Hamlet Notes | Topic Tracking: Spying

Act 1, Scene 2

Spying 1: King Claudius discovers that Fortinbras has been making secret advances on Denmark. He dispatches ambassadors to Norway to inform the ailing King of his nephew's concealed actions.

Act 2, Scene 1

Spying 2: Polonius' sends his servant, Reynaldo, to spy on Laertes in Paris. The nosy father instructs Reynaldo to visit public places and to describe Laertes as a loose, drunken, quarreling youth. The Frenchmen will either confirm his base character or argue for his better reputation.

Act 2, Scene 2

Spying 3: Eager to know the cause of Prince Hamlet's gloom, King Claudius employs Hamlet's former friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to observe him and report on his mad behavior. Also spying on Hamlet, Polonius reads King Claudius a private love letter written from Hamlet to Ophelia. Polonius suggests that love-sickness is the cause of Hamlet's insanity. The snooping advisor arranges a rigged meeting between the lovers and plans to hide with Claudius behind an arras (curtain) to mark the encounter. Hamlet does some spying of his own. He plans to scrutinize King Claudius' face during "The Mousetrap" play to detect signs of guilt.

Act 3, Scene 1

Spying 4: Claudius and Polonius set up an encounter between Hamlet and Ophelia. "Seeing unseen," they study the confrontation from behind a curtain.

Act 3, Scene 2

Spying 5: Hamlet tells Horatio to spy on Claudius and note his reaction to the play. They will rivet their eyes to the King's guilty face and judge the secrets of his conscience. Hamlet chastises Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for manipulating him. He knows that his double-dealing old friends are really spies for Claudius.

Act 3, Scene 3

Spying 6: Claudius orders his spies, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to escort Hamlet to England. The King tells his henchmen that he will squelch the danger that Hamlet poses by sending him away. The biggest spy of all, Polonius plans to hide behind an arras (curtain) in Queen Gertrude's chamber to observe Hamlet's confrontation with his mother. A spy is necessary, he argues, because Queen Gertrude will have a motherly bias toward her son and may not report events truthfully. Mistaking the spy for King Claudius, Hamlet stabs Polonius through the arras.