2.3. The Moment of Truth
However, interpreting Claudius’s interruption is not that simple. At the beginning, Claudius does not react to the dumb show which accurately mimics the actions of which the spectrum accuses him. But once the play has started and the actors have started to talk, he becomes more anxious. Therefore, asking Hamlet “Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in’t?” (3.2.231–32). He is aware that if he hlts the play, it would be to force Hamlet’s hand. For this reason, Claudius has no choice but to wait and discover how severe Hamlet’s accusation will be. Notwithstanding, once he understands the familiar relationship between the murder and the murderer, he has silently unmasked himself. Most compelling evidence, …show more content…
His reply “as woman’s love” (3.2.152) to Ophelia, when she says that the dialogue said by the actor on stage was “tis brief” (3.2.151), can be interpreted as the prince’s insinuation that it’s short as Ophelia’s love for him or as Gertrude’s love for her dead husband. Similarly, his mother is another victim of Hamlet’s rejection of womanhood. He believes that Gertrude marriage to Claudius “violates the father who has not been properly remembered, and it violates the son who is denied his legacy.” Therefore, the pantomime performance starts in the context of Gertrude’s and not Claudius’s betrayal. This insistence on the behavior of the player-queen creates “an image of the moral censure passed on Gertrude by both Hamlet and the Ghost.” Correspondingly, during The Mousetrap play in the scene where the role playing the queen promises her husband that she will never remarry someone else and to love him forever, Hamlet responds to staged declarations “wormwood, wormwood” (3.2.180). Hamlet’s words refer “to the salutary contrition and confession Hamlet expects the Player-Queen’s words to induce in his mother” . Also, the world “wormwood” is biblically associated with harlotry, punishment, and judgment. Shortly after, in order to make her realize that she broke her vow and that she betrayed her first husband, he launches a direct attack by asking his mother “Madam, how like you this play” (3.2.228). Indeed, Hamlet is appalled at how his mother seems to forget his father as it is markedly shown when being ironic as he says to Ophelia “What should a man do but be merry, for look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within’s two hours”
However, interpreting Claudius’s interruption is not that simple. At the beginning, Claudius does not react to the dumb show which accurately mimics the actions of which the spectrum accuses him. But once the play has started and the actors have started to talk, he becomes more anxious. Therefore, asking Hamlet “Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in’t?” (3.2.231–32). He is aware that if he hlts the play, it would be to force Hamlet’s hand. For this reason, Claudius has no choice but to wait and discover how severe Hamlet’s accusation will be. Notwithstanding, once he understands the familiar relationship between the murder and the murderer, he has silently unmasked himself. Most compelling evidence, …show more content…
His reply “as woman’s love” (3.2.152) to Ophelia, when she says that the dialogue said by the actor on stage was “tis brief” (3.2.151), can be interpreted as the prince’s insinuation that it’s short as Ophelia’s love for him or as Gertrude’s love for her dead husband. Similarly, his mother is another victim of Hamlet’s rejection of womanhood. He believes that Gertrude marriage to Claudius “violates the father who has not been properly remembered, and it violates the son who is denied his legacy.” Therefore, the pantomime performance starts in the context of Gertrude’s and not Claudius’s betrayal. This insistence on the behavior of the player-queen creates “an image of the moral censure passed on Gertrude by both Hamlet and the Ghost.” Correspondingly, during The Mousetrap play in the scene where the role playing the queen promises her husband that she will never remarry someone else and to love him forever, Hamlet responds to staged declarations “wormwood, wormwood” (3.2.180). Hamlet’s words refer “to the salutary contrition and confession Hamlet expects the Player-Queen’s words to induce in his mother” . Also, the world “wormwood” is biblically associated with harlotry, punishment, and judgment. Shortly after, in order to make her realize that she broke her vow and that she betrayed her first husband, he launches a direct attack by asking his mother “Madam, how like you this play” (3.2.228). Indeed, Hamlet is appalled at how his mother seems to forget his father as it is markedly shown when being ironic as he says to Ophelia “What should a man do but be merry, for look you how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within’s two hours”