Act 3 Scene 4

The scene begins in Gertrude's private room as Polonius tells Gertrude that she should criticize Hamlet's behavior. He then hides behind a curtain as Hamlet enters the room. Hamlet begins to criticize Gertrude so much that she fears for her life and causes Polonius to call for help. In an impulsive move, Hamlet stabs the curtain behind which Polonius is hiding (Oh, I am slain!). Gertrude calls Hamlet's deed a rash and bloody one, but Hamlet says that its almost as bad as killing a king and marrying his brother. He then proceeds to call Polonius a meddling fool and does not lament his death. Hamlet resumes criticizing his mother and questions how she could ever marry Claudius after being the wife of his father. He again compares his father to Claudius, good against bad. He criticizes Gertrude for not seeing the obvious differences between the two, as well as her inability to control her sexual impulses. Gertrude begs Hamlet to stop, but Hamlet is distracted as the Ghost reappears. Hamlet can see the Ghost, but Gertrude can not. The Ghost reminds Hamlet of his mission to kill Claudius and not hurt his mother, and he urges Hamlet to comfort her. Hamlet obeys, and wonders why Gertrude can not see the Ghost. He tries to show it to her, but she can't see it, and before long, the Ghost is gone. As Gertrude claims that Hamlet is mad, he counters that he is not so, and he urges her to repent for her sin of marrying Claudius. He wants her to be abstinent. He warns her not to tell Claudius that he is faking his madness, and he seems to threaten her. Hamlet has figured out that R&G are supposed to take him away to England, but he promises to kill them both before they can.

We get to see some more of Gertrude in this scene, and it seems as if she knows that she has committed a sin by marrying and sleeping with Claudius, but she hates hearing her son remind her of that. She is unwilling to admit her wrongs, and she can't believe that her son would berate her so. Her unwillingness to admit her sins may be tied to her inability to see the Ghost. Because she will not admit that she was wrong, the Ghost refuses to show itself to her. It must be able to appear to only those it chooses, because both the guards and Horatio could see it at the beginning of the play.

I get a little creeped out by Hamlet's obsession with his mother's sexuality in this scene. He seems fixated on the fact that Gertrude has been sleeping with Claudius, and he keeps imploring that she be abstinent. If a director wanted to really take advantage of Hamlet's Oedipal complex - this would be the scene to do it.