Hamlet Act 4 scenes 5-7

At the beginning of scene five, we learn that Ophelia has gone mad because of Polonius's death and Hamlet's actions toward her. She sings songs to Claudius and Gertrude about losing love and virginity and expresses that she feels betrayed by Hamlet. After she leaves, Claudius talks about how so many bad things have happened at once an now Laertes is going to return to Denmark to figure out who killed his father. I was surprised that especially Gertrude was not more understanding and comforting of Ophelia's situation considering the loss of her husband and her concern for Hamlet. When Laertes comes and confronts Claudius about Polonius's death, Claudius denies he had anything to do with it. Laertes is seeking revenge and seems to want to do whatever it takes to get it. This made me compare him to Hamlet, who was much more hesitant to assign the blame to Claudius for his father's death without proof. Laertes gets even angrier when he sees that Ophelia is crazy. Claudius does his best to empathize with Laertes and suggests that if he was the killer, Laertes can be king, but if he is not, then Claudius will help him kill the real murderer.

In scene six, Hamlet returns to Denmark, having escaped pirates at sea. He sends letters to the King and Horatio and wants to meet with Horatio. Meanwhile, in scene seven, Claudius tells Laertes that Hamlet killed Polonius and tried to kill him too. He makes up an excuse about not killing Hamlet before by saying that he did not want to see Gertrude suffer from the death of her son because he loved her too much and that the citizens like Hamlet too much to kill him without an obvious reason. Laertes is glad to hear that Hamlet is returned so he can take revenge. Cladius encourages Laertes to act quickly because his motivation might fade since love lessens over time. I thought this was really ironic because the only reason Claudius is still alive is that Hamlet had procrastinated killing him. Claudius and Laertes then make their plan to kill him including a not blunted sword with a poisonous tip and and cup of poison. Gertrude comes in and tells them that Ophelia has drowned, which fuels Laertes sadness and anger even more. At the end of the scene, Claudius lies to Gertrude and says that he tried to calm Laertes down.

I am curious to see how Claudius's and Laertes's plan will turn out and what Gertrude's reaction will be. I am also interested in seeing Hamlet's reaction to Ophelia's death.