Isn’t poison hilarious?
Sneaky poisoners, walking around on their tippy toes with vials of the vile stuff – just ready to slip it in to someone when they’re not paying attention. In the ear, in the food, in the drink, in the pearl that goes in the drink, on the sword.
It’s interesting how much poison is in this play and all of it comes back to Claudius. He is a poisoner. That is his method of choice (except when he can use bureaucracy and have England do his killing for him.) I’m sure there is some sort of taxonomy of murderers and their methods, something that gives each murderer a particular psychological profile.
If I were playing Claudius, I’d find such a taxonomy and spend some time understanding why Claudius prefers to poison.
The Hamlet Project 