Hamlet Act 3
Hamlet’s friends report to the King, and he questions them about the cause of Hamlet's lunacy. They have been unable to decipher the reasons for his behavior, although they believe that he is excited to see a group of actors perform a play. Polonius chimes in to tell the King and Queen that Hamlet has invited both of them to see the play that is going to be performed later, and they both consent to attend it. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave while Claudius asks Gertrude to leave him with Polonius and Ophelia as they intend to overhear Hamlet’s interaction with Ophelia. Gertrude leaves them with a hope that Ophelia's love will restore Hamlet to his old spirit. As Polonius is instructing Ophelia on how to appear innocent, Claudius’s conscience rears its head at Polonius’s words.
Claudius and Polonius hide as Ophelia waits for Hamlet. Hamlet enters and soliloquizes his perception of living in world of pain over the uncertainty of death. He calls himself a coward for not having already done what has been asked of him and engages Ophelia in conversation. She seeks to return some of the mementos he had given her, but he denies them and tells her that he no longer loves her although he had thought he did at one point. Ophelia expresses her grief at being misled, and Hamlet shouts that she should go to a convent. He feels that women make monsters of men, and so believes that no more marriages should take place. Ophelia sees his outburst as a marker of his deteriorated mental health and laments the degradation of a fine man such as Hamlet. He storms away, and both Polonius and Claudius exit their hiding place. Claudius remarks that Hamlet’s disquiet is likely to lead to a dangerous situation and resolves to send Hamlet to England for the collection of a tribute. He hopes that sea travel and new vistas will lift him out of this foul mood. Polonius is still adamant in believing that Hamlet’s madness has been brought about due to unrequited love. He proposes to have Hamlet speak to his mother while he hides in the room, failing which the King ought to proceed with his plan.
Hamlet converses with the actor and asks him to ensure that the acting is neither too mild nor too exaggerated. His conversation with the actors is interrupted by the entry of Polonius along with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Polonius informs him that the King and Queen will be in attendance, and Hamlet instructs them all to assist the actors in preparing for the play. Horatio enters and is warmly greeted by Hamlet. He requests Horatio’s assistance in observing the King’s reaction to the play so that they may finally discover the veracity of the Ghost’s account.
Hamlet seats himself next to Ophelia and makes ridiculous remarks with her as they watch the actors perform a pantomime of the play’s summary. He makes crude sexual jokes and offers her a commentary of the occurrences on stage. They watch the onstage King and Queen make gestures of love to one another, the actor Queen then leaves the King sleeping in a garden. Another actor enters, takes off the sleeping King’s crown, kisses it, and pours poison in his ear. The play begins in earnest after a tiny prologue and opens with a conversation between a King and a Queen. The Queen expresses her undying love for the King and her worry for his worsening health. The King mentions the possibility of the Queen marrying another man after his death but the Queen refutes that notion altogether. She goes so far as to claim that she’d be killing her first husband every time she kisses the second. The King is reassured of his wife’s love and asks her to leave so that he may rest. Hamlet turns to his mother at the end of the scene and she feels that the lady protested the notion too much. Claudius inquires if the play’s subject is offensive and Hamlet reassures him that the play “The Mousetrap” was a trivial thing, and unlikely to cause them any serious worry since none of them had any guilt. In the play, the King’s nephew comes upon the sleeping monarch in the garden. He pours poison in the King’s ear, and Hamlet turns to explain that the nephew had murdered the King to gain his estate. Claudius stands up and leaves the play in a hurry while Polonius orders the play to be stopped.
Horatio and Hamlet are left alone as everyone follows the King, and they both agree that Claudius had been visibly upset after seeing the murder of the King on stage. Their conversation is interrupted with the entry of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They inform hamlet that the King is upset and in his chambers, and further that his mother wished to see Hamlet in her quarters. Polonius enters and makes the same request, as Hamlet accuses his friends of trying to manipulate him as if he were a recorder. Hamlet tells them all that he’ll go see his mother and they all leave.
The King in his chambers tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that Hamlet’s madness is likely to have a disastrous effect and commands them to accompany Hamlet to England. They leave with Polonius, as he makes his way to the Queen’s chamber where he intends to hide and overhear Hamlet’s conversation with his mother. The King is then left alone, and he soliloquizes his inability to pray and seek solace in God. He compares his actions to that of Cain and wonders whether an individual might be able to repent for their sin while enjoying gifts borne from that very sin. He begins to pray, and Hamlet enters the chamber. He wishes to kill the King but decides that he would rather kill the man when he was engaged in sinful activity so that he would be damned in the afterlife as well. He leaves to go see his mother, whom he intends to injure with just his words.
Polonius hides behind a tapestry as Hamlet enters the room, she attempts to reason out why he has begun to behave with such hostility towards the King and Queen, and he, in turn, wonders how she can continue to live her sinful life. The Queen mistakes his words and thinks that Hamlet intends to harm her. She yells for help, and Polonius takes up the cry from behind the tapestry. Hamlet stabs the yelling silhouette and is surprised but not repentant to discover that he has killed Polonius. He then sits his mother down and points at a portrait of his father with Claudius. He compares the two of them and asks her what drove her to the arms of Claudius when she had such a virtuous husband in his father. Gertrude is overcome with grief at his words and begs him to stop. The Ghost enters the room, and Hamlet questions the Ghost whether he has arrived to admonish him for his tardiness in delivering revenge. Gertrude mistakes her son’s talking to the air as a sign of his madness, and Hamlet tells her that it isn’t his madness that she’s seeing but rather the realization of her sin. Hamlet tells her that he sees the Ghost of his father, who had been slain by Claudius. Gertrude asks Hamlet how she should proceed, and he tells her to shun his uncle's bed. He elaborates on the King’s plan to send him to England and tells her that he intends to comply. He warns her to keep their conversation a secret from the King. Finally, he expresses his regret for the death of Polonius and drags his corpse out of the room.
Analysis
The first scene of this act features one of the most famous lines in English literature, and it is the first line of Hamlet's soliloquy about suicide. The line "To be, or not to be" and the following events retain a special place in literature due to Shakespeare's unique ability in presenting three-dimensional characters. He does this in Hamlet by insinuating that Hamlet possesses a subconscious mind since he hints at suicide without ever talking about it directly. He presents the proposition of suicide as a matter of philosophical debate like he was arguing the point to a listener, yet he does this while talking to himself. Surprisingly, Hamlet never once refers to himself during the soliloquy or the despair that causes him to consider suicide.
The following interaction with Ophelia also presents us with another confusing facet of Hamlet's psychological state. The interaction has been designed by Polonius and Claudius, who wish to gauge Hamlet's mental state through his interaction with Ophelia. Hamlet admits that he once loved Ophelia, but does so no longer, and goes further to state that women lead men into vice. His admittance to loving her and the following outburst leads the audience to question their belief that Hamlet is only pretending to be crazy to plot against his uncle. Doubt and certainty are major themes that are explored in Hamlet as the characters are forced to confront how certain they can be about their decisions. Hamlet, in particular, is dogged by indecisiveness as he attempts to verify the details of a crime that had no witnesses. It is clear to the reader that Claudius's reaction to a play is a poor test of determining whether he had truly murdered his brother or not. In this regard, Hamlet sets itself apart from revenge tragedies that had preceded it, like The Spanish Tragedy that was popular during the same time as Hamlet.
Hamlet's interaction with the other characters preceding the play indicates that he is in control of his faculties and is only pretending to be crazy. Hamlet shifts back and forth between calm and erratic, as he interacts normally with Horatio but then acts insane while speaking with Claudius and the other characters from the royal court.
