Act3- scene1:

The King and Queen enter with Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius, Ophelia, and members
of the court. Claudius ques ons Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about Hamlet's madness, asking if
they have found a reason for Hamlet's behavior. Rosencrantz answers that the Prince has
admi ed to being distracted but will not say from what. Guildenstern says that Hamlet has been
cra y in disguising his mo va ons. The two report that Hamlet is very excited about the play to
be presented, and Claudius asks them to encourage him in this regard. Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern leave.
Claudius orders Gertrude to leave so that he and Polonius can spy on Hamlet, who has an
imminent mee ng with Ophelia. Ophelia enters, and the Queen, in a moment of maternal
affec on, tells Ophelia that she hopes that Hamlet and Ophelia will patch up their broken
romance so that Hamlet can get on with his life. Gertrude exits. Polonius greets Ophelia and
instructs her to pretend to read a book so that her being alone will not seem unusual to Hamlet.
Ophelia complies and waits with a book while the two men hide. Hamlet enters, speaking his "To
be or not to be" soliloquy. He ponders the nature of being and nothingness, and then no ces
Ophelia reading. Hamlet, assuming that she is reading prayers, asks her to pray for him. She tells
him she wishes to return to him gi s he has given her. He responds that he has given her no
gi s. She insists that he did give her gi s, and she claims that he gave the gi s to her with words
that made them seem symbols of great love. Again he denies having given her the gi s at all and
further denies having ever loved her. He ques ons her honesty and, in response to her
bewilderment, tells her that all men are untrustworthy knaves and that she would be be er off
in a nunnery.
• To Ophelia's further consterna on, Hamlet then abruptly demands that she
disclose the current whereabouts of her father. She lies and says that he is at
home. Enraged, Hamlet curses her, predic ng a disaster for her dowry. He tells
her again to go to a nunnery. As Ophelia frets over his apparently fled sanity, he
says that he knows that women are two faced and cannot be trusted; they all
deserve to be cast aside. Then he leaves.
• Le alone, Ophelia bemoans what she considers to be Hamlet's descent into
complete insanity. Claudius and Polonius join her and assess what they have
overheard and seen. The King doubts that love has ruined Hamlet's mind; he tells
Polonius that he will send Hamlet to England. Polonius, s ll convinced that love
afflicts Hamlet, urges Claudius to make one more a empt to ferret out a
sa sfying reason for Hamlet's behavior. He tells the King to send Hamlet to
Gertrude's quarters later that evening. There, while Polonius hides behind the
arras, Gertrude should a empt to cajole Hamlet into revealing his innermost
thoughts with Polonius as witness. Claudius agrees
• Analysis
• Claudius' entrance speech reveals two very significant aspects of his character: (1) that
he is aware of the growing threat Hamlet poses for him, and (2) that he is absolutely in
control and capable of decisive ac on. He provides a stark contrast to Hamlet, who
becomes en rely incapacitated by the very idea of ac on. The more Claudius knows, the
more he calculates and acts; the more Hamlet knows, the more he thinks and bandies
words. Hamlet's "turbulent lunacy" places them both in danger.
• The characters enact two more premeditated entrapments. First, Claudius sends
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to con nue their spying. Second, Polonius and Claudius
hatch their plot to have Ophelia stage a confronta on in which Hamlet will reveal himself
to Ophelia while Claudius and Polonius spy.
• Claudius appears to care deeply about his tortured nephew but confesses his guilty
conscience in an aside. Claudius gradually reveals the depth of his criminality and at the
same me engenders sympathy — the paradox of evil — by exposing his human
fallibility. He sees his guilt in Polonius' charge that they could sugarcoat the devil. "Oh,
' s too true," says Claudius. "How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!"
Even a whore can look innocent when painted, and so his ugly deed looks honorable
when clouded by pre y words.
• S ll he feels the weight of his sin. Claudius presents a formidable foe for Hamlet.
Both men have now revealed their cunning and sensi ve comprehension of the
human condi on. They are evenly matched except that Claudius has the
advantage of poli cal power — or the moment.
• Although Cladius ini ally refutes the idea that Hamlet is mad, he does say that
madness should not go unchecked. He decides to send Hamlet to England, away
from the stress of Denmark. Polonius agrees that sending him abroad is the best
course, but also suggests trying one last idea: sending the queen to speak with
Hamlet a er the play that evening, while he (Polonius) hides nearby to witness
the conversa on. Claudius consents.
• To be, or not to be: that is the ques on:
• Hamlet is thinking about life and death. It is the great ques on that Hamlet is
asking about human existence in general and his own existence in par cular – a
reflec on on whether it’s be er to be alive or to be dead Hamlet’s soliloquy
means that he cannot decide what is be er, ending all the sufferings of life by
death, or bearing the mental burdens silently. He is in such a cri cal juncture that
it seems death is more rewarding than all the things happening with him for the
turn of fortune
• . Death is like sleep, he thinks, that ends this fi ul fever of life. But, what dreams
are stored for him in the pacifying sleep of death. This thought makes him
rethink and reconsider. Somehow, it seems to him that before diving deeper into
the regions of unknown and unseen, it is be er to wait and see.
• In this way, his subconscious mind makes him restless and he suffers in
inac onShould Hamlet choose to kill himself, all of his heartaches would be put
to rest. He would no longer have to watch his uncle reign over the kingdom that
he believes should belong to him and his father. He would no longer have to feel
obligated to avenge his father’s death. He would also never again have to watch
the ac ons of Claudius and Gertrude, which he believes to be incestuous. Hamlet
realizes that in death, his stresses would be forgo en. The only thing keeping
Hamlet from death is the uncertainty of what death could bring to him.