Polonius tells Reynaldo to spy on Laertes and bait his friends by dissing Laertes' character. We never find out what happened to Reynaldo and it is never discussed again, probably because of Polonius' untimely death.
Later on, Polonius tries to bait Hamlet by sending his daughter, Ophelia, out into the open to see if Hamlet truly loves her. Hamlet answers that bate with the reply that he has never loved her and that she is a whore. However, other scenes and actions done by Hamlet seem to show that he does, actually love her.
The biggest bait of them all is probably when Hamlet tries to catch a guilty reply by Claudius during the play he made up. Hamlet reenacts the murder scene and it does strike Claudius' conscience. Claudius wails for light and quickly shuffles away.
Laertes later baits Hamlet by challenging him to a fencing match. This ends in everyone dying and ends the book.

Modernist Shakespeare

I do not think Shakespeare was a modernist or a postmodernist. Those movements had not even come around yet. I think he was a dark romanticist. Although that movement wasn't really around, that is what he was. Hamlet is a hero whose dark qualities lead him to depression and murder. The protaganist is not some perfect man who does everything right. Instead, he does everything wrong including loving his mom, accidentally killing Polonius, and insulting everyone. The play, Hamlet, is built off of ideas such as revenge and adultery.

My Answer:

Why is Hamlet so eager to kill, when he does not even know the person behind the tapestry?

Hamlet is so overcome by his hatred for Claudius that he is starting to make rash and irrational decisions. Hamlet hopes that the squealer is the king so he can finally extract his revenge upon him. He passed up killing him before, since he was praying. Now he can kill Claudius inside the room, hiding like a coward. Also, why would any other person be in his mom's room at that time? Logically, although he is low on logic, he would think that it is the ear-poisoning coward hiding behind the tapestry.

Don't remember what the homework was

Claudius: Is Hamlet mad?

I think that first of all, Claudius knows Hamlet does not like him. This is why he wants to know throughout the play if, in fact, Hamlet is mad. If Hamlet is, then he can easily dispense of him by sending him to England. This is why he acts so concerned-he is concerned, just not for Hamlet's sake. If Hamlet is not mad, then he could have something to worry about. Hamlet is coming to the age where he is the rightful age to inherit the throne. I think that Hamlet made a bad move in showing this play to the castle. It obviously shows that someone knows how King Hamlet was murdered. Hamlet invented the play, and so the obvious conclusion is that Hamlet knows the king was murdered. Claudius should now, more than ever, be concerned about Hamlet's state of mind.

Questions?

Why is King Claudius so interested in the madness of Hamlet?

Also, why would he send Hamlet to the country of England because of his madness?

Hamlet, Ophelia...old news

I think that Hamlet did love Ophelia at one point. His love notes, while not well crafted, were still love notes. He also gave her tokens. I am not real sure what that means, but he gave her tokens. There is no way he would have gone to all of that work for her if he did not in fact love her. If he just was with her because he was attracted to her, he would still try to be with her. I believe that, since he saw the ghost, he started to act wierd around her because of the fact that he is planning on killing someone. He does not wan't her to become involved with a murderer because he does love her. He is trying to shove her away with his raunchiness, by continuing to act crazy when he is around her, and by repeatedly telling her that he does not love her. It is like when you set a wild panda back into the wild.

Why is the "to be or not to be" speech so famous? It seemed like Hamlet was just ranting again. It's wierd that those first six words are known by millions of people. I knew them, but I didn't even know they were in Hamlet. I wonder if the book is based off of that speech