Dr. Thamir Az-Zubaidy – 3rd stage – evening studies – Hamlet –– Dept.

of English/ Wasit University 2020/2021

Act Three, Scenes iii and iv

Scene iii

In this scene, we notice that King Claudius making final preparations to send Hamlet to England. As we now
Queen Gertrude summons Hamlet to her room to discuss his conduct and Polonius decides to hide behind
the arras and listen to the conversation between the queen and her son, Hamlet; it is another instance of
Polonius' scheme of spying on Hamlet. This time it is in Gertrude's private room.

The scene begins with Claudius talking to both Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. The king discloses that he
does not like Hamlet and that it is no longer safe for him to have Hamlet in the palace:

I like him not; nor stands it safe with us

To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you;
I your commission with forthwith dispatch,
And he to England shall go along with you.
The terms of our estate may not endure
Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow
Out of his lunacies. (III. iii. 1-6)

The King tells Guildenstern and Rosencrantz that they are commissioned to England with Hamlet. He gives
them the letter to the King of England about the arrangement for collecting the tribute. He adds that the
condition of his administration of government cannot stand Hamlet's madness any longer. Rosencrantz
responds by saying:

The case of majesty

Dies not alone, but like a gulf, doth draw
What's near it with it. 'Tis a massy wheel,
Fixed on the summit of the highest mount,
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser things
Are mortised and adjoined; which, when it falls,
Each small annexment, pretty consequence,
Attends the boisterous ruin. Ne'er alone
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan. (15-26).

In the above speech Rosencrantz comments on the importance of the King's safety and its impact on order in
the kingdom. As Rosencrantz states, the King is the centre of the kingdom and that the kingdom's safety and
prosperity depend on the King's safety. He adds that the whole nation is dragged to disaster if the King is in
peril of his life. His words mean that they will carry out any commission if that will ensure the King's safety
regardless of the consequences.

When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave, Polonius enters to tell the King that Hamlet is on his way to his
mother's room:

Behind the arras I'll convey myself,

To hear the process; I'll warrant she'll tax him home.
And, as you said, and wisely was it said,
'Tis meet that some audience than a mother
(Since nature makes them partial) should be o'erhear
The speech of vantage. Fare you well, my liege;

I
 Dr. Thamir Az-Zubaidy – 3rd stage – evening studies – Hamlet –– Dept. of English/ Wasit University 2020/2021

I'll call upon you ere you go to bed,

And tell you what I know. (27-34)

Polonius tells the king that he will hide behind the arras in the Queen's chamber to hear the conversation
between Hamlet and his mother. He informs the King that he will come to him to tell him what passed
between the two. Hiding behind the arras in the Queen's chamber is Polonius' suggestion not the King's. It
seems that Polonius thinks it will be more acceptable to the King if he attributes the suggestion to him, and
flatters him with the wisdom of it. In addition to suggesting that Polonius does not trust the Queen, it proves
Polonius' schemes which relies on roundabout ways to find reality which include spying.

In what remains of the scenes, we have two important soliloquys, one by the King and the other by Hamlet.
When he is left alone, the Kings says:

O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;

It hath the primal, eldest curse upon't –
A brother's murder! – Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will.
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? (36-46).

In the above lines, the King confesses his crime of killing his brother, King Hamlet, for the first time. He
refers to the first crime in the world when one of Adam and Eve's sons, Cain, murdered his brother, Abel.
The King says that although his inclinations to pray and ask for forgiveness are strong, his strong guilt
prevents him. Then, he asks if there is enough rain to wash his hand which is black because of guilt and
make it white like snow. He refers to his hand with which he poured the poison into King Hamlet's ear. In
the second part of the soliloquy, the King says:

But, O, what form of prayer

Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder?
That cannot be, since I am still possessed
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
May one be pardoned, and retain th' offence? (51-56).

He means that neither his prayer can be accepted nor his intention to ask for forgiveness be considered if he
still possesses the things that he murdered his brother for: the crown, the queen and his own ambition to be
the king. He adds that in the next world, he means in the life after death, human beings will be compelled to
act as witnesses even if this means against ourselves. The Kings concludes his soliloquy by asking his black
bosom and limed soul to ask for forgiveness, his stubborn knees to kneel and his heart which is with strings
of steel to be as soft as new born babies so that its request and pray for forgiveness be accepted.

When the King begins to pray, Hamlet, who is on his way to his mother's room, passes by and notices the
King kneeling. Hamlet thinks at the beginning that it is an appropriate time for him to kill his uncle, the
murderer. But he stops to ponder:
II
 Dr. Thamir Az-Zubaidy – 3rd stage – evening studies – Hamlet –– Dept. of English/ Wasit University 2020/2021

Now might I do it pat, now he is praying;

And Now I'll do 't – and so he goes to heaven;
And so am I revenged – that would be scanned.
A villain kills my father, and, for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven.
O, this is hire and salary, not revenge. (73-79).

This speech is a revelation of Hamlet's character. Hamlet can act impetuously, on the spur of an impulse, but
he cannot act where there is time to consider the issue. This is the suitable moment for Hamlet to avenge his
father as he finds Claudius alone. He seems determined to do it the moment he sees the king in his room.
But when he considers that killing Claudius while praying means sending his soul to heaven, he restrains
himself. Hamlet believes that killing the King while praying is not a revenge but a reward; it means sending
his soul straight to heaven. Hamlet resolves to wait to catch the king at some vice or other, such as gaming,
and then kill him.

Scene iv
As Hamlet enters his mother's room, Polonius hides behind the arras. Hamlet act as he promises to do while
meeting his room. Hamlet promises to speak daggers to his mother but use none. Hamlet starts abruptly
talking to his mother so that she 'may see the inmost part of you' (III. iv. 21). Hamlet's manner makes the
Queen think he is mad. As she calls for help, Polonius answers. When this answering shout comes from
behind the arras, Hamlet's passion, already aroused, makes him believe that it is the King and that this is his
propitious moment to kill him. Thus, Hamlet at once pushes his sword through the arras and kills Polonius,
the King willing accomplice. Polonius now paid the price of his own scheme and trickery. As a result, the
Queen realises the consequences of her involvement in this scheme. Then, Hamlet passionately denounces
Claudius and starts tormenting his mother by making along comparison between his father and uncle:

The counterfeit presentment of two brothers .

See, what grace was seated on this brow –
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station 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. (55-63)

In the above lines, Hamlet tells his mother that when you look at those two pictures of two brothers, you see
in the first a giant person (Hyperion) with superhuman powers who was looked upon as the son of the earth
and heaven. He had the forehead of Jupiter and the threatening look of Mars, the god of war, and had a way
of standing like that of the winged messenger of the gods. He was a man on whom every god left one of his
greatest mark. This is not the first time Hamlet overwhelm his father with a god-like figure especially that of
Hyperion. On the contrary, Hamlet describes his uncle as 'a mildewed ear', an ear of rotten corn. Later, he
reproves his mother saying that even if she has a sexual desire, her virtue should be as wax to flaming youth
melt and extinguish it and that reason helps desire to gratify itself. Those words push the Queen to request
Hamlet to stop saying:
O Hamlet, speak no more.

III
 Dr. Thamir Az-Zubaidy – 3rd stage – evening studies – Hamlet –– Dept. of English/ Wasit University 2020/2021

Thou tur'st mine eyes into my very soul;

And there I see such black and grain'd spots
As will not leave their tinct. (89-92)

In the above lines, the Queen admits that now she is able to notice some black spots in her soul which do not
lose their colour. When Hamlet tells her that she made the royal bed fill with the sweat of her sexual
relationship with Claudius, Gertrude cries:

O, speak to me no more;
Those words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet! (95-97)

Her words remind us of Hamlet's soliloquy before going to his mother's room in which he promised to speak
daggers to her but uses none. While Hamlet is trying to persuade his mother of the evil that she has done, his
father's ghost appears to ask Hamlet not to delay taking his revenge. Hamlet explains to his mother that his
madness is a pretence and urges her not to let Claudius approach her room. The scene ends with Hamlet
telling his mother:

There's letters sealed. And my two school-fellows –

Whom I will trust as I will adders fanged –
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way;
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petar. And 't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at moon. (203-210).

In the above lines, Hamlet tells his mother that he knows he will be sent to England. He is aware that the
letters have been written and sealed and his school-mates, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, will accompany
him. Hamlet notes that he is aware that the two are plotting against him but their plot may be turned against
them in a most satisfying way. Hamlet tells his mother that he will plant his own mines to blow theirs.

So far Shakespeare's Hamlet has dealt with one main plot, centring on Hamlet and King Claudius, his uncle.
As explained by Hamlet at the end of scene iv, the counter-plot, which deals with Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern's role in the journey to England and Hamlet's awareness of it, is touched upon.

Note: Act III is important when investigating whether Hamlet is a man of words or a man of action.

IV