Polonius has a plan. He offers to loose Ophelia on Hamlet while he is reading alone in the library. Meanwhile, he suggests, he and Claudius could hide behind a tapestry and observe the meeting.

What Hamlet doesn’t know is that Polonius is hiding behind an arras in Gertrude’s room, and Polonius quickly calls for help too, thinking that the Queen is in danger. Hamlet thinks that the man hiding there is Claudius, whom he wants to kill, so he stabs Polonius through the curtain.

29. What does Polonius think is the cause of Hamlet’s madness? He thinks that Hamlet is upset about Ophelia rejecting him because he is so in love with her.

Claudius says that Hamlet’s strange behavior has clearly not been caused by love for Ophelia and that his speech does not seem like the speech of insanity. He says that he fears that melancholy sits on something dangerous in Hamlet’s soul like a bird sits on her egg, and that he fears what will happen when it hatches.

to be or not to be

Key Questions and Answers Hamlet is cruel to Ophelia because he has transferred his anger at Gertrude’s marriage to Claudius onto Ophelia. Hamlet may also know that Ophelia is helping Claudius and Polonius spy on him and talks to her with this betrayal in mind.

What has provokes Hamlet’s frustration in this soliloquy? Hamlet saw the great passion with which the actor played a role; it caused him to rue his own ineffectual response to his father’s death. Hamlet does not seem crazy, but he seems very frustrated, stressed, and unhappy.

Questions Hamlet asks both before and during this soliloquy are as follows: Was it really the ghost of his father he heard and saw? Was his father actually poisoned by Claudius? Should he kill Claudius?