CLAUDIUS I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him. (Exit Horatio.)
[aside to Laertes] Strengthen your patience in our last night’s speech,
We’ll put the matter to the present push.
– Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.
This grave shall have a living monument.
An hour of quiet thereby shall we see;
Till then in patience our proceeding be. (Exeunt.) (5.1.282-288)
Claudius has said almost nothing in the scene so far, but it’s he who takes charge at the end, giving the orders, reasserting control. I pray thee, good Horatio, wait upon him: Hamlet needs a minder, but also, Horatio (most likely loyal to Hamlet, rather than to Claudius) needs to be got out of the way. Laertes needs to be pacified and kept on side: strengthen your patience in our last night’s speech—remember what we talked about, that’s still the plan, console yourself with that, it’s all going to be OK, you’ll get what you want, and we’ll put the matter to the present push. We’re going to action the plan right away, no more messing about. It’s time. And perhaps Gertrude approaches, she can’t be allowed to overhear, and also, keep her in line, perhaps even feeling guilty, play on her concern for Hamlet, offering faux concern of his own: good Gertrude, set some watch over your son. He needs care and attention! (And he needs to be kept under close surveillance.) But to Laertes again: this grave shall have a living monument. Does he mean Hamlet’s death, Laertes’s revenge? it’s not clear but it sounds good. An hour of quiet thereby shall we see; till then in patience our proceeding be. Opaque, but the meaning can be, let’s just wait a little longer, bide our time, while Hamlet calms down, all the while being watched. Then we put the plan into action. It’s quintessential Claudius, watching, waiting, intervening decisively; getting others to act on his behalf; leaning into the momentum that others generate. And that’s the end of the play’s penultimate scene… Scattered exits, the corpse left behind—it makes theatrical sense for it to be laid in the trap by the gravediggers, and the boards replaced, no point carrying it off again. Farewell, Ophelia.
