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.
Lord Polonius acts seriously and surreptitiously. His voice has a worried tone that Gertrude will not follow through with his plans or does not know how to approach Hamlet. Polonius indicates the curtains.
HAMLET
[Within] Mother, mother, mother!
He has a desire to talk to mother. He wants a serious conversation with his mother.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
She knows she only has one chance to do this for Polonius. She sounds confident that she knows how to act accordingly and nods to Polonius to further assure him.
POLONIUS hides behind the arras
Enter HAMLET
HAMLET
Now, mother, what's the matter?
He looks around the area and is suspicious, but curious about the conversation.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
Her voice is not angry, but has a disappointing tone.
HAMLET
Mother, you have my father much offended.
Hamlet quickly turns his head towards his mother to contradict her accusations. Hamlet is angry and frustrated that she does not realize her disrespectfulness towards his father.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Gertrude evades Hamlet’s accusations by replying in a calming and soothing tone to appear peaceful. She reaches to hold both of his hands to signify no hostility. She tries to calm him to get the response Polonius wants her to get.
HAMLET
Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Hamlet is interested in what she has to talk in the conversation. He is still hostile and suspicious of Gertrude.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Why, how now, Hamlet!
She is shocked as to why her son is treating her so disrespectfully.
HAMLET
What's the matter now?
Hamlet acts as if he is acting appropriately and his disrespectfulness is justified.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Have you forgot me?
The Queen is appalled and shocked. She wishes he knew his position in their relationship.
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.
Hamlet is condemning his mother and presenting to her why he is ashamed. Hamlet wants her to feel bad for what she has done and is just trying to annoy her to make her feel guilty and admit her wrongs by pointing toward the king's chamber. Hamlet finishes off this quotation in a childlike immature manner to interest her.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.
At this point, Gertrude is fed up, frustrated, and annoyed with Hamlet’s behavior.
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.
The smile from Hamlets face transitions to a stern look. He lashes back with this reply and is even more frustrated and infuriated that she does not even realize that she is disrespecting herself by continuing her marriage with Claudius.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!
Gertrude is scared because she has never seen her son act this way before. Her voice has an uncertain tone because she does not know what to do because of Hamlet’s unusual behavior (at this point his sword is drawn).
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!
Polonius is also terrified and begins to tremor because of Hamlet’s unusual behavior of drawing a sword in front of his mother.
HAMLET
[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!
Makes a pass through the arras
Hamlet is not surprised that there is an eavesdropper and thinks it is King Claudius therefore he stabs through the curtain and in motion he twists his dagger.
LORD POLONIUS
[Behind] O, I am slain!
Falls and dies
Polonius' hands clinch his wound and he accepts the death.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O me, what hast thou done?
Though Gertrude helped plan this conversation, she acts as if she knew that Polonius died. She is just disappointed, but surprised that Hamlet killed someone.
HAMLET
Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?
Hamlet did expect to kill someone, but is desperate to know if he had fulfilled his goal of avenging his father. He slowly reaches for the curtain, but has not revealed what is behind it.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!
She is amazed that he had killed someone and his desire to kill Claudius.
HAMLET
A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Hamlet turns towards his mother because he still wants to annoy his mother to make her feel guilty for marrying Claudius.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
As kill a king!
Gertrude is confused about his remark.
HAMLET
Ay, lady, 'twas my word.
Hamlet is calm as he affirms her questioning.
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.
The curtain is revealed and Hamlet is unemotional and thinks his killing of Polonius is justified. He turns his back and lets go of the curtain. Hamlet is merciless and does not even budge to apologize. He may even yell at Polonius to tell him that he deserved his death. He thinks his deed is justified.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?
Gertrude is still clueless as to why her son is treating and accusing her of being involved in Hamlet’s death. She replies this quotation with anger and frustration because Hamlet has not given her a definitive answer.
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 sighs. In frustration, he explains and condemns his mother for sinning, yet he does not tell her exactly what she had done.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
Gertrude has a puzzled look on her face. She still does not know what he is talking about and pleas or begs for him to tell her the wrongdoings.
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 is assured that his mother had no involvement in his father’s death, yet there is a sense of frustration in his voice as he strongly points towards the king's chamber and to her. He calms down and slowly depicts and describes what had occurred.
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 reputes Hamlet’s accusation and does not believe it. She begins to turn away from him.
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,--
Hamlet becomes enraged again and criticizes (yelling) her for disrespecting her previous husband as he quickly turns her around.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!
Gertrude does not want to listen to Hamlet’s rants and calmly begs him to stop his criticisms.
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 ignores her pleas and continues his explanation dramatically. His voice is very loud.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No more!
Gertrude is really vexed and angry and yells to stop.
HAMLET
A king of shreds and patches,--
Looking deeply into her eyes, the witty Hamlet talks back rebelliously.
Enter Ghost
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
Hamlet performs this quotation in a sarcastic tone of voice to convey the truth behind his theory.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Alas, he's mad!
Gertrude finally accepts that Hamlet has gone crazy and is overwhelmingly surprised.
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!
Talking to the ghost. Hamlet challenges the ghost on whether his actions are inappropriate, excessive, and uncalled for and looks towards his mother.
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.
Ghost is calm. In his advice to Hamlet, he really emphasizes to only focus on Claudius and not his mother.
HAMLET
How is it with you, lady?
Contrary to his early conversations with his mother, Hamlet acts like a polite and loyal son (like a completely different character). (Almost as if he is bi-polar).
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?
Gertrude is worried for Hamlet. She really cares about him and her voice is shaken because she has not seen this type of behavior from him.
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 is now very polite.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
To whom do you speak this?
Gertrude is puzzled and now really worried for her son.
HAMLET
Do you see nothing there?
Staring into her eyes, Hamlet is eager to show the ghost to his mother. He thinks she is mocking him.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.
She replies seriously. Hamlet waves his hand vertically before her eyes.
HAMLET
Nor did you nothing hear?
From Hamlet's tone of voice, Hamlet is beginning to think he is crazy. Hamlet peers into Gertrude's ear.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
No, nothing but ourselves.
Gertrude’s reply and serious. She gives him a puzzled look.
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 surprised that she cannot see him and points as he says this quotation. His tone of voice is very enthusiastic because he wants Gertrude to see the Ghost.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
While embracing Hamlet, Gertrude calms him. She wants to teach him that what he saw is a manifestation of the mind. She is worried for him and wants to tell him that he is imagining to ease her minds about 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.
At first, Hamlet is repulsed as to what her mother had said to him and pushes her away. As he lists his justifications and recommendations, he becomes more enthusiastic, passionate, and lively.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
Gertrude has given up and realizes that Hamlet will not agree with her. She is very saddened and disappointed in her son and slowly begins to follow him.
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,
Hamlet has faith that his mother will do the right thing. In his advice, his seriousness is to represent his desire to help his mother and to show his obedience towards his father (Ghost who appeared earlier in this scene). It is to also signify that he is a loyal son.
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.
Beginning his “crazy talk” and ranting, Hamlet feels brave and heroic because he thinks he is correcting the wrongs. Again as the quotation progresses, he becomes more energetic.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
What shall I do?
Gertrude has a confused look on her face because she is worried for him.
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.
Looking at the bedroom, Hamlet feels that Gertrude should seduce the king to appear unsuspicious of what is occurring, but then realizes that they should take no mercy at all as he slowly wraps his hand around his dagger. Throughout this response to Gertrude’s question, Hamlet slowly inspires her to believe him even more.
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.
Like in the beginning of this scene, Gertrude is once again persuaded and now obey to Hamlet’s commands. She becomes more confident as she now believes she is doing the right thing. She reaches to Hamlet's extended hand to acknowledge her duty.
