Hamlet Subtext

SCENE IV. The Queen's closet.
Enter QUEEN Gertrude and POLONIUS
LORD POLONIUS
He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.
Pray you, be round with him.

Polonius speaks in a manner of dominance as if he is much wiser than the Queen. He urges her to be firm with him and to make it clear that his decisions have been wrong through forceful gesticulations.

HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!
Hamlet runs up to the door in a hurry after almost killing Claudius. As he knocks on the door he says his mother’s name with enthusiasm due to the energy rushing though him.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
Gertrude points to Polonius to hide behind the arras while whispering him to not worry because she has everything under control.
POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?
Hamlet begins the conversation in a slightly amused, almost joking manner.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
It is clear from Gertrude’s tone that she does not consider this to be a trivial matter and she quickly lets him know how much the play has offended Claudius.
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended.
Hamlet senses the severity of the topic and begins on his own offensive refusing to listen to his mother, while trying to make his own point. This shows how much the issue has really been bothering him.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Gertrude doesn’t fully understand what Hamlet is trying to imply so she tries to act motherly hoping to coax out a different attitude from Hamlet.

HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Hamlet shows he is not in the mood for these types of games with a very harsh message towards his mother. He clearly is here for business and is not going to hold back.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
Gertrude is hurt by Hamlet’s tone of voice and is basically questioning his attitude and view towards her.
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
Hamlet throws up his hands in an exasperated matter as he begins to dominate the conversation. He is just toying with her now as she seems to be on the defensive.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
As Gertrude cowers before him, she tries desperately to get Hamlet to remember that she is after all his mother. She feels that he should not be acting this way towards her.
HAMLET
No, by the rood, not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.
In essence, Hamlet tells her that you are not who I thought you were or who I remember you to be. He makes it clear to remind her of the mistake he perceives her to have made. He points to the Heavens as he makes his last statement perhaps in reference to his father.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
Gertrude is getting tired of Hamlet’s act. She tries to show some courage by standing up to him and acting a bit sarcastic. She is trying to get him to change is tone of superiority.
HAMLET
Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
Hamlet keeps on the offensive as he takes a hold of her forcefully and drags her to a seat her desk. He goes to fetch a mirror nearby to hold in front of her and better emphasize his point.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
Gertrude gets worried as Hamlet rummages around looking for his mirror. She panics a bit and calls out for help, especially after Hamlet does not answer her, because she thinks Hamlet is near insanity anyways.


LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
Lord Polonius had eagerly been listening behind thinking of how he can use this conversation to his advantage to get into a more favorable position with the king. As he sets off into a daydream of potentially curing Hamlet and winning his hand in marriage for his daughter, he is brought back to reality by Gertrudes claim. He stumbles around a bit behind the arras and mumbles his words.
HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!
Makes a pass through the arras
Hamlet had been expecting Claudius to somehow be involved in the plan. Sensing his failure earlier in the act to kill him, Hamlet is eager for redemption and now is the perfect opportunity because Claudius is alone. He drops his mirror, impulsively takes out his sword, and stabs straight for the outline he sees behind the arras in one clean motion.
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain!
Falls and dies
Polonius clutches at his heart as he stumbles behind the arras. He drops to the ground as he begins to bleed from the mouth with his eyes wide open as he says his final lines and departs to the other world
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?
In a flash Gertrude gets up in the confusion and shrieks out to Hamlet. Its like one of the scenes when someone knows what happens yet still has to ask what happened because the even is so traumatic. She knows Polonius is behind the curtain, but she can’t believe what just happened.
HAMLET
Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
Upon sensing that he has killed someone, Hamlet is fully stunned. He cannot comprehend was has happened yet. His thoughts still remain on the king and his singular ambition of killing him.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
Gertrude is in a state of panic and hysteria. She rushes up to Hamlet as he holds her back and she begins to criticize him like a scared young child.



HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Hamlet regains his senses and with it his disgust for his mother’s current situation. He immediately regains his cynic view and begins to lay into his mother.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king!
Gertrude clearly cannot tell what Hamlet is talking about as she asks him this in a confused manner. She still does not understand where Hamlet is going with this because he has not said anything outright but only through subtle messages.
HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.
Leave wringing of your hands: peace! sit you down,
And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damned custom have not brass'd it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.

Hamlet is confident that he finished his father’s wishes as he lifts the array. Upon finding that the dead body is of Polonius rather than Claudius’s, he begins a fit of anger. He turns his rage towards his mother as he begins to shaker her and then sets her down on her bed. He is yelling right in front of her.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
Gertrude has had enough with Hamlet and she wants some answers as to why his behavior has been so vile. She shakes off Hamlet’s arms and stands up to meet him face to face.

HAMLET
Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
Hamlet turns his back and begins his words first in a sarcastic matter, only to begin responding with vigor. He is full of emotion because he loves his father so much and is truly angry at his mother. His main point of emphasize has been to pound on Hamlet’s mother for marrying Claudius.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?

Gertrude is sick of Hamlet’s baseless accusations and she wants some answers. She throws down his words, and now she demands a proper explanation from Hamlet. She has left Hamlet with no choice but to say what he truly feels.
HAMLET
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it love; for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But it reserved some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope.
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn
And reason panders will.

Hamlet takes out a picture of his father and picks up one of Claudius that is in the bedroom. He begins to favorably describe his father with tons of admiration in his voice. Afterwards, he describes Claudius in a negative manner and flings his portrait across the room in disgust. He then begins to criticize her while standing in front of her. He stresses his bitter words towards his mother and he speaks in a slow but loud voice for her to understand. He uses hand motions when appropriate such as pointing to his yes when necessary or his head.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.

Gertrude understands what Hamlet is trying to tell her and has finally had enough. She turns her back towards him and begins to weep. She feels frail and weak and doesn’t have the energy to stand up to him, so she just pleads for him to let up.
HAMLET
Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty,--

Now that Hamlet is on a role and has started his salvo, he doesn’t want to stop. He lowers his voice to a talk but still emphasizes the ending of his line such as enseamed bed and making love. He makes it sound as if Gertrude is a filthy, common woman taking part in despicable acts.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!

She gets down on her knees and in an exaggerated manner begs of Hamlet to stop his barrage of criticism against her.

HAMLET
A murderer and a villain;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!
Hamlet clearly ignores her warning and continues on as he if hasn’t heard anything. He is still disgusted wit his mother and speaks on as if nothing has happened.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!
At this point Gertrude has very little strength to fight on and she is just moaning away on the floor pleading with Hamlet to stop.
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Enter Ghost
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?

Once again Hamlet ignores her, but then suddenly stops after the Ghost appears from nowhere. This setback surprises Hamlet and he doesn’t realize his mother is in the room when he addresses the Ghost as if nobody else is there. He pauses and then says his lines in a surprised manner.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!
Since Gertrude cannot see who Hamlet is talking to she thinks he is having one of his crazy episodes again and mutters her lines to no one in particular. She looks around and does not see anyone making her more convinced that he is indeed crazy.

HAMLET
Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command? O, say!
Hamlet acts startled and immediately tries to pacify the ghost as a young kid tries to do when they are in trouble. He tries to assure the ghost that he will get the job done and he appears as if he doesn’t want the ghost to be disappointed in him.

Ghost
Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:
Speak to her, Hamlet.

The Ghost is not concerned with Hamlet’s plea. He calmly hovers behind Gertrude and reminds Hamlet that he is not to be too physical with his mother. His goal is just to try to get her to realize her mistake but that he shouldn’t act in a disgraceful matter towards her and that it is up to the heavens to take care of her. He also takes great pains to remind Hamlet that his task is not done.

HAMLET
How is it with you, lady?

Hamlet tries reproaching his mother, this time with more sincerity. He offers her his hand in order to help her get back up.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?

She gets up without his help and backtracks a bit. She looks at him as if he was crazy. She is slightly scared because first he was angry and then he started talking to what seems like no one in particular. She makes sure to criticize him while keeping her distance so that he doesn’t try to attack her. She also says it in a sincere matter because she believes she is talking to a disturbed person.
HAMLET
On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable. Do not look upon me;
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.

Hamlet points sharply to the air behind him, while trying to plead his care to his mother in a tone of don’t you believe me. He begins to outline him as he describes him to her.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this?
Gertrude is trying to act gentle with him clearly believing that he has lost it in his mind. She tries to embrace him in a tender manner.
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
Hamlet fights if off and continues to point to the air where Gertrude cannot see anything. With some tension in his voice he once again asks her whether or not she sees anything.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.

Gertrude is perplexed and continues in a gentle manner though she finds this to be a waste of time now.

HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear?
Hamlet is desperate for answers so he keeps probing her. He wants for her to see the ghost just like he did, possibly to reaffirm that what he is doing is the right thing.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.

In an exasperated tone, Gertrude goes along and looks at where Hamlet is pointing only to see nothing. She clearly thinks Hamlet is toying with her or is very mad.

HAMLET
Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!
My father, in his habit as he lived!
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
Exit Ghost
Hamlet is getting desperate now. He keeps wildly pointing to the same spot and he starts to describe him to her. As the ghost leaves he runs after it saying don’t you see him go.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.

She dismisses his fantasy with the wave of her hand clearly believing he is not able to understand her. She sarcastically decides to praise him but she is really only trying to mock him.

HAMLET
Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.

Now it is Hamlet who is on the defensive. As he tries to get his mother to believe that he is not crazy. He holds his hand to his heart and then goes on his rant. It is clear that he is trying to take a gentler approach yet at the same time he doesn’t want his mother to believe that everything that has just taken place simply occurred because Hamlet is mad otherwise it destroys the purpose of the meeting. He has a tone of desperation as he doesn’t want to be misunderstood as he tries to get his mother to repent.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.

Gertrude is outraged by Hamlet’s suggestions. She is a bit sarcastic though as she says the last line.

HAMLET
O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
Pointing to POLONIUS
I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.

Hamlet continues his gentle approach. He tries to make one last plea to his mother by using any good will he has left. He holds her hand and talks to her as softly as possible. He is really begging from the bottom of his heart. He starts off and then continues getting faster with his voice as if he is agreeing with himself and wants to get his words out as quickly as possible so that his mother will listen. He lets go of his mother and then points to the body and acknowledges that he has committed a sin for which he will need to pay. He warns his mother though that there will be a little more bloodshed.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?
His mother seems sincere when she asks this question. She really wants to believe her son but she doesn’t know how to keep that from Claudius.

HAMLET
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top.
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.

Hamlet pretty much says do whatever you want except for sleep with that vile man. He lists a bunch of indecent activities in order to try to get her to recoil in shame. He says that its better for her to admit the truth of what she really thinks of Claudius then to keep up in this sham.



QUEEN GERTRUDE
Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.

Gertrude turns and says that she is not strong enough to stand up to Claudius. She cannot face Hamlet when she says this because she realizes how week she is.