Hamlet: analyse af rejse til England og Polonius' funktion

In this assignment I have to write 900 words and choose and write about two of the given questions about the play.

I will work with the questions: Choose one particular scene from the play and analyse this, and what is the function of Polonius? Is he dangerous or foolish?

I have chosen to analyse one particular scene and I think it is important for the entire play. It is written in the book, act 5 scene 2 and is called ‘’The Great Hall of Elsinore Castle’’. I want to analyse the journey when Hamlet goes to England. The voyage is not told by Shakespeare himself but on the other hand by Hamlet. The reader is informed about Hamlet going to England.

Hamlet tells Horatio, as the only one what happened, because he can trust him and Hamlet knows that he won’t judge him.

In a brief version, what happens on the ship to England starts with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern getting a secret letter from King Claudius. This letter, they have to give to the King of England when they arrive. However on the ship Hamlet due to nervousness, can’t sleep so he wonders off to the two snakes room. Here he finds a letter with the King’s stamp on. Hamlet opens the letter and finds out that it says, as soon as they ashore and the King reads the letter, he is obligated to execute Hamlet. Hamlet continues the story and says, that he wrote another letter, which assured the murder of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead of himself. The new letter got stamped with the deceased Kings stamp that Hamlet had. Hamlet laid the letter back in its place and went to sleep. When the three men came ashore they went to the King of England, who killed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern after reading the letter. When Hamlet comes back to Denmark, the king is surprised to see him, because he thought he would be dead in that moment of time.