Hamlet and Guildenstern's belongings and replaced it with a forged copy indicating that his former friends should be killed instead. A foppish courtier, Osric, interrupts the conversation to deliver the fencing challenge to Hamlet. Hamlet, despite Horatio's pleas, accepts it. Hamlet does well at first, leading the match by two hits to none, and Gertrude raises a toast to him using the poisoned glass of wine Claudius had set aside for Hamlet. Claudius tries to stop her, but is too late: she drinks, and Laertes realizes the plot will be revealed. Laertes slashes Hamlet with his poisoned blade. In the ensuing
Prince Hamlet in the title role is introduced by a voiceover: "This is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind." T. S. Eliot offers a similar view of Hamlet's character in his critical essay, "Hamlet and His Problems" ("The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism"). He states, "We find Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' not in the action, not in any quotations that we might select, so much as in an unmistakable tone...". Others see Hamlet as a person charged with a duty that he both knows and feels is right, yet is unwilling to carry out. In this