt no feather." (2.2. 316-318)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost of my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises..." (2.2.318-320)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hamlet tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about his recent change in behaviour and attitude
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Act 3 Scene 1 **


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"He does confess he feels himself distract but from what cause he will by no means speak." (3.1. 5-6)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were unable to find out the cause of Hamlet's behaviour like they were expected to
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Madam, it so fell out that certain players We o'erraught on the way. Of these we told him, And there did seem in him a kind of joy To hear of it." (3.1. 17-20)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rosencrantz and Guildenstern served to introduce the players to Hamlet, which led to Hamlet formulating his plan about the play within the play to evoke a reaction from Claudius
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Good gentlemen, give him a further edge and drive his purpose into these delights" (3.1. 28-29)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Claudius is glad that Hamlet has found something that interests him, hoping that it would distract Hamlet and keep him preoccupied

__ **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Spying on Hamlet ** __

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Characters involved - Ophelia, Polonius, Claudius ** **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Purpose: **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> To find out if Hamlet's behaviour is because of 'neglected love' as Polonius believes

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[Before spying]


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Act 3 Scene 1 **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[During spying]
 * "For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither, That he, as 'twere by accident, may here affront Ophelia. Her father and myself (lawful espials) will so bestow ourselves that, seeing unseen, we may of their encounter frankly judge and gather by him, as he is behaved, If 't be th' affliction of his love or no that thus he suffers for." (3.1. 32-40)
 * Claudius and Polonius have sent for Hamlet to come and have planned for him to meet face to face with Ophelia as if it were a chance encounter. The purpose of this spying is to find out if it the cause of Hamlet's behaviour is truely unrequited love or something else.
 * Claudius call himself and Polonius 'lawful espials' which is ironic
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Ophelia, walk you here...Read on this book, that show of such an exercise may color your loneliness." (3.1.48-50)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Polonius tells Ophelia how to act - she should pretend to be reading a prayer book to give her pretext for being alone.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hamlet treats Ophelia coldly and rudely, pouring insults onto her (especially those aiming at her sexuality)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Let the doors be shut upon him that he may play the fool nowhere but in's own house."
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hamlet is aware that his encounter with Ophelia has been premediated, believes that Polonius is yet again spying
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Shows that Hamlet is very keen and aware of what is happening, which could explain his behaviour towards Ophelia
 * <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Hamlet knows that he is being watched and perhaps all he is doing is acting in front of them to throw them off guard

[Result of spying]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Love? His affections do not that way tend; No rhwat he spake, though it lacked form a little, Was not like madness. There's something in his soul O'er which is melancholy sits on brood" (<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3.1.176-179)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">After Hamlet and Ophelia's meeting, Claudius believes that Hamlet did not behave like he was 'mad' but more like he was disturbed. He believes there is another reason for Hamlet's behaviour.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Claudius decides to send Hamlet to England because he has realized that Hamlet is a greater threat to him (and others) than he had previously imagined
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"the origin and commencement of his grief sprung from neglected love" (3.1. 190-191)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Even after witnessing Hamlet's rudeness to Ophelia, Polonius adamnatly insists that Hamlet's 'madness' is due to unrequited love
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"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 conference." (3.1.197-199)
 * <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Polonius suggests that they spy on Hamlet again, this time through Gertrude

__ **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Spying on Hamlet ** __

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Characters involved - Gertrude, Polonius, Claudius ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Purpose:** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> To find out the cause of Hamlet's erratic behaviour

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[Before spying] <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">**Act 3 Scene 3**
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"My lord, he's going ot his mother's closet. Behind the arras I'll convey myself. To hear the process." (3.3.29-31)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Polonius reports to Claudius about spying on Hamlet while he speaks to Gertrude
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"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" (3.3. 33-36)
 * <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">Claudius had previously said that it is good to have someone listening in to Gertrude's conversation with Hamlet, because as a mother, she could be too partial to him
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Act 3 Scene 4 **
 * "He will come straight. Look you lay home to him. Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with, And that your grace hath screened and stood between much heat and him."
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Polonius tells Gertrude how to act and what to say
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Polonius hides behind the arras."
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The stage directions show that Polonius is also in the private room with Hamlet and Gertrude, hiding behind the 'arras' (curtain)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[During spying]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Act 3 Scene 4 **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"What's the matter now?"
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge. You go not till I set you up a glass where you may see the inmost part of you."
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not murder me? Help, ho!"
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Gertrude cries out thinking that Hamlet is going to murder her because of his cold and aggressive tone of voice
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Polonius reponds from "behind the arras", causing Hamlet to realize that there is a "a rat" spying on him
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[He kills Polonius by thrusting a rapier through the arras.]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stage directions show that Hamlet kills Polonius, thinking that it is Claudius spying on him
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hamlet continues with his tirade, insulting and condemning his mother in a very harsh and angry tone, causing Gertrude to become aggrieved and fearful

[Result of spying]


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Act 3 Scene 4 **


 * "Mother, for love of grace, Lay not that flattering unction to your soul that not your trespass but my madness speaks." (3.4. 165-167)
 * Gertrude finds out that Hamlet is upset due to the corruption and incestuous relationships within Elsinore
 * "Thou turn'st my eyes into my very soul, and there I see such black and grained spots as will not leave their tinct." (3.4.100-103)
 * Gertrude is forced to face the truth of the deception and corruption within Elsinore, and is told by Hamlet to repent
 * "Alas, he is mad!" (3.4. 121)
 * Hamlet is seen as crazy for talking to the Ghost (whom his mother cannot see)
 * Polonius is dead and Hamlet drags his body away
 * first serious consequence (death) of spying - demonstrates Hamlet's increasingly violent nature and diminishing tolerance

__ **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Spying on Ophelia's funeral ** __

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Characters involved - Hamlet, Horatio ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">**Purpose:** To find out whose funeral ceremony it is

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[Before spying] <span style="font-family: georgia,serif;">**Act 5 Scene 1** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[During spying] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Act 5 Scene 1** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[Result of spying] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Act 5 Scene 1**
 * "//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Enter King, Queen, Laertes, Lords attendant and the corpse of Ophelia, with a Doctor of Divinity." //
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"But soft, but soft awhile! Here come the King, The Queen, the courtiers. Who is this they follow? And with such maimed rites?...Couch we awhile and mark" (5.1.224-229)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hamlet and Horatio were talking to the Gravedigger when the King, Queen and others enter
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hamlet and Horatio "//step aside"// to observe
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"No more be done. We should profane the service of the dead to sing a requiem and such rest to her as to peace-parted souls." (5.1. 245-247)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">No more funeral rites can be performed on Ophelia because her death was a suicide
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Laertes is highly emotional and jumps into Ophelia's grave
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"What, the fair Ophelia?" (5.1.253)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hamlet discovers that Ophelia is dead and the funeral procession is for her
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"What is he whose grief bears such an emphasis, whose phrase of sorrow conjures the wand'ring stars and makes them stand like wonder-wounded hearers? This is I, Hamlet the Dane." (5.1.267-271)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The hyperboles used by Hamlet show emphasize his grief over Ophelia's death and brings a supernatural, ethereal quality to Ophelia's death.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"I loved Ophelia." (5.1.285)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Although Hamlet is the one spying on others, his act of spying reveals a lot about his character. He boldly declares that he loved Ophelia, which contradicts his early behaviour to Ophelia and supports that he was previously just pretending to be mad.


 * Trends: **

The characters used to spy on other characters (Laertes, Hamlet) can be seen as the 'weaker' characters within this play. Polonius sends his loyal servant to spy on Laertes, entrusting a subject of lower status to investigate the behaviour of his beloved son. As for spying on Hamlet, the characters who were used as bait to spy on Hamlet include Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, Ophelia and Gertrude. Throughout the play, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are constantly being used by the King as tools, first to find the roots cause of Hamlet's behaviour and subsequently to find Polonius' body and follow Hamlet to England.The two other characters used to spy on Hamlet are the only two female characters within //Hamlet//, Ophelia and Gertrude. An encounter between Ophelia and Hamlet is planned. Ophelia tries to return Hamlet's gifts and reject his affections, but is met with verbal abuse from Hamlet. Ophelia is not only used by the King and Polonius, but also by Hamlet to deceive others.Similarly, Gertrude is used to extract information from Hamlet as well. After many unsuccessful attempts to find out the root cause of Hamlet's behaviour, Polonius suggests using Hamlet's kin, Gertrude to lure out information from him. It is often suggested in many interpretations of //Hamlet// that the relationship between Gertrude and Hamlet is more than a mother-son relationship, and perhaps spying on Gertrude and Hamlet's conversation in Gertrude's room serves to indicate that there is more between them than meets the eye. Nevertheless, Gertrude is used by Claudius and Polonius in attempt to extract information from her own son. Like Ophelia, she is used merely as a tool and does not have any other significant scenes beyond the spying scene involving her and Hamlet.
 * Character(s) used to spy **

An interesting pattern is that initially Hamlet's childhood friends (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern) were sent to spy on Hamlet, but after that unsuccessful attempt, Ophelia was used to spy on Hamlet, followed by Gertrude. The character used to spy on Hamlet has an increasingly closer relationship with Hamlet (friend, lover, mother).

In most instances of spying, Polonius, Claudius' adviser is involved. Polonius is often the one who directs characters on what to say and how to act. Oftentimes, he is also the character who suggest to Claudius to use spying as a means of finding out information about Hamlet. Ultimately, Polonius is the only character who is killed during spying, possibly due to his role in all the other spying attempts. In a few instances, Polonius is the one lurking in the shadows and spying into conversations.
 * Character(s) directing the spying **

Claudius is the character who approves Polonius' spying plots. He believes that "madness in great ones must not unwatched go" (3.2.203), that spying is an essential means in finding out information and maintaining stability. Claudius personally spies on Hamlet once during the play, which is during the conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia. In all other instances, he sends others characters to spy and report back their findings to him. **Role of Spying**