- Two random Portuguese dudes question Hieronimo about the whereabouts of the Duke of Castile (Bel-Imperia's dad), but Hieronimo only gives evasive answers.
- But he does manage to talk in coded language about the injustice of the Spanish court. And while his crazy talk makes sense to the audience, the Portuguese guys just think he's nuts.
- From this point on, Hieronimo consistently sounds like madman. Has grief and the twisted path of revenge driven him mad or is he as Hamlet will later say, "essentially [….] not in madness But mad in craft" (Hamlet 3.4.191-2). Which is to say, "I'm not really crazy, but I'm going to act like I am to throw everyone off my trail."
- This is a big question in the play, and perhaps the biggest question in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Coincidence? We think not.