Act 4 Scene 2

Hamlet finishes disposing of Polonius’ body somewhere in the city of Elsinore when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find him. They want to know what he’s done with the corpse so that they can take it to the chapel, as requested by Claudius. Hamlet refuses to tell them, accusing them of being “sponges” for the King. All they want is approval from the King by doing his dirty work and finding out secrets for him. However, they’re only useful when they have this secret knowledge. After they are wrung dry, they are once again disposable. Rosencrantz says that he doesn’t quite understand what Hamlet is accusing them of. Hamlet replies, “A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.” He is convinced that the two men are too foolish to understand the “high-concept” thoughts that Hamlet has.