He hardly ever spoke to Ophelia, a beautiful lady whom he had deeply loved. Before, they would talk happily and take walks in the woods near the castle. He would talk to her so sweetly and gently that Ophelia was deeply in love with him. But now he was quite different. Therefore, Polonius, Ophelia’s father, did not want his daughter to love Hamlet anymore because of his strange behavior.
One day Hamlet came to Ophelia, who was knitting in her room, and spoke wildly to her. He appeared half-naked, wearing a dirty shirt with no hat on his head. She gave back all the letters and valuable rings that she had received from Hamlet.
“I will not meet you anymore,” she said to him. Hamlet left her, feeling even more miserable.
She told her father everything that had occurred in her room. When Polonius heard this from his daughter, he believed he knew what had made Hamlet go mad. He thought that Hamlet had gone mad because of his love for Ophelia. Polonius went to Claudius and Gertrude to let them know what caused Hamlet’s madness. He told them that the love affair between Hamlet and Ophelia was the true cause of his madness.
Claudius always doubted what he heard from his men. He commanded two men who used to be Hamlet’s friends when they were children to find out the true reason why he had been acting so strangely recently. He also asked Polonius to arrange an unexpected meeting of the two lovers so that they could carefully observe Hamlet’s behavior.
Hamlet’s two old friends met him when he was saying some strange things to himself alone in the hall of the castle. They begged him to tell them the true cause of his madness. But he would not tell them anything, and instead made fools of them.
One day when Hamlet was unhappy and worried by the memory of the ghost and the promise he had made, a group of actors came to visit him. They were the same players that Hamlet used to enjoy seeing. He welcomed them. Then they acted a short play for him.
It was a sad story about a good king who was poisoned to death by his brother. And this man became king and married the queen. They played it so well, with tears in their eyes, that the scene seemed real. While Hamlet was watching them, he felt very angry with himself. He said to himself: “Those players can cry for the sad king whom they have never met. But in my case I have done nothing at all for my poor father who was killed by my uncle Claudius. What a coward I am!”
When the play was over, he thought of a good plan. He decided to have them play it once again in front of the king and queen the next day. He also asked them to add a few lines of his own to the play so that he could make the play more like what had happened to his father. Hamlet said to himself, “If Claudius is really guilty, his face will turn pale while he is watching the play. Then I will know that what the ghost told me is true. I will watch his face very carefully.”
He told his plan to Horatio, his best friend in the castle, and also asked him to watch the king’s face with the greatest care.
Hamlet went to the king and queen to tell them that he would like to invite them to a play the next evening. They agreed to see the play. They hoped that Hamlet was at last getting better and would come to accept them as his father and mother. He said good night to Claudius and Gertrude, pretending that he was happy that night.
On his way back to his own room, he met Ophelia, who looked so sad and unhappy in the hall. The king and Polonius were hiding behind the curtains of the hall, trying to listen to their conversation.
Hamlet said to Ophelia, “I don’ t love you anymore. We are all dirty animals on this earth. Ophelia, you are one of these dirty ones, too. Go to a nunnery. Go away right now, you dirty woman!”
Ophelia was too surprised at his words to say anything to him. It was such a strange and mad thing to say. Polonius thought his guess was right. But the king still doubted Hamlet’s madness.
The king, the queen and Polonius entered a large room where the play was to be shown to the whole court. The king sat with the queen. Hamlet sat by the side of Ophelia. Horatio sat facing the king in order to watch him carefully.
The play began. In the play the king and queen were talking on the bench in the beautiful garden. The queen said to the king, “I will love you forever. I will never marry another man if you should die before me. Only women that kill their husbands marry again. ” The king in the play was very glad to hear this. As the king fell asleep, the queen left him alone. Just after she left, the king’s brother came near the sleeping king and poured a deadly poison into his ear. He was soon killed by this cunning brother who had long wanted to become king and marry the queen.
Seeing this scene, Claudius turned pale and became very angry. He shouted, “Stop the play at once. ” He stood up and went out of the room with the queen.
Horatio and Hamlet saw the king show every sign of fear and anger. Hamlet was now quite sure that the ghost had told him the truth. He himself became excited and firmly decided to revenge his father as soon as he could. When the queen came back into her room, she was very worried about her son, who had made the king furious. She wanted to know why Hamlet asked the group of players to show such a disgraceful play before the king. She sent for Hamlet.
