Scene 3.4
Scene 3.4 – In Gertrude’s
Chamber, Within the Castle
Hamlet goes to his mother and asks, straight-faced, what is the matter.
She says he has greatly offended “his” father (meaning Claudius),
while he counterclaims that she has greatly offended “my” father (meaning
Hamlet Senior). Hamlet, perhaps
because an annoyed Gertrude is already trying to end their meeting, says she
must sit and first listen to his words which will act as a mirror to reveal her
true self. Frightened, Gertrude
thinks Hamlet might be plotting to murder her on the spot, so she cries out for
help. Polonius, concealed behind a
curtain, attempts to answer her cry. Wasting
no time, Hamlet stabs blindly at the voice he hears, thinking (or hoping anyway)
that he is striking Claudius dead. Polonius
slumps to the floor, dead. Gertrude,
appalled, calls Hamlet’s deed most rash and bloody, but he counters that
it’s “Almost as bad, good mother, / As kill a king and marry his brother.” Hamlet here clearly accuses Gertrude of having a hand in his
father’s murder, but oddly she neither denies it nor presses for an
explanation of this accusation; Hamlet, too, drops the issue. He instead verbally attacks Gertrude by implying that she has
committed adultery and by openly stating contempt for her ill-advised exchange
of Hamlet for Claudius. Cut to the
quick, Gertrude is horrified by the sin she sees within and begs Hamlet to stop
his barrage of incriminating words.
The ghost suddenly enters, visible only to Hamlet.
He addresses it, prompting Gertrude (who sees nothing) to think he has
now positively lost his mind. The
ghost reprimands Hamlet, saying “Do not forget.
This visitation / Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.”
That is, Hamlet needs to redirect his energies against Claudius and leave
his mother alone, as the ghost originally commanded him.
The ghost vanishes. To
defend himself against his mother’s charge of madness, Hamlet memorably
declares “I essentially am not in madness, / But mad in craft,” explaining
his antic disposition to Gertrude before advising her to conceal this knowledge
from Claudius.
Hamlet continues to counsel his mother, saying that she should repent and
would do well to avoid Claudius’ bed, so as not to persist any further in her
sin. He himself then repents of
Polonius’ murder, well aware that it bodes a bad beginning to what will most
likely be a worse end. This killing
will no doubt, Hamlet knows, hasten his expulsion to England.
The scene closes with Hamlet lugging Polonius’ cold corpse off stage.
