Scene 4
(the Queen’s private chamber)
Enter Queen and Polonius
Polonius He’s coming right now. Make sure you are blunt with him. Tell him his pranks and his ill-mannered behaviour have been far too coarse and offensive, with no regard for propriety, and that your Grace has protected him from much anger and reproach. I’ll hide myself in here where I’ll remain, in silence. Pray you, be firm with him.
Queen I assure you I will. Withdraw, I hear him coming.
Polonius hides behind the arras
Enter Hamlet
Hamlet Now, mother, what’s the matter?
Queen Hamlet, you have caused your father much offence.
Hamlet Mother, it is you who has caused my father much offence.
Queen Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
Hamlet Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
Queen Why, what do you mean, Hamlet?
Hamlet What’s the matter, you don’t know?
Queen Have you forgotten who I am?
Hamlet No, certainly I have not. You are the Queen, your husband’s brother’s wife, and, if only it were not so, you are my mother.
Queen Then I’ll summon those to whom you can speak openly.
Hamlet Sit down, you shall not budge. You will not leave until I have made you recognise the truth of what you have done.
Queen What are you going to do? You will not murder me? Help!
Polonius What’s going on (behind the arras)? Help!
Hamlet What’s this? A rat!
Hamlet thrusts his rapier through the arras
I’ll bet a ducat I’ve killed it.
Polonius I’m dying.
Queen O, what have you done?
Hamlet I don’t know. Is it the King?
Hamlet lifts up the arras and discovers Polonius, dead
Queen O what a rash and bloody deed this is!
Hamlet Almost as bad, good mother, as killing a king, and marrying his brother.
Queen As killing a king?
Hamlet Yes, that’s what I said. (talking to Polonius’s body) You wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell. I assumed you were the King. Accept your fate; you were interfering in a volatile situation. It’s unfortunate you had to meet with such a painful death. (addressing the Queen) Please, sit down, and let me reach into your innermost thoughts and stir your darkest emotions, if you do indeed possess any feelings at all; if your way of life has not rendered you so callous and without conscience that your heart is impenetrable and hardened against emotion.
Queen What have I done that you dare speak to me so disapprovingly, in such a harsh and disrespectful manner?
Hamlet An act so awful that it blurs the distinction between dignity and shame, exposes your apparent virtue for the hypocrisy that it is, entirely devalues the moral, honourable love you once had with my father, makes your marriage vows as false and empty as a gambler’s promise, and makes you no better than a whore. O, such a deed that it erases the very substance of the commitment you pledged in marriage to my father, making your vows, though you expressed them enthusiastically enough, in consequence, nothing more than meaningless, valueless words. The heavens grow gloomy and overcast, as though doomsday were imminent; the whole spirit and atmosphere of the world affected by the thought of what has been done.
Queen What are you saying about me, what has been done that is so abhorrent it warrants such a disparaging tirade and has had such profound and adverse consequences?
Hamlet Look here upon this picture (indicates a portrait of his father and his uncle), the portrait of two brothers. See what admirable and venerable, even god-like, qualities this man possessed (indicates his father); a look and a personality which could intimidate, and inspire obedience and loyalty; imposing and stately in appearance, almost like a form which combined the attributes of every god to give the world the perfect example of a man. This was your husband. Look at what has now come about. Here is your present husband (draws attention to his uncle in the portrait) who, like an infected ear of corn spreading disease through the rest of the crop, has defiled the whole kingdom by destroying his own brother and assuming his place. Do you not see what’s happened? How could you disregard the love you professed to feel for this impeccable man, so easily switching your devotion to this wretch? Do you not realise what he is? You cannot call it love; for at your age the desire for sexual passion has greatly subsided and is all but diminished, subject now to your own discretion, no longer at the mercy of youthful lust. So what judgement, what motivation, made you go from this to this? Obviously you possess the capacities afforded us by our senses, otherwise you would be unable to function as you do; but surely your senses are impaired, for even if you were mad you would not make such an error of judgement; rationality and reason were never so enslaved to madness but reserved in sufficient quantity to enable one to perceive so marked a difference as that which existed between my father and my uncle. What devil has deceived you and prevented you from seeing the truth? You see and hear without actually being aware of the reality of what’s going on; you’ve become intimately involved with someone without having any insight into their true nature, although you must have realised something about the kind of man my uncle is. Regardless of what he is, the very fact that you married in this way is enough. Where is your sense of shame and dishonour? If sexual ardour, too potent to be restrained by reason and volition, deserts the matron, then when virtue melts and burns in the flame of youth, when it is entirely undermined by the vigour and potency of the young, there can be no shame; no shame when compulsive lust surges, producing overpowering passionate urges, since even the subdued, waning sexual appetites of the mature woman can sometimes burn just as intensely, it seems, forcing logic and rationality to once again indulge the will of passion.
Queen O Hamlet, speak no more. You’re looking into my very soul, talking about my most intimate affairs. I know I’ve committed unforgivable deeds and acts of impiety. There are sins of such gravity they can never be excused.
Hamlet No, but to have entered willingly into an immoral and incestuous relationship and to engage in such disgraceful, disgusting acts as to lie in your marital bed, being affectionate and making love to my uncle in this pit of iniquity and depravity…..
Queen O speak to me no more. These words are like daggers to my ears, deeply hurtful and upsetting. No more, sweet Hamlet.
Hamlet A murderer and a villain, someone worth no more than a mere slave; not a fraction of what your previous husband was; a travesty, a parody, of a king; a thief of the empire and of its sovereignty who stole its precious diadem to satisfy his own rapacity and hedonistic, self-serving propensities.
Queen No more.
Hamlet A king of shreds and patches, of no substance and no moral core.
Enter Ghost
Save me, Heavenly angels! What does your gracious figure want? (the ghost is observable only to Hamlet)
Queen Alas, he’s mad.
Hamlet Do you come to reproach your son for his inaction? I have neglected potential opportunities to effect your revenge, allowing to lapse my impetus, my commitment and enthusiasm, to do your bidding, and thus failed to fulfil the duty with which you have charged me. Tell me.
Ghost Do not forget what I have said (about not harming his mother). This visitation is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose. Look at the amazement on your mother’s face. Ease her troubled and confounded soul; enlighten her. Conceit is strongest in those of the weakest mind and character. Speak to her, Hamlet.
Hamlet Are you all right (speaking to the Queen)?
Queen Alas, what’s wrong with you that you stand there gazing into empty space, holding a conversation with nothing but empty air; as though there were someone there? There’s a wild and feverish look in your eyes; you appear not unlike a sleeping soldier called suddenly into action; your hair is tousled and stands on end as if you’ve just risen from
your bed. O Hamlet, you’re in a deeply troubled and discomposed state of mind, you must calm yourself. What is it you’re looking at?
Hamlet At him, at him. Look how his pale visage glares. He has appeared here in this manifestation for a reason; I have consistently failed to commit myself to action; preaching to stones would have elicited a greater response. (addressing the ghost) Do not look upon me in such a pitiful way for fear that your low expectations of me and lack of faith in my abilities may dampen my already inadequate resolve. Then what I have to do will further lack immediacy and may not be carried out in the most desirable manner or under favourable circumstances. Tears may be shed rather than blood.
Queen To whom do you speak this?
Hamlet Do you see nothing there?
Queen Nothing at all, except for what is actually there.
Hamlet Did you not hear anything?
Queen No, nothing but ourselves.
Hamlet Why, look there, look how it steals away. My father, dressed just as he was when he lived! Look as he goes even now out through the doorway.
Exit Ghost
Queen This is fantasy, it’s all in your imagination. This madness has made your mind very potent and capable in creating illusion.
Hamlet My pulse is as steady as yours and sounds just as healthy. None of what I have said or done is the product of madness. Put me to the test, have me explain or recount something which insanity would not allow me to. Mother, for the love of God, do not delude yourself that you haven’t really committed any serious fault, that what I have said can simply be ascribed to madness. That will only serve to repress the truth, you’ll only be deceiving yourself while the consequences of your transgression and the sense of guilt inside you will grow and worsen, troubling your conscience more and more, devouring your spirit. Confess yourself to Heaven, repent over what you have done and strive to abstain from sin in future. Do not compound your trespasses, but endeavour to avoid occasions where you may be further tempted into sin. May the fact that I am upright and principled be enough to excuse what I have done here, for in these morally wanting times, doing the right thing sometimes demands that we perpetrate acts of cruelty or malice.
Queen O Hamlet, you have cleft my heart in two.
Hamlet Well throw away the worse part of it and live all the purer with the other half. Good night. But go not to my uncle’s bed. Acquire some virtue if you have none. The normal, commonplace practices in which humanity engages are frequently so morally corrupt and iniquitous that we can all too easily loose any sense of the evil and immorality our actions so readily embody. Yet I suppose this does have one advantage in that it has the potential to prompt and inspire us to better ourselves and act with a sense of goodness and decency, giving us something we can refuse to be a part of. Refrain tonight and that shall lend some easiness to the next abstinence, the next easier again; for adopting and conforming to particular practices, and making yourself exercise a different moral code can influence and perhaps alter your very nature, either embracing the devil or throwing him out with considerable potency. Once more, good night, and when you want God’s blessing I will pray that you receive it. For the death of this lord (referring to Polonius) I do repent; but it was the will of Heaven, to punish both of us, making me the agent of Divine will. I will hide his body and will answer for his death. So, again, good night. I must be cruel only to be kind. His having been murdered in this way is bad enough, yet the worst is still to come. There’s one more thing I wish to say to you.
Queen What shall I do?
Hamlet Whatever you do, by no means are you to allow that overindulgent disgrace of a king to tempt you again to his bed and be affectionate and amorous towards you, calling you his endearing names, stroking and caressing your neck with his damned fingers, trying to entice you, for a few of his filthy kisses, into unravelling this whole matter for him, allowing him to understand that I am actually not mad at all but only feigning madness. A queen who’s fair, sober and wise would see fit to hide this knowledge from such a wicked, avaricious, self-serving villain. Despite the fact that in keeping this from the King you will be infringing your duty and obligation to him, you must neither make known the truth nor attempt to imitate the chicanery and cunning of my own subterfuge.
Queen Rest assured, I will not breathe a word of what you have said to me.
Hamlet I must go to England, you know that?
Queen Alas, I had forgotten. It has been so decided.
Hamlet There are sealed letters from the King which are to be sent with me, and I am to be accompanied by my two schoolfellows, whom I trust no more than I would a venomous snake; it is they who bear the mandate. They have been charged with the task of escorting me and will no doubt be endeavouring to lead me into some manner of deadly trap. Let them try, for it is only fair that the conspirator face the prospect of being defeated by his own treachery. It shall be unfortunate for them but I will implement a stratagem of my own which will completely thwart their purpose and turn the tables on them. It becomes most interesting when two schemes go head to head like this. The fate which has befallen this man (referring to Polonius) shall be the starting point for my own plot. I’ll have to drag him into the adjoining room. Mother, good night indeed. This councillor is now quite dead. He was in life a foolish, prating knave. Come, sir, let’s draw to an end this business with you. Good night, mother.
Exit Hamlet dragging Polonius’ body