Claudius and gertrude start off the scene talking to Rosencrantz and Guildernstern about Hamlets madness(and depression). Hamlets friends say that have been unable to find out the cause of , although they do know he is slightly mad.They also tell the King and Queen of the enthusiasm for the actors. The king agrees to watch the play that evening, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern then leave. Claudius ask for Gertrude to leave,saying that him and Polonius are going to spy on Hamlet when he is talking to Ophelia. she exits. Polonius directs Ophelia with what to do. He tells her to read from a prayer book to make it look natural to be alone. Polonius hears Hamlet coming, he and the king hide.
Hamlet enters speaking to himself, a soliloquy is being spoken , it is probably the most well known soliloquy ever. It starts of with “to be or not to be ?”, Hamlet is questioning whether he should kill himself or live and deal with what he has to do properly. He says that people would rather grunt and sweat through life because they are afraid of something after death, something undiscovered that nobody returns from, that they want to get answers about and makes people stick to what they know rather than find out something different. The fear of death makes people cowards. Halfway through saying the soliloquy he sees Ophelia coming. She tells him that she wants to return the love that has been given to her back . He denies the fact that he gave anything to her, she replies by saying that the “perfume” of the gifts is now gone and that he has now been given them back. He then talks about the dishonesty of beauty and how the power of beauty can more easily change a good girl into a whore than the power of goodness can change a beautiful girl into a virgin. He then says that he used to love Ophelia and he now does not. He also says that she should not have been fooled by him. Hamlet tells Ophelia to get to a nunnery, the first time he does not actually mean a Nunnery, but a brothel. he talks about himself and tells Ophelia to get to a nunnery for the second time, but this time actually means it. Hamlet then criticizes women for making men act like pigs because they use makeup to make themselves look better than they actually do. He then says that he wants to end all marriages after this. As he storms out, she comments that his “noble” mind is now ruined and he is crazy.
the king and Polonius come out of their hiding spot, Claudius comments that he is not mad because of love, and he is not that mad because his speech was only a little dis-organised. He then says that he fears that his melancholy is sitting on something dangerous in Hamlets soul, like a bird on an egg and fears what will happen when this hatches.
Claudius then says that he is sending Hamlet to England to get the money that they owe, hoping that the change in place will help hamlet get over his troubles, Polonius agrees with the idea, but still thinks that the madness has something to do with Ophelia. He proposes an idea or plan to hamlet, this is to send hamlet to his mothers bedroom after the play, so polonius can hide and listen in. If the secret cannot be found out then he will go off to England. Claudius agrees with this, saying that Hamlet has to be watched carefully.
React!