Enter CLAUDIUS and two or three.
CLAUDIUS I have sent to seek him and to find the body.
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
Yet must not we put the strong law on him:
He’s loved of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgement but their eyes,
And where ’tis so th’offender’s scourge is weighed
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even
This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause; diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliance are relieved,
Or not at all. (4.3.1-11)
Claudius is trailing a handful of functionaries; as ever, he’s thinking ahead, about the optics, about the consequences. I have sent to seek him and to find the body. That’s the easy bit, and I’ve actioned it. Tick! But how dangerous is it that this man goes loose! It’s a tricky situation alright, unpredictable, out of control—and Hamlet is now this man, not Hamlet, or our son or the prince; he’s a criminal, this man, who must be apprehended. Immediately Claudius rows back slightly, however, thinking aloud, perhaps warning off his goons, if that’s how it’s being played (there’s scope here for a gun to have been removed from a holster, a safety-catch taken off): yet must not we put the strong law on him. I’ve got to tread carefully here—but not because of who he is, or the circumstances of Polonius’s killing, but because Hamlet is loved of the distracted multitude. He’s popular with the people, fickle fools that they are, who like not in their judgement but their eyes. He’s the people’s prince, dammit! They’re superficial, swayed by appearances rather than reason, and where ’tis so th’offender’s scourge is weighed but never the offence. The people will take Hamlet’s part and condemn me for going after him, never mind what Hamlet’s done! SO unfair! It’s a problem. To bear all smooth and even this sudden sending him away must seem deliberate pause. I’ve got to spin this, make it all look part of a long-term strategy, a carefully considered plan, completely above board, not suspicious at all—it’s got to look like sending him to England isn’t at all a spur of the moment solution. No, I’m totally in control. After all, diseases desperate grown by desperate appliance are relieved, or not at all—but however deep the crisis, however desperate the remedy, it can’t look desperate. Either this works, or it blows up in my face…