Act 3, scene iv

ACT III, scene iv: “The Closet Scene”

1. What important action happens right at the beginning of the scene? How is this ironic, given Hamlet’s previous behavior?

2. Hamlet’s final judgment on Polonius is that he was “wretched, rash, intruding fool.” Choose the four words that Laertes would use to describe his father. Do the same with Ophelia.

3. Hamlet basically accuses Gertrude of killing his father in lines 34-35. Is this fair? Do you think she was in on Claudius’s plot?

Examine the way Gertrude responds to Hamlet:

What have I done, that thou dar’st wag thy tongue in noise so rude against me? (46-47)

O Hamlet, speak no more! Thou turnst my eyes into my very soul, And there I see such black and grained spots. (99-102)

O, speak to me no more! These words like daggers enter in my ears. No more, sweet Hamlet! (107-109)

4. How does Gertrude feel about this tongue lashing from her son?

5. Why does the Ghost come back at this point, in your opinion?