Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1

Hamlet
Act III, Scene 1

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A room in the castle.
Enter KING CLAUDIUS,
QUEEN GERTRUDE, POLONIUS,
OPHELIA, ROSENCRANTZ,
and GUILDENSTERN

KING CLAUDIUS
It is early the next day. The scene begins in “a room in the castle,” and King Claudius is questioning Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about their meeting with Hamlet. Queen Gertrude is there, and so are Polonius and Ophelia.

And can you, by no drift of circumstance ,
Get from him why he puts on this confusion,
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?

ROSENCRANTZ
King Claudius asks if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were able to figure out why Hamlet "puts on this confusion."

He does confess he feels himself distracted;
But from what cause he will by no means speak.

GUILDENSTERN
Unfortunately, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not really much help. Rosencrantz reports that Hamlet admits to feeling “distracted,” but also points out that Hamlet will not say what is causing it.

Nor do we find him forward to be sounded,
But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof,
When we would bring him on to some confession
Of his true state .

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Did he receive you well?

ROSENCRANTZ

Guildenstern calls it a “crafty madness” (line 8).

Most like a gentleman.

GUILDENSTERN
But with much forcing of his disposition .

ROSENCRANTZ
Niggard of question; but, of our demands,
Most free in his reply.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
Did you assay him?
To any pastime?

ROSENCRANTZ

They also mention that Hamlet received them “most like a gentleman” (line 13), but with a “forced disposition.”

Madam, it so fell out, that certain players
We o'er-raught on the way: of these we told him;
And there did seem in him a kind of joy
To hear of it: they are about the court,
And, as I think, they have already order
This night to play before him.

LORD POLONIUS

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (or, maybe it is Guildenstern and Rosencrantz?) explain how the “players” arrived, and how Hamlet requested a play be performed this evening.

'Tis most true:
And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties
To hear and see the matter.

KING CLAUDIUS

Polonius confirms this, and mentions that they have all been invited to the big performance.

With all my heart; and it doth much content me
To hear him so inclined.
Good gentlemen, give him a further edge,
And drive his purpose on to these delights.

ROSENCRANTZ
We shall, my lord.

King Claudius says that this news cheers him up, or “contents” him (line 27).

With that, King Claudius instructs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to continue their duties (lines 29-30).

Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN

KING CLAUDIUS

The two college buddies leave, not necessarily in alphabetical order.

Sweet Gertrude, leave us too;
Next, Claudius subtly tries to hint that Gertrude should leave the room.

For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither,
That he, as 'twere by accident, may here
Affront Ophelia:
King Claudius explains that he has sent for Hamlet, and he wants Ophelia to meet him, in “private.” He explains that he and Polonius will be hiding, listening to every word.

Her father and myself, lawful espials,
Will so bestow ourselves that, seeing, unseen,
We may of their encounter frankly judge,
And gather by him, as he is behaved,
If 't be the affliction of his love or no
That thus he suffers for.

QUEEN GERTRUDE
I shall obey you.
And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish
That your good beauties be the happy cause
Of Hamlet's wildness: so shall I hope your virtues
Will bring him to his wonted way again,
To both your honours.

OPHELIA
Madam, I wish it may.

They plan to conceal themselves. King Claudius says that they will be “lawful espials” (line 36).

Exit QUEEN GERTRUDE
LORD POLONIUS
Ophelia, walk you here. Gracious , so please you,
We will bestow ourselves.

To OPHELIA

Read on this book ;
That show of such an exercise may colour
Your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this,--
'Tis too much proved--that with devotion's visage
And pious action we do sugar o'er
The devil himself.

KING CLAUDIUS
[Aside]

O, 'tis too true!
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!
The harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering art,
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
Than is my deed to my most painted word:
O heavy burthen!

LORD POLONIUS
I hear him coming: let's withdraw, my lord.

So, Queen Gertrude leaves.

Exeunt KING CLAUDIUS and POLONIUS
Claudius and Polonius hide themselves.

Ophelia powders her nose, awaiting the arrival of Hamlet.

Enter HAMLET

HAMLET

Suddenly, as if on cue (As if? Of course it is on cue!), the young Prince enters. He is engrossed in his own thoughts, or rather his own words. Yes, you guessed it. Hamlet is soliloquizing, again...

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
This is it, folks, Hamlet is doing his “To be or not to be” speech. Impressive, huh? “To be, or not to be — that is the question.” The line which begins this soliloquy is undoubtedly the best-known line in all of Shakespeare’s plays.

Devoutly to be wish 'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil ,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay ,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
Next, Hamlet compares dying with sleeping. “To die, to sleep; To sleep — perchance to dream. Aye, there’s the rub!” (lines 72-73). Hamlet is afraid that taking his own life might be just like a “sleep,” and that he may then dream, after he is dead. He does not care for nightmares, and things that go “bump” in the night.

With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
Hamlet even contemplates how he might do the deed: “with a bare bodkin” (line 84). A bodkin is a sharp dagger. Why he is fixated on the “nakedness” of a knife is a mystery.

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
He also calls death “the undiscovered country” (line 87).

Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought ,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
Hamlet finally notices how the fear of death is the only thing which keeps him alive. “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.” This “makes us rather bear those ills we have, than to fly to others that we know not of” (lines 89-90). Hamlet would rather stay in the frying pan, than jump out into the fire.

And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember 'd.

OPHELIA
Good my lord,
How does your honour for this many a day?

HAMLET
I humbly thank you; well, well, well.

OPHELIA

Then, Hamlet is interrupted when he sees Ophelia.

My lord, I have remembrances of yours,
That I have longed long to re-deliver;
I pray you, now receive them.

HAMLET
No, not I;
I never gave you aught.

OPHELIA
My honour'd lord, you know right well you did;
And, with them, words of so sweet breath composed
As made the things more rich: their perfume lost,
Take these again; for to the noble mind
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind .
There, my lord.

HAMLET

She explains that she has some “remembrances” that he gave to her. Now, she says she wants to give them back.

Ha, ha! are you honest ?

OPHELIA
My lord?

HAMLET
Are you fair?

OPHELIA
What means your lordship?

HAMLET

Hamlet asks Ophelia if she is “honest,” and if she is “fair” (lines 113-115). “Honest” means both “truthful,” and “pure,” like a virgin. Fair means both “beautiful,” and, uh, “fair.” Hamlet is playing word games, again.

That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should
admit no discourse to your beauty.

OPHELIA
Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than
with honesty ?

HAMLET
Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner
transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the
force of honesty can translate beauty into his
likeness: this was sometime a paradox, but now the

He then tells her that she should not allow her “beauty” to cause her to lose her “honesty.” In other words, just because you are good-looking does not excuse your lack of honesty with me. Also, do not let the fact that you are beautiful cause you to lose your virginity.

time gives it proof . I did love you once .

OPHELIA
Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.

HAMLET
You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot
so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of

Then, Hamlet exclaims, “I did love you once!” (line 125).

it: I loved you not.

OPHELIA
I was the more deceived.

HAMLET

Then, a few lines later, he suddenly exclaims, “I loved you not.” What is this?

Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a
breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest ;
but yet I could accuse me of such things that it
were better my mother had not borne me: I am very
Hamlet tells her to go to a nunnery. A nunnery is a place where nuns are ("duh!"). But, it also was sometimes used as slang for a house of prostitution. Hmmm...

proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at
my beck than I have thoughts to put them in,
imagination to give them shape, or time to act them
in. What should such fellows as I do crawling
between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves,
Next, Hamlet tells Ophelia that she is better off without him, since he has “more offenses” within him than he can even think about. He is sinful, he insists, and she should not bear his children. If she did, she would be a “breeder of sinners.”

all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.
Where's your father?

OPHELIA
At home , my lord.

HAMLET
Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the
fool no where but in's own house. Farewell.

OPHELIA
O, help him, you sweet heavens!

HAMLET

He tells her not to trust any of “us.” Who is “us”? Does he mean “men”? Then, Hamlet tells her to go to “a nunnery.”

If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for
thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as
snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a
nunnery, go: farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs
marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough
what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go,
and quickly too. Farewell.

OPHELIA
O heavenly powers, restore him!

HAMLET
I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God
has given you one face, and you make yourselves
another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and
nick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonness
your ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath

Hamlet also gives her a “plague,” or a sort of a curse.

made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages:
those that are married already, all but one, shall
live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a
nunnery, go.
Then, he promises there will be “no mo’ marriages.” He is still upset over the one involving his own mother.

Exit

Then, with a flourish of his cape, Hamlet storms off the stage, and back to the greenroom for a break.
Ophelia is left all alone, and you know what that means... it’s soliloquy time. Hers is short (to the relief of a wearied audience), and to the point.

OPHELIA

O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye , tongue, sword;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state ,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers, quite, quite down!
And I, of ladies most deject and wretched,
That suck'd the honey of his music vows,
Ophelia ponders how Hamlet’s “noble mind is here o’erthrown” (line 160). She is now thoroughly convinced that Hamlet is batty. After all, when was the last time a college student turned down the opportunity for a bit of good, clean sex?

Now see that noble and most sovereign reason,
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth
Ophelia marvels at how great Hamlet used to be, and how quickly he has fallen into insanity.

Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me,
To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!

“O, woe is me,” she cries (line 170).
“O, woe is us,” thinks the audience.

Re-enter KING CLAUDIUS and POLONIUS
King Claudius and Polonius wait until Ophelia is done, and they step out of their hiding place.

KING CLAUDIUS

Love! his affections do not that way tend ;
Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little ,
Was not like madness. There's something in his soul,
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood;
And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose
Will be some danger: which for to prevent ,
I have in quick determination
King Claudius does not think that Hamlet seemed in “love,” but he also does not think he seemed to be displaying “madness.”

Thus set it down: he shall with speed to England,
For the demand of our neglected tribute
Haply the seas and countries different
With variable objects shall expel
This something-settled matter in his heart,
Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus
From fashion of himself. What think you on't?

LORD POLONIUS
It shall do well: but yet do I believe
The origin and commencement of his grief
Sprung from neglected love. How now, Ophelia!
You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said;
We heard it all. My lord, do as you please;
But, if you hold it fit , after the play

Then, the King makes a decision (as Kings are supposed to do). He decides to send young Hamlet away, to England. He thinks maybe Hamlet just needs a vacation from all of this.

Let his queen mother all alone entreat him
To show his grief: let her be round with him;
Polonius agrees, but still wants one more chance to play amateur detective. He proposes one more meeting, between Hamlet and his mother, the Queen.

And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear
Of all their conference. If she find him not,
To England send him, or confine him where
Your wisdom best shall think.

KING CLAUDIUS

Naturally, Polonius will be hidden where he can listen in.

It shall be so:
Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go.

Exeunt

King Claudius agrees, and the two of them leave. The scene comes to a crashing halt.

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Shakespeare for Scholars:	Shakespeare for Everyone Else:
A room in the castle. Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, POLONIUS, OPHELIA, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN KING CLAUDIUS	It is early the next day. The scene begins in “a room in the castle,” and King Claudius is questioning Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about their meeting with Hamlet. Queen Gertrude is there, and so are Polonius and Ophelia.
And can you, by no drift of circumstance , Get from him why he puts on this confusion, Grating so harshly all his days of quiet With turbulent and dangerous lunacy? ROSENCRANTZ	King Claudius asks if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were able to figure out why Hamlet "puts on this confusion."
He does confess he feels himself distracted; But from what cause he will by no means speak. GUILDENSTERN	Unfortunately, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not really much help. Rosencrantz reports that Hamlet admits to feeling “distracted,” but also points out that Hamlet will not say what is causing it.
Nor do we find him forward to be sounded, But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof, When we would bring him on to some confession Of his true state . QUEEN GERTRUDE Did he receive you well? ROSENCRANTZ	Guildenstern calls it a “crafty madness” (line 8).
Most like a gentleman. GUILDENSTERN But with much forcing of his disposition . ROSENCRANTZ Niggard of question; but, of our demands, Most free in his reply. QUEEN GERTRUDE Did you assay him? To any pastime? ROSENCRANTZ	They also mention that Hamlet received them “most like a gentleman” (line 13), but with a “forced disposition.”
Madam, it so fell out, that certain players We o'er-raught on the way: of these we told him; And there did seem in him a kind of joy To hear of it: they are about the court, And, as I think, they have already order This night to play before him. LORD POLONIUS	Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (or, maybe it is Guildenstern and Rosencrantz?) explain how the “players” arrived, and how Hamlet requested a play be performed this evening.
'Tis most true: And he beseech'd me to entreat your majesties To hear and see the matter. KING CLAUDIUS	Polonius confirms this, and mentions that they have all been invited to the big performance.
With all my heart; and it doth much content me To hear him so inclined. Good gentlemen, give him a further edge, And drive his purpose on to these delights. ROSENCRANTZ We shall, my lord.	King Claudius says that this news cheers him up, or “contents” him (line 27). With that, King Claudius instructs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to continue their duties (lines 29-30).
Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN KING CLAUDIUS	The two college buddies leave, not necessarily in alphabetical order.
Sweet Gertrude, leave us too;	Next, Claudius subtly tries to hint that Gertrude should leave the room.
For we have closely sent for Hamlet hither, That he, as 'twere by accident, may here Affront Ophelia:	King Claudius explains that he has sent for Hamlet, and he wants Ophelia to meet him, in “private.” He explains that he and Polonius will be hiding, listening to every word.
Her father and myself, lawful espials, Will so bestow ourselves that, seeing, unseen, We may of their encounter frankly judge, And gather by him, as he is behaved, If 't be the affliction of his love or no That thus he suffers for. QUEEN GERTRUDE I shall obey you. And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish That your good beauties be the happy cause Of Hamlet's wildness: so shall I hope your virtues Will bring him to his wonted way again, To both your honours. OPHELIA Madam, I wish it may.	They plan to conceal themselves. King Claudius says that they will be “lawful espials” (line 36).
Exit QUEEN GERTRUDE LORD POLONIUS Ophelia, walk you here. Gracious , so please you, We will bestow ourselves. To OPHELIA Read on this book ; That show of such an exercise may colour Your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this,-- 'Tis too much proved--that with devotion's visage And pious action we do sugar o'er The devil himself. KING CLAUDIUS [Aside] O, 'tis too true! How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience! The harlot's cheek, beautied with plastering art, Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it Than is my deed to my most painted word: O heavy burthen! LORD POLONIUS I hear him coming: let's withdraw, my lord.	So, Queen Gertrude leaves.
Exeunt KING CLAUDIUS and POLONIUS	Claudius and Polonius hide themselves.

	Ophelia powders her nose, awaiting the arrival of Hamlet.
Enter HAMLET HAMLET	Suddenly, as if on cue (As if? Of course it is on cue!), the young Prince enters. He is engrossed in his own thoughts, or rather his own words. Yes, you guessed it. Hamlet is soliloquizing, again...
To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation	This is it, folks, Hamlet is doing his “To be or not to be” speech. Impressive, huh? “To be, or not to be — that is the question.” The line which begins this soliloquy is undoubtedly the best-known line in all of Shakespeare’s plays.
Devoutly to be wish 'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil , Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay , The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make	Next, Hamlet compares dying with sleeping. “To die, to sleep; To sleep — perchance to dream. Aye, there’s the rub!” (lines 72-73). Hamlet is afraid that taking his own life might be just like a “sleep,” and that he may then dream, after he is dead. He does not care for nightmares, and things that go “bump” in the night.
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death,	Hamlet even contemplates how he might do the deed: “with a bare bodkin” (line 84). A bodkin is a sharp dagger. Why he is fixated on the “nakedness” of a knife is a mystery.
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have	He also calls death “the undiscovered country” (line 87).
Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought , And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry,	Hamlet finally notices how the fear of death is the only thing which keeps him alive. “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.” This “makes us rather bear those ills we have, than to fly to others that we know not of” (lines 89-90). Hamlet would rather stay in the frying pan, than jump out into the fire.
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remember 'd. OPHELIA Good my lord, How does your honour for this many a day? HAMLET I humbly thank you; well, well, well. OPHELIA	Then, Hamlet is interrupted when he sees Ophelia.
My lord, I have remembrances of yours, That I have longed long to re-deliver; I pray you, now receive them. HAMLET No, not I; I never gave you aught. OPHELIA My honour'd lord, you know right well you did; And, with them, words of so sweet breath composed As made the things more rich: their perfume lost, Take these again; for to the noble mind Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind . There, my lord. HAMLET	She explains that she has some “remembrances” that he gave to her. Now, she says she wants to give them back.
Ha, ha! are you honest ? OPHELIA My lord? HAMLET Are you fair? OPHELIA What means your lordship? HAMLET	Hamlet asks Ophelia if she is “honest,” and if she is “fair” (lines 113-115). “Honest” means both “truthful,” and “pure,” like a virgin. Fair means both “beautiful,” and, uh, “fair.” Hamlet is playing word games, again.
That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty. OPHELIA Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty ? HAMLET Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness: this was sometime a paradox, but now the	He then tells her that she should not allow her “beauty” to cause her to lose her “honesty.” In other words, just because you are good-looking does not excuse your lack of honesty with me. Also, do not let the fact that you are beautiful cause you to lose your virginity.
time gives it proof . I did love you once . OPHELIA Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. HAMLET You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of	Then, Hamlet exclaims, “I did love you once!” (line 125).
it: I loved you not. OPHELIA I was the more deceived. HAMLET	Then, a few lines later, he suddenly exclaims, “I loved you not.” What is this?
Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest ; but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me: I am very	Hamlet tells her to go to a nunnery. A nunnery is a place where nuns are ("duh!"). But, it also was sometimes used as slang for a house of prostitution. Hmmm...
proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves,	Next, Hamlet tells Ophelia that she is better off without him, since he has “more offenses” within him than he can even think about. He is sinful, he insists, and she should not bear his children. If she did, she would be a “breeder of sinners.”
all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where's your father? OPHELIA At home , my lord. HAMLET Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool no where but in's own house. Farewell. OPHELIA O, help him, you sweet heavens! HAMLET	He tells her not to trust any of “us.” Who is “us”? Does he mean “men”? Then, Hamlet tells her to go to “a nunnery.”
If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go: farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go, and quickly too. Farewell. OPHELIA O heavenly powers, restore him! HAMLET I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and nick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath	Hamlet also gives her a “plague,” or a sort of a curse.
made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages: those that are married already, all but one, shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go.	Then, he promises there will be “no mo’ marriages.” He is still upset over the one involving his own mother.
Exit	Then, with a flourish of his cape, Hamlet storms off the stage, and back to the greenroom for a break. Ophelia is left all alone, and you know what that means... it’s soliloquy time. Hers is short (to the relief of a wearied audience), and to the point.
OPHELIA
O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye , tongue, sword; The expectancy and rose of the fair state , The glass of fashion and the mould of form, The observed of all observers, quite, quite down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That suck'd the honey of his music vows,	Ophelia ponders how Hamlet’s “noble mind is here o’erthrown” (line 160). She is now thoroughly convinced that Hamlet is batty. After all, when was the last time a college student turned down the opportunity for a bit of good, clean sex?
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth	Ophelia marvels at how great Hamlet used to be, and how quickly he has fallen into insanity.
Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!	“O, woe is me,” she cries (line 170). “O, woe is us,” thinks the audience.
Re-enter KING CLAUDIUS and POLONIUS	King Claudius and Polonius wait until Ophelia is done, and they step out of their hiding place.
KING CLAUDIUS
Love! his affections do not that way tend ; Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little , Was not like madness. There's something in his soul, O'er which his melancholy sits on brood; And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose Will be some danger: which for to prevent , I have in quick determination	King Claudius does not think that Hamlet seemed in “love,” but he also does not think he seemed to be displaying “madness.”
Thus set it down: he shall with speed to England, For the demand of our neglected tribute Haply the seas and countries different With variable objects shall expel This something-settled matter in his heart, Whereon his brains still beating puts him thus From fashion of himself. What think you on't? LORD POLONIUS It shall do well: but yet do I believe The origin and commencement of his grief Sprung from neglected love. How now, Ophelia! You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said; We heard it all. My lord, do as you please; But, if you hold it fit , after the play	Then, the King makes a decision (as Kings are supposed to do). He decides to send young Hamlet away, to England. He thinks maybe Hamlet just needs a vacation from all of this.
Let his queen mother all alone entreat him To show his grief: let her be round with him;	Polonius agrees, but still wants one more chance to play amateur detective. He proposes one more meeting, between Hamlet and his mother, the Queen.
And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear Of all their conference. If she find him not, To England send him, or confine him where Your wisdom best shall think. KING CLAUDIUS	Naturally, Polonius will be hidden where he can listen in.
It shall be so: Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go. Exeunt	King Claudius agrees, and the two of them leave. The scene comes to a crashing halt.