hamlet
... that he is engaging in immoral activity. Polonius obviously does not trust his son. Following this incident of mistrust, are several others. Claudius sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet for the first time, as he will be sending them again later. Gertrude and Claudius then engineer a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia, while the king and Polonius hide behind a tapestry and spy. These attempts to discover the reason behind Hamlet’s distress prove fruitless. Polonius then arranges a meeting for Hamlet and his mother, while he hides behind the tapestry and spies. Polonius ends up betraying his presence and 2 believing that he is Claudius, Hamlet kills him. These reoccurring instances of mistrust set up a basis for all subsequent happenings of the play. Many of the play’s characters have invested faith with the wrong people. Hamlet’s father obviously does not expect to turn up dead, poisoned by his brother’s hand. If that were the case, then King Hamlet would not have been napping recklessly in the garden. Ophelia’s trust of her father and brother seem to be problematic. She fails to question why they would want her to avoid Hamlet. How much better of a man can she find? Hamlet is Prince of Denmark. Although, it is unclear weather Gertrude is aware of the circumstances surrounding her late husband’s death, she does trust Claudius as far as her well-being is concerned. She certainly was not expecting him to be the one responsible for her death, let alone her son’s. The presumption of a mutual trust leads to these characters’ demise. There are three instances of poisoning in “Hamlet”; all three of them are different and all three of them are significant. King Hamlet dies when Claudius pours the poison into his ear; Gertrude is killed wh...