What It Is
The poison that kills the old king, poured into his ear while he slept in the orchard, and that returns, scene after scene, as an instrument of plot and revenge: in the play performed before the court, in the sword that Laertes proposes to anoint, in the reserve cup that Claudius adds to the duel, and in the wine and the blade that end up killing the queen, Laertes, the king himself and Hamlet. It is the crime in the form of a substance, and the image of what corrodes the court from within.
Where It Appears
In scene 5 of Act I, the Ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius poured poison into his ear while he slept in the orchard, and that the effect was immediate in the blood. The official story, that a serpent stung him, deceived all of Denmark.
In scene 2 of Act III, the pantomime and the play reproduce the crime: the actor pours the contents of a vial into the ear of the sleeping king, and it is the sight of the poison on stage that makes Claudius rise and leave.
In scene 7 of Act IV, Claudius and Laertes arrange the duel: the tip of Laertes’s sword will be anointed with poison, and the king prepares a reserve poisoned cup in case the sword fails.
In scene 2 of Act V, the plan works and turns against its maker. Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine, Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned sword and, the weapons exchanged, is wounded by Hamlet with the same sword, and Hamlet drives the blade into the king and makes him drink the cup.
Relationships
- Standard themes: Corruption and decay, Death, Revenge.
- Characters: Claudius, the Ghost, Laertes, Gertrude, Hamlet.
- Neighboring symbols: The Mousetrap, which reenacts the poison in the ear of the king, and An Unweeded Garden, the orchard where the crime took place.
- Hamlet, the play.