CLAUDIUS                              It falls right.

You have been talked of since your travel much,

And that in Hamlet’s hearing, for a quality

Wherein they say you shine. Your sum of parts

Did not together pluck such envy from him

As did that one, and that in my regard

Of the unworthiest siege.

LAERTES                    What part is that, my lord?   (4.7.68-75)

Claudius is patient, meticulous, reeling Laertes in: it falls right, he says, of Laertes’s offer to be the secret agent of revenge. That will work perfectly. But then he seems to change tack, with an extended but initially vague compliment: you have been talked of since your travel much—ever since you went to France—and that in Hamlet’s hearing, for a quality wherein they say you shine. People are saying—ah yes, people—that you’re great at—something. And Hamlet’s jealous! He keeps hearing about you, hearing people sing your praises, for this particular talent! Your sum of parts did not together pluck such envy from him as did that one—that more than all the rest of your talents and amazing qualities really made him jealous—and that in my regard of the unworthiest siege. Laertes is flattered but, even more, intrigued; he wants to know more, and he’s eating out of Claudius’s hand: what part is that, my lord? What is it that I can do that’s eating Hamlet up with envy?