The Play within the Play of Hamlet. To try and reveal his Uncle Claudiuss wrongdoing, he puts on a play that depicts the exact seen of the murder but it is unclear if this trick really displayed Claudiuss guilt.

The Starting of the True Mousetrap

The novel, Hamlet, describes a story about a nephew who desires to seek revenge on his uncle for his father’s death. To try and reveal his Uncle Claudius’s wrongdoing, he puts on a play that depicts the exact seen of the murder but it is unclear if this trick really displayed Claudius’s guilt. Hamlet believes that this play will show him if what the ghost told him was correct or if the ghost was just an evil spirit. Also this scene shows that Hamlet is just acting crazy because before Claudius shows up, Hamlet is speaking clearly to Horatio and is excited for what the play will reveal. When Claudius arrives, he begins to act insane again. Before the play starts, Hamlet questions Polonius about his acting past. This exchange pokes at the murder of his father and even foreshadows the death of Polonius. The dialogue between Polonius and Hamlet allows Hamlet, though acting crazy, to express ideas about the treachery of both Polonius and Claudius without them truly understanding that Hamlet suspects Claudius killed his father and that Polonius is betraying Hamlet’s trust by spying on him and reading his love letters to Ophelia.

When speaking with Polonius before the play, this dialogue foreshadows Hamlet’s eventual killing of Polonius. Hamlet inquires about Polonius’s acting background and Polonius explains that he used to be a good actor. Polonius even shared that he played Julius Caesar when Brutus killed him. In that story, Julius Caesar considers Brutus a close friend but is betrayed by him. This betrayal is similar to Polonius’s of Hamlet. Polonius’s duty is to serve the royal family, which includes Hamlet, but instead, Polonius spies on Hamlet and creates a crazy reasoning on why Hamlet has gone crazy. Polonius believed that Hamlet went mad because Polonius told Ophelia “admit no messengers, receive no tokens.” And when Ophelia “which done, she took the fruits of my advice; and he, repelled—a short tale to make-fell into a sadness, then…into the madness” (2.2.140-149). Polonius’s main objective was to get the approval of the king, which meant pretending he was wiser than he really was and deceiving Hamlet. Unlike the story of Julius Caesar, the one being betrayed is not killed but instead in the act of spying, Polonius was stabbed by Hamlet. Coincidentally the same way Julius Caesar was killed. Hamlet did not feel guilt for killing Polonius even though he wished it was Claudius but just called Polonius a “wretched, rash, intruding fool” (3.4.33). The story of Julius Caesar could have also described Claudius’s betrayal of his brother. Claudius acted like Brutus by betraying someone very close to him in order to gain more power. But in the end, Brutus is punished for what he did and also is Claudius.

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The dialogue between Hamlet and Polonius also indirectly referenced both Claudius and Polonius as good actors. Claudius is a good actor because after killing his brother, he is able to go on living like he had no part in that. Hamlet creates this play to truly test how great an actor Claudius truly is. Claudius reacts to the play but not in a way that clearly proves he was the murderer. Claudius stands and leaves the play. Later Rosencrantz states that Claudius “is in his retirement marvelous distempered” (3.2.284). Hamlet is convinced that this means that Claudius was the murderer and the ghost was right. Hamlet states that he will “take the ghost’s word for a thousand pound” (3.2.270-271). But it is very reasonable for Claudius to get upset because the story does seem very accusing towards him and much of it shadows his life. This reason is why most of the viewers don’t blame Claudius still for the murder but it was enough for Hamlet. Hamlet also alludes to Polonius’s acting in the dialogue between them. Polonius, in an effort to impress the king, believes he knows what is causing Hamlet to go crazy. He explains that Hamlet is crazy from Ophelia denial of love towards him. Polonius uses Hamlet’s love letter to prove his point to Claudius but his explanation of it is very misinterpreted. Polonius tries to impress the king and queen with complicated interpretations of Hamlet’s words but in the end makes very little sense. Gertrude and Hamlet are used to Polonius’s babble, which makes Gertrude impatient with Polonius’s explanation and makes Hamlet poke fun at Polonius’s shallowness. Claudius is the only one that truly listens to Polonius mostly because he is new to the throne and is looking for whatever help he can obtain.

Polonius and Claudius aren’t the only one putting on an act though. Hamlet throughout the story has acted crazy in order to help him get revenge on Claudius. Horatio is the only one to believe that Hamlet is sane and this is because he too saw the ghost. After Hamlet spoke to the ghost, he told Horatio to not be concerned if he is acting strange and to just play along with it. “How strange or odd soe’er I bear myself-As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put on an antic disposition” (1.5.177-179). Hamlet shows he is sane right before the play when he is giving specific instructions on how he wants the play performed. Hamlet may have been depressed because of the death of his father. Also another reason he was depressed was because of the quick marriage afterwards of his mother and his uncle. Hamlet believed that his mother owed his father a little more respect than to get married right after her husband’s death to his own brother. He also wanted to be able to mourn with her about his father’s death but the quick marriage made that impossible and he was left to mourn by himself. Finally, Ophelia denying his love created even a greater sense of hopelessness. Ophelia hurt Hamlet when he returned all his personal belongings and love letters. Hamlet may have acted like he never loved her throughout the novel but his true love showed when he jumped into her grave and shouted, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum” (5.1.59-261). All this proves that Hamlet was depressed but does not prove at all his insanity. Hamlet’s depression was thought to be insanity by many people in the novel but as a reader, it is clear that Hamlet acted insane just to distract Claudius enough so that he could get his revenge.

Polonius and Hamlet’s conversation prior to the play helps reference indirectly too many aspects of the novel. First, it foreshadows the eventual murder of Polonius because of his wickedness towards the man he was supposed to serve. Polonius had a duty to obey Hamlet but instead he spied and played tricks on Hamlet and that led to his death. The other references were the ability to act by Polonius, Claudius, and Hamlet. Polonius pretended like he knew exactly what was wrong with Hamlet and used all these childish ways like reading love notes and hiding behind drapes, of proving his theory. He tried to make his theory seem as complex as possible but in reality just wasn’t very though out. Claudius played the part of the loyal brother who did nothing to cause his death and only wanted the best for Hamlet. Obviously this is untrue because he murdered his brother for the throne and took his wife as his own. Also he ordered the death of Hamlet and then eventually helped murder him with a poisoned sword. But throughout the story, Claudius pretended like he wanted Hamlet to get over his insanity and help him rule. Hamlet though was the best actor of them all. Hamlet convinced everyone in the kingdom that he went truly insane. Horatio was the only one that knew Hamlet was acting because he was there when Hamlet saw the ghost and hamlet explained to Horatio that he was going to change. He did this so that he could plot his revenge on Claudius without anybody catching on because they would be too distracted by Hamlets insanity. The play ended up confirming Hamlet suspicion that Claudius murdered his father and the play also really helped move along the novel. The play did this by convincing Claudius that Hamlet knows the truth and also convincing Hamlet that Claudius must pay for his actions.