Not really, though. From what Laertes has said, the poison on this sword is deadly from the first touch. Does Claudius think he’s immune to it? Or maybe, having been through the bodies of Laertes and Hamlet, the poison has been washed off with blood?
I mean, now that I think about it, it is pretty amazing that it could go through the bodies of two people and retain its potency. I’d think you might need to reapply the poison after each use – but no. It works just as well on all three people it’s used on – and rather than losing potency, it seems to increase – as each subsequent person seems to die more quickly – the first person to get struck is the last to die.
Maybe there’s something in the compound that reacts to blood and increases its potency the more blood it is exposed to. I mean – probably not. I don’t think that could be a real thing – but a fictional thing, sure.
The Hamlet Project 