Quote Analysis

Pressed to reveal where Polonius's body is, Hamlet delivers a riddling answer about the relationship between 'the body' and 'the King,' then calls Claudius 'a thing of nothing' before agreeing to be taken to him.

The chiastic structure—'body is with the King' reversed into 'King is not with the body'—creates a logical puzzle that sounds like madness but may encode a political claim: the corpse is near Claudius, yet Claudius lacks the sacred body (the legitimate authority) a true king should possess. By interrupting himself mid-insult ('The King is a thing—') when Guildenstern reacts, Hamlet either performs caution or performs recklessness, leaving us unsure whether his cryptic speech protects him or endangers him.

Use this to argue that Hamlet's riddling language serves a double function—it lets him speak dangerous truths about Claudius's illegitimacy while giving him plausible deniability by sounding incoherent, turning apparent madness into a shield.