Hamlet #5

            The play-within-a-play in Act 3 Scene 2 gives the audience some insight into how Hamlet interprets his father’s death and the events that have since unfolded. When reading the play, it is important to keep in mind the intended audience: Claudius and Gertrude. Hamlet is trying to elicit a strong response from Claudius, so he obviously will try to emphasize the moral reprehensibility of the king’s murder in the play. However, he also places a large focus on the queen’s knowledge and opinions. The play begins with an interaction between the king and queen in which they express their joy and love for each other.  Unlike Hamlet, this play follows the typical form of a tragedy in which the epitome of joy sets the standard from which the characters will fall. The king says that it has been thirty years “Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands / Unite commutual in most sacred bands” (3.2.180-1). Before his father’s death, Hamlet seems to have thought his parents’ love came across as infinite and true. Their marriage, Hamlet believes, was sacred. However, knowing what he knows now, Hamlet inserts in the king’s lines, “The world is not for aye, nor ‘tis not strange / That even our loves should with our fortunes change; / For ‘tis a question left us yet to prove / Whether love lead fortune or else fortune love” (3.2.223-6). The king suggests that if the queen’s luck were to change, she may not love him as she does now. Essentially, he insinuates that if he were to die, the queen may retract her love in order to improve her fate. The queen refutes his claim, swearing, “Both here and hence pursue me lasting strife, / If, once a widow, ever I be a wife” (3.2.245-6). Although not absolving her of blame, Hamlet does seem to concede that Gertrude may not have intended to betray old Hamlet before his death. However, Hamlet adds in her vow to never marry if her husband dies, or else she will be pursued by “lasting strife.” Hamlet may believe that Gertrude did not plan to marry Claudius before old Hamlet died, but he also believes that she must pay the consequence for her actions. Whether or not Hamlet’s interpretations of his parents’ attitudes are correct, his representation of their attitudes succeeds in eliciting strong responses from Claudius and possibly Gertrude.