RALPH:  So much for Polonius's scheme for eavesdropping on Hamlet - he's now lying dead on the floor. But what's Hamlet supposed to do, now that he's killed the King’s counselor - and his girlfriend’s father?

SARAH:  In the first act, the ghost of Hamlet's father made Hamlet swear that he wouldn’t hold any of this against his mother.  Just before he killed Polonius, we saw Hamlet struggling with his promise to his father.  In this part of scene 4, his anger and shame about his mother’s choices come close to boiling over.

RALPH:  For her part, Gertrude turns from angry protests of innocence to guilty reflections on her hasty remarriage… but it’s not at all clear whether she’s understood that Hamlet’s father’s death was foul play.