Hamlet Act 3 scene 1 quotes

‘By no drift of conference,Get from him why he puts on this confusion’ Claudius 1-2Rozencrant and guildenstern cannot by any leading of the conversation get Hmalet to confess to the reason for his madness. This is also significant because it shows that Claudius knows that Hamlet is only pretending to be mad – puts on.
‘Certain playersWe o’er-raught on the way; of these we told him,And there did seem in him a kind of joyTo hear of it’ Rozencrantz 16-19The first time in the play that Hamlet has been even remotely happy. The actors are his real friends, he finds consonance and joy in narrative and dramatic art.- the only time his feminine side is accepted and applauded.
‘Her father and myself, lawful espials,Will so bestow ourselves that, seeing unseen,We may of their encounter frankly judge’ Claudius 32-4The King sees himself as a legitimate spy. He believes that the end justifies the means, and so he can eavesdrop without feeling guilt. Claudius always justifies his actions with customs. Denmark occupies itself with spying on all the people within the court. The constant suspicion is continued,
‘I hope your virtues,Will bring him to his wanted way again,To both your honours.’ Queen 40-2The queen here first justifies and sanctifies the relationship And love between hamlet and Ophelia. She is the only one who seems to realise that if hamlet is truly mad due to rejection then the way to end it is to sanctify their bond. Gertrude a woman is the most able to understand hamlet’s mind.
‘I do wishThat Your good beauties be the happy cause Of Hamlet’s wildness’ Gertrude 39-40Gertrude assumption of Hamlet’s madnessHowever the doubt in the start of the phrase indicates that Gertrude suspects a more complex reason but looks for the good.
‘With devotion’s visage And pious action we de sugar o’er The devil himself’ Polonius 47-9This is true of Claudius. By assuming a facade of religion one is able to seem honest when really remorseless. This foreshadows Claudius’ praying scene.
‘How smart a lash that speech doth give my concience’ King 49-50 Polonius’ words make Claudius confess to the audience before even Hamlet has initiated the mousetrap.
‘To be, or not to be, that is the question:’ Hamlet 56To be what precisely?To be a revenge hero? To live? To murder Claudius or to flee? The meaning of the question is ambiguous
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’ Hamlet 57-8Hamlet’s debate of nobility shows his confused conflict of action or inaction. He is debating whether it is better to suffer and live, or give in to his pain and anger and by killing Claudius inevitably die himself. He is aware of his role in the play and is considering whether there is a way out for himself.
‘Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them? Hamlet 59-60
‘To die, to sleep-No more;’ ‘To die to sleep-To sleep perchance to dream”That sleep of death”By a sleep to say we end/the heartache’ There is much repetition of sleep and death. Hamlet is unable to sleep without terrible dreams and both wishes to end his nightmare ridden sleep, and to sleep undisturbed. He seems to confuse death and sleep as the same thing. The tone of the speech is very secular, but the repetition makes it chant like, and almost like prayer.
‘That makes calamity of so long life’ Seems like long life itself is the calamity. Hamlet is debating suicide?
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,Must give us pause; there’s the respect’ The caesura after pause emphasises the word. It also stresses the pause for respect of the dead that follows. The shuffling makes death seem less important it is natural – the coil seems like destiny.
‘Tis a consummationDevoutly to be wished’ Hamlet hopes that death equals sleep which equals and end. He wishes for a way out of his inevitable end.
‘He himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin?’ The simplicity of the suicide makes hamlet question- the irony of the ease of suicide compared to the slog of life.The repetition of the harsh ‘B’ sound allows the actor to spit out the words in anger, as if furious with the irony.
‘Quietus’ Two meanings A legal term meaning the full payment of a debt – therefore is death a debt to be payed – this ties to destiny and inevitability of action. Quietus also the idea of peace and rest
‘Who would bear the whips and scorns of time”Who would fardels bear? To grunt and sweat…’ The passivity of the questions make the soliloquy theoretical- as if it is a question for debate. Hamlet is characterised as a philosophical academic and student.
‘That dread of something after death’ This is what leads hamlet to fear suicide. By questioning the existence of heaven he makes it clear how religious uncertainty has mentally corrupted a generation through the religious turmoil of the last century. Therefore hamlet’s questioning of the ghost’s intentions is clear. The mousetrap is to test the ghosts verity as well as Claudius’ humanity. Leads to the debate of how funerals have effected people’s sense of finality and closure at a person’s death.
‘The undiscovered country firm whose Bourn,No traveller returns’ Hamlet is aware of his options within the confines of his life and the inevitable narrative of the play.- kill Claudius and therefore kill himself in true revenge hero fashion, or escape, make no vengeance and by doing so live a long life haunted by guilt and the pain brought on by Denmark. Or, he realises the only other way out is the commit suicide. In this way he would be free from choosing either route, but in order to escape both options he must choose the fear of the uncertainty after,as there is no stringless route out of his situation. Also this statement is highly secular when in the past Hamlet has referred to death with a Christian viewpoint – ‘fixed his canon ‘gains self slaughter’
‘Makes us bear those ills we have,Than fly to others that we know not of?’ Summarises what Hamlet feels about the fear of something after death is worse than his situation now,
Ratiocinatio The description of hamlet’s self debate- useful term for when one questions and answers their own questions in an elaborate way.
‘Thus conscience does make cowards of us all’ Hamlet realises that is he were like the ideal revenge hero- Laertes- he wouldn’t have to question what is the best route, he would just act and deal with the consequences later.
‘Conecience’ Two meanings Either inward knowledge or biological conscience or the awareness of right and wrong. Hamlet shows how he doubts what he sees is true – he understands that things may not be as he first thought – the ghosts’ intentions. Right and wrong – Hamlet’s paranoia with legacy and how to act. A sense that there is a moral code.
‘The pale cast of thought’ Pale has been used to describe the colour of death and therefore to think and to be philosophically aware is to realise the full consequences and Implications of death. Those who don’t think live without the fear of death hanging over them.
‘With this regard their currents turn awry,And lose the name of action’ Fear makes people lose their ability to acts and prevents a person from pursuit. It numbs one into inaction.
‘So sweet breath composed as made these things more rich’ Ophelia still sees hamlet in a good light – she loves him in someway and respects his admiration for her.
‘To the noble mind Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind’ The talk of money and love and gifts. Ophelia has a corrupted sense of love – it is tangled up with marriage and dowries and duty.
July 7, 2019