What are the three entrapments in the play?Who are they between

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luannw | High School Teacher | (Level 2) Senior Educator

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Since this is a play filled with trickery and deception, it is not hard to come up with three examples of entrapment.  In Act 3, sc. 1, Polonius has Ophelia talk to Hamlet while Polonius and Claudius hide so they can hear what Hamlet has to say.  Polonius is certain that Hamlet's "madness" is due to unrequited love from Ophelia and he sets up this trap to prove his theory to Claudius.  The most famous example of entrapment comes in Act 3. sc. 2, when the players perform a scene that Hamlet devised, portraying the death of King Hamlet as the ghost had described it to Hamlet.  Another example is the final scene of the play, Act 5, sc. 2.  Claudius and Laertes have devised a scheme where Laertes can kill Hamlet.  Laertes has challenged to Hamlet to swordplay - a sport meant to simply test one another's skills, not kill.  They have devised three methods of bringing about Hamlet's death: a pointed sword for Laertes rather than a blunted one, poison on the tip of Laertes' sword, and poison in the wine that Claudius will offer to Hamlet.  Another lessser example of deceit or entrapment are the arrival of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They tell Hamlet at first they are just here for a visit, but it soon comes out they were called by the king and queen to come in order to try to get from Hamlet the cause of his melancholy.  Still another example is when Polonius hides behind the arras in Gertrude's room in his attempt to spy on Hamlet as Gertrude talks to him.  One more example is when Polonius sends Reynaldo in Act 2, sc. 1, to France to spy on Laertes to see how Laertes is conducting himself at school.

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