Hamlet 4:6

Question 1

context of Hamlet returning having gone to sea

Answer 1

• ‘a sea change’ where a character is sent to sea to be cleansed
• baptism

Question 2

‘Sea-faring…’

Answer 2

‘Sea-faring men, sir; they say they have letters for you.’ - Attendant to Horatio
- associate the ‘sea’ with Hamlet - guess who the ‘letters’ are from

Question 3

‘I do not know from what…’

Answer 3

‘I do not know from what part of the world/ I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet.’ - Horatio

Question 4

‘There’s a letter for you….’

Answer 4

‘There’s a letter for you, sir, it came from th’ambassador that was bound for England - if you name be Horatio, as I am let to know it is.’ - Sailor
- Hamlet seems to have concealed his true identity from the sailors

Question 5

what do Hamlet’s letters to Horatio say?

Answer 5

• give these letters to the king/allow the sailors to see the king
• after ‘two days’ at sea they were in close action with pirates, Hamlet boards their ship using their grapple hook - showing a courage unusual for him
• ‘I alone became their prisoner’
• they treat him mercifully despite them being thieves
• Ros and Guil continue to England (of whom he has much to say but won’t in the letter)
• asks Horatio to come find him