Act 3 Scene 1 Of Hamlet

I will discuss the tragedy, Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 1. We start off with the King, the Queen, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius, and Ophelia. We have Cladius asking Rosencrantz and Guildenstern why Hamlet is acting so strangely. Rosencrantz answers that the price admits he is confused, but he wont say why. After their conversation, Cladius orders Gertrude to leave so that he and polonium can spy on hamlet. As Ophelia enters, the queen tells her that hopefully the problems between her and Hamlet gets fixed. Polonius instructs her to pretend to “read” the bible to make it not seem unusual as both Cladius and Polonius hide to spy. Claudius mentions that devoting to god to mask their bad deeds is usual. “Ophelia,
come here.—(to CLAUDIUS) Your Majesty, we will hide. (to OPHELIA)—Read from this prayer book, so it looks natural that you’re all alone. Come to think of it, this happens all the time—people act devoted to God to mask their bad deeds. “ Hamlet enters the room and starts off with his “to be or not to be” soliloquy. He then notices Ophelia reading. She insists a gift that she has never given him and he denies them and also denies the love he had for her. Hamlet demands to know the location for her father, and Ophelia responds with a lie saying he is at home. Hamlet gets mad knowing shes not telling the truth and tells her to go to a nunnery. He says that he knows women are two faced and cannot be trusted. After Hamlet leaves, Cladius and Polonius join her. Cladius now thinks that love has nothing to do with Hamlets insanity and tells Polonius he will send Hamlet to England, but Polonius still has a feeling that love has something to do with for his madness and convinces the king for another attempt to catch Hamlet ferreting out a satisfying reason for his behavior. He tells the King to send Hamlet to Gertrude's quarters later that evening so he hide behind the arras and spy on him as Gertrude convinces Hamlet into spitting out his thoughts.

In this scene, Cladius and Polonius want to find out why Hamlet has gone mad.
They keep trying to trick Hamlet into blurting out his thoughts, but it doesn’t work. Claudius is aware of the threat Hamlet has for him. When Hamlet enters the room, he knows he is being spy-ed on and he knows who. He said his famous soliloquy “to be or not to be, that is the question...” basically meaning we are born, we live, and we die. Is it better live or to die. Do we sleep in death or do we cease... etc... Hamlet is looking for a smart way to confirm the ghosts statement and that Claudius is in fact the murderer of Hamlets father. This was the perfect opportunity for Hamlet to indirectly blame Claudius. Spying and tricking are big themes in this play. Hamlet will trick Claudius twice. First during the play of his and second, by the illusion of him thinking he is crazy. When Hamlet questions Ophelia about where his father is, she lies to him, labeling Ophelia as a liar. He knows she cant be trusted, in fact, no one can be trusted, that’s his mind set. He generalizes to Ophelia about how all woman are two faced and that he had never had loved her on purpose so her father can hear. What would have happened if Ophelia did not lie about where her father was? Would this situation be any different? It might have been more of a romance rather than a tragedy. Polonius suggests Hamlet to talk to his mother, maybe he will confess something front of her as Polonius spy’s on him. This is the second
time spying has come up within this scene. Ever since Hamlet found out his father has been killed by Claudius, he has hated him. He promised the ghost he will find revenge and kill Claudius. But is Hamlet ready? Was Hamlet himself ready to die? If he killed Claudius, he would die to. He wasn’t ready for death, he feared the after life, the unknown. The relation between these characters in this play are decaying. They have no bonding, no love, no trust. At first when Hamlet notices Ophelia, they greet each other as usual, without any arguments. But when she lied to him, the prescription of her changed. At the beginning of Act 3, scene one, the king shows that he cares about Hamlet and he feels guilty. “How right he is! His words whip up my guilty feelings. The whore’s pockmarked cheek made pretty with make-up is just like the ugly actions I’m disguising with fine words. What a terrible guilt I feel!” After over hearing what Hamlet said to Ophelia about how he never loved her, his perception also changed. Claudius also says that “madness is in great ones must not go unwatched” basically he must be watched which also goes to the theme of relationship decay. Ophelia is confused to how Hamlet reacted when she lied, all she did was listen to the advice her father gave her. I think the playwright wants us to view Hamlet by the end of this scene wants us to think that he is of course clever.
He knew the king was pulling off one of his tricks when he saw Ophelia, it shows that he is one step ahead of them, every single time. When he said his famous soliloquy “to be or not to be” it showed us that he is scared about the after life. He doesn’t like knowing whats going to happen to him after he dies. Is his soul going to heaven or hell? Is he going to be rested or suffer? Also, this scene showed me that Ophelia thinks he is gone mad by the way he is talking to her. “Oh, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s, eye, tongue, sword, Th' expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mould of form, Th' observed of all observers, quite, quite down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, that sucked the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; That unmatched form and feature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy.” Claudius first thought that the reason behind Hamlets madness was because his love, because Polonius didn't let Ophelia have any contact with him, but after this scene,Claudius doubts that love is behind his craziness. “Love? His affections do not that way tend. Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little, Was not like madness.” Claudius also thinks that he is getting tricked by Hamlet. He is
questioning everything he does. Polonius on the other hand always thought that love had something to do with his craziness. I feel like this scene is important because the king is going to over hear Hamlet, but he doesn't say anything important. We find out that Hamlet isn’t just a crazy guy but is worried about the after life from his soliloquy, “to be or not to be, that is the question...” We found out that as much as he wants to kill himself and end it all, he cant be sure to what death has in store. Should he end it all? I also feel like this scene was a way for both Hamlet and the King to communicate without actually speaking. It gave them both messages to one another. From Hamlets point of view, he now knows that the king and Polonius We also learned that the king has sympathy towards Hamlet even though he doesn’t trust Hamlet after the way he spoke to Ophelia. I also think that Polonius thinks that Hamlet loves Ophelia but all he cares about is confirming his theory rather than comforting his own daughter. Hamlet screaming and getting mad at Ophelia was a major important role in this scene. He was acting cruel to her because he was taking out his anger over his mother's marriage and he applies it to all woman. In my opinion, I think he wants to see if Ophelia is like his mother. He doesn’t want to get betrayed just like he got from his mother. In the same way, I also think that Hamlet is pushing Ophelia away not because he doesn’t love her, but because he doesn’t want to hurt her once he finishes his plan, which is killing the king and potentially running the kingdom.