Act 3 Scene 4 Of Hamlet

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In Act III, scene four of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, our protagonist, Prince Hamlet of Denmark, confronts his mother Gertrude in a tirade as he reveals the murder of the late King Hamlet, and condemns her incestuous marriage to the perpetrator of the crime, King Claudius. While the heinous act certainly deserves retribution and his burning desire for vengeance, Hamlet goes too far in this scene, mercilessly slaying Polonius, Claudius’ counsellor, and continuing to berate his mother despite previous ignorance to the king’s deed. Throughout his monologue from lines 52 to 88, Hamlet consistently steps past the bounds of reason, bordering into madness. Hamlet begins his monologue as he compares the pictures of Claudius and the deceased Hamlet, …show more content…

Hypocritically, he introduces the crime to his mother: “Look you know, what follows. / Here is your husband, like a mildewed ear / Blasting his wholesome brother” (Shakespeare 3.4.64-66). At first glance, the “mildewed ear” on line 65 brings to mind Claudius’ method of murdering the late King of Denmark: pouring poison in his brother’s ear as he slept in an orchard. However, after referring to The Merriam Webster Dictionary, the ear can also be defined as the fruiting spike of a cereal (as wheat or Indian corn) (“ear”). With this information, Hamlet’s words hold a double meaning, as he boldly seems to call King Claudius a rotten ear [of corn]—essentially, a vegetable of a human being. All of this said in the presence of the king’s own wife. Furthermore, it’s interesting to note that out of a total of 36 lines, Hamlet spends barely two of them describing the actual murder—at this point in the play, Hamlet is less focused on plotting vengeance; rather, he seems to be tormented and acts only to scorn and rebuke his mother. Twice he insults her, shouting “Have you eyes? […] have you eyes?” (Shakespeare 3.4.66-68). Rather than focusing on enacting justice against the king’s foul crime, Hamlet is rendered incapable of following the ghost’s warning against plotting and fails to withdraw from a barrage of ad hominem attacks against his own mother (Shakespeare …show more content…

Towards the end of the monologue, from lines 77 to 78, he poses, “What devil was ’t / That thus hath cozen’d you at hoodman-blind?” (Shakespeare 3.4.77-78). Other than just rudely insulting his mother with mention of devilish influence, Hamlet admits that Gertrude’s ‘straying from reason’ was the work of some other player. This fact helps to prove his monologue as unnecessary and unjust. Hamlet simply has no valid reason to continue in his attacks and victimize his mother, other than to release his bitter

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