Behind the Scene

SCENE IV. The Queen's closet.

Enter QUEEN Gertrude and POLONIUS

LORD POLONIUS

He will come straight. Look you lay home to him:
Tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with,
And that your grace hath screen'd and stood between
Much heat and him. I'll sconce me even here.
Pray you, be round with him.

Speaking strongly in order to make the queen understand what she must do. He is overstepping his bounds in ordering the Queen around but she is at a loss for how to handle the situation so he is trying to assist. As he speaks, he is motioning himself to leave.

HAMLET

[Within] Mother, mother, mother!

Almost in an angry and demanding tone he is yelling for his mother who has called on him.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.

Gertrude wants strength and for Polonius to trust her. She gestures for him to hide.

POLONIUS hides behind the arras

Enter HAMLET

HAMLET

Now, mother, what's the matter?
Hamlet is annoyed with having been called upon, knowing that with her alone he will not be able to hold his tongue any longer. He speaks in an angry and rushed tone in order to convey his feelings of annoyance at her.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

She is speaking aboout his step-father and uncle, the King. This is not so much as meant as an insult as Hamlet takes it, but she is being demanding, in sense. She wants her son to understand the place that he must take in the family and she is forceful at this point.

HAMLET

Mother, you have my father much offended.

Hamlet means his true father, the former king. He is taking offense to the comment of his mother and turning the comment onto herself. He is similarly forceful in his flipping of words, getting angry as his mother speaks. His anger has pent up against his mother and what he has wanted to say to her will not be held back much longer.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.

Gertrude is seemingly hurt but still attempting to retain control over her son. She is confused as to how she should approach the situation and it trying to remain in control of her son who has, in the minds of most, gone mad.

HAMLET

Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.

Hamlet is trying to force her to understand all that he wants to say without letting it out quite yet. He is quick in his words as he as always been but he is also acting openly disrespectful to his mother, the Queen. This shows a slight change in his reactions openly to her when he and she are alone rather than being in public. He is accusatory.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Why, how now, Hamlet!

Hurt and confused, Gertrude is becoming more angry and more concerned about her position of power.

HAMLET

What's the matter now?

Hamlet is tiring of the fake face that she and the others who know the truth have put on. He wishes to burst out in anger at his mother at this point and is still attempting to be accusatory but acts as though he does not know why she is hurt by his comments.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Have you forgot me?

Concerned for his son and for her relationship, she is hurt and searching for answers from him in hopes to cure her son and to not reveal the truth of the situation between herself and the King. She would be gesturing to herself, probably to her heart as if she had been enduring a great pain, but it is feigned.

HAMLET

No, by the rood, not so:
You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And--would it were not so!--you are my mother.

Hamlet is finally letting go of the guard of his tongue. He wants his mother to know what he truly thinks of her and is gaining anger every moment. He wants to cause daggers in her heart with the words he speaks so that she will feel guilty for the wrong she has committed. He is less accusatory and more comfortable with his words because he is being honest and forthwith. He is squinting at her as if despising that he could be related to such an atrocity.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak.

The Queen wants to get out of the situation and move onto a different conversation. She is uncomfortable and distressed. She was hoping to be in control of the conversation and realizes she has no control over her livid son.

HAMLET

Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge;
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.

He wants his mother to know that he knows all and will not let her leave until she is aware of all he knows about her. He is tired of holding his tongue and will let her know how he feels about her. He ispushing her back into her seat and forcing her to bear what he has to tell her.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me?
Help, help, ho!

The Queen is at this moment afraid for her life and believes that she may be killed by her son. She is frantic and looking for a way out but is not in the proper mind set to know what to do. Hamlet must be coming at her in a threatening way that is frightening her greatly.


LORD POLONIUS

[Behind] What, ho! help, help, help!

Polonius constantly wants to save the day and be a snitch and his reaction of trying to save the Queen and misinterpreting what Hamlet is doing, he gives himself away. With this reaction we would see him stepping out from behind the tapestry frantically to try to stop Hamlet.

HAMLET

[Drawing] How now! a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!

Makes a pass through the arras

Hamlet, expecting the person behind the curtain to be the King, reacts out of his blind anger and need for revenge and attacks Polonius with his dagger. He shoves the dagger through the tapestry into Polonius before he realizes his mistake. Hamlet is angry and spontaneous at this point and so worked up that he is not thinking entirely rationally.

LORD POLONIUS

[Behind] O, I am slain!

Falls and dies
Grabbing the spot where he has been stabbed, Polonius falls to the ground and dies.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

O me, what hast thou done?

Terrified at the act of her son, she rushes over to the fallen man is shock. She asks Hamlet in a trembling voice, fearful of the maniacal nature of her son.

HAMLET

Nay, I know not:
Is it the king?

Hamlet is hopeful that he has finally fulfilled his task. He assumed wrongly that the man behind the curtain was the King. He is terrified as well but he is almost excited to find out if he has finally finished his task of revenge. Hamlet is rushing over towards the body as well to find out who he has killed

QUEEN GERTRUDE

O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!

Upset over the recent event, Gertrude is almost in tears with terror over the occurrence. She is by the body, looking terrified at the murderer, her son, Hamlet.

HAMLET

A bloody deed! almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.

Finally able to fully accuse his mother of her treachery, he takes this bloody moment to create a recollection of an even bloodier moment. He is glad to get this off of his chest and onto the guilt of his mother's chest. Hamlet is waving his hands during the accusation to show his full anger and knowledge of the situation. His tone of voice is angering and accusing.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

As kill a king!

Terrified that the secret has been discovered and hoping that she has heard him wrong.
The Queen has a shocked look on her face and her voice is angry and defensive.

HAMLET

Ay, lady, 'twas my word.

Lifts up the array and discovers POLONIUS

Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune;
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.
Leave wringing of your hands: peace!
Hamlet turns to speak to his mother now:
sit you down,
And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff,
If damned custom have not brass'd it so
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.

Shocked at who the person he killed truly was, Hamlet does not act remorseful for his rash action. He believes Polonius to have been interfering and to have been caught in the middle of a battle that was not his own. Hamlet is almost angry at the fact that he was being watched and that people are crazy enough to meddle in matters that are not of concern to them. Hamlet is growing upset that he has not fulfilled the need for revenge and begins to think about his next move. He is staring at the body and contemplating at the same time.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

What have I done, that thou darest wag thy tongue
In noise so rude against me?

Coming to the realization that Hamlet is personally accusing her of her crimes, she takes a defensive tone and begins to attack Hamlet's words. She is growing cruel in her tone and angry because she is afraid. The Queen is shaking her arms at her son in her anguish and frustration.

HAMLET

Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty,
Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose
From the fair forehead of an innocent love
And sets a blister there, makes marriage-vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul, and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: heaven's face doth glow:
Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.

Angry and vengeful, Hamlet tells his true feelings toward his mother. He is ashamed of her faults nad dispises her decisions and wants her to know. He is being forceful and rude toawrds his mother, coming into her mind with his word and closer to her face as he speaks. He is gesturing maniacally in his unrestrained anger.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Ay me, what act,
That roars so loud, and thunders in the index?
Still confused as to her situation and the act of which Hamlet describes, Gertrude, in a begging tone, asks this of Hamlet.

HAMLET

Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. Look you now, what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear,
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes? Hamlet is gesturing to the two pictures of both his father and his uncle. He is angrily trying to make his mother understand what a grave mistake she has made. Hamlet is cold and stabbing in his tone of voice.
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
You cannot call it love; for at your age
The hey-day in the blood is tame, it's humble,
And waits upon the judgment: and what judgment
Would step from this to this? Sense, sure, you have,
Else could you not have motion; but sure, that sense
Is apoplex'd; for madness would not err,
Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thrall'd
But it reserved some quantity of choice,
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind?
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Could not so mope. Hamlet is disgusted by the dramtic difference between his father and his uncle and dares his mother to ignore it and forces her to see it. As Hamlet speaks, Gertrude slowly falls into a depression fueled by the shame of understanding. She is hiding her face and looking frightened.
O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn
And reason panders will.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

O Hamlet, speak no more:
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.

Gertrude is mornful and ashamed of her actions, just as Hamlet wished. She begins greaving and putting her hands onto her face to hide her shame. Pleading with him to leave her alone, she motions for him to cease speaking on the matter.

HAMLET

Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamed bed,
Stew'd in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty,--

Hamlet, still close to his mother's face, continues his rant. He is now rolling with his words, everything suppressed is coming out and he is beginning to feel that weight lifted off of his shoulders as he yells at her.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

O, speak to me no more;
These words, like daggers, enter in mine ears;
No more, sweet Hamlet!

The Queen covers her ears in desperation, hoping that nothing more will leave his lips. She is in pain now because of her enormous shame that she can not rid herself of.

HAMLET

A murderer and a villain;
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a vice of kings;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!

Accusatory again, Hamlet wants to be sure of ther person she is with now, and of the pain she has caused the family in her wrong-doings. He is angry and dispising of the very words that leave his mouth because to him, the words have taken over his entire life since he learned of them. He is gesturing wildly in order to convey the words and the anger with his hands as well.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

No more!

She is pleading with her son because her weak nature can not take the pain he is currently inflicting on her.

HAMLET

A king of shreds and patches,--

Enter Ghost
Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings,
You heavenly guards! What would your gracious figure?
Startled by the apparition, Hamlet speaks to the ghost.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Alas, he's mad!

Gertrude can not see the ghost and therefore only can see that Hamlet is speaking to thin air. She is confused by this moment and exclaims to the room that this is crazy in nature. She does not understand why her son is acting so strangely.

HAMLET

Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command? O, say!

Speaking still to the ghost, Hamlet realizes that he has not yet completed his task. He is looking in a direction that is away from his mother, but the ghost can not be seen.

Ghost

Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works:
Speak to her, Hamlet.

He is speaking calmly yet in a commanding tone. The ghost controls the room and the situation, though he can only be seen my one person. The ghost gestures towards Hamlets mother.

HAMLET

How is it with you, lady?

Hamlet asks her obediently, also as calmly as if they had not been fighting and as if he were not crazy.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on vacancy
And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,
Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,
Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?

The Queen is asking her son questions tentatively because she can not figure out what he is talking to. She looks around the room and at his skeptically, not seeing any objects to which he may be speaking. She is concerned and cautious in her tone of voice, unsure about the situation in which she is a part.

HAMLET

On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable. Do not look upon me;
Lest with this piteous action you convert
My stern effects: then what I have to do
Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.

In almost a mocking tone he replys to his mother as though his answer is quite obvious. Hamlet is pointing to the spot in which he sees the ghost, despretly gesturing to this place.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

To whom do you speak this?

Her words and tone of voice are cautious, trying to understand.

HAMLET

Do you see nothing there?

Confused by the difference of seeing ths ghost this time and last time, where last time everyone could see the figure. Hamlet looks at the ghost and then at his mother hoping to understand why she can not see the figure he sees so clearly.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.

Gertrude is trying to stay calm and to be honest with her son. She thinks her son to have gone mad by this moment and can not understand what has happened to him.

HAMLET

Nor did you nothing hear?

Confused once again, Hamlet tests how much of the situation Gertrude can possibly grasp without seeing or hearing the ghost. He understand that he may look crazy talking to something that is not there and wants to test how Gertrude is reacting to the strange situation.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

No, nothing but ourselves.

She is highly concerned with this occurrence and does not understand fully what is happening. SHe has a worried look on her fce as she and Hamlet stare at each other and around the room.

HAMLET

Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!
My father, in his habit as he lived!
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!

Hamlet is pointing frantically at the ghost in hopes that his mother soon sees it. He is despret for her to see and understand what he has been going through for some time now. He is frustrated by the fact that he truly looks as though he is crazy at this point.

Exit Ghost

QUEEN GERTRUDE

This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.

Gertrude wants Hamlet to understand the madness that he possesses. She is concerened for the well being of his son. As she speaks, she walks towards him in a motherly manner trying to make him understand what he thinks he sees that she can not see.

HAMLET

Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. He grabs his own arm as to show her the pulse that is with in him. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.

Hamlet is pleaing with his mother now. He knows he loves her even while he is angry at her actions. He is done chastising her for the moment and is asking rather than demanding from her. He gets closer to his mother in order to speak to her more rationally.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.

She is in pain from the guilt she retains and is even more hurt that her own son is calling the pain out from inside her to be shown. SHe grabs her chest as if to show the heavy pain she feels.

HAMLET

O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,

Pointing to POLONIUS
I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.

He is bidding her goodnight and gesturing that he must leave, but wants to be sure that his point has not only gotten across but that she understands the extent of hte pain she has caused with her decisions. He edges nearer to her in order to show his love for her while keeping enough distance to retain his angry state of mind.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

What shall I do?
Honestly weak at heart and at mind, the Queen can not think for herself because of the burden that Hamlet has placed in her face. She is beggin him to help her.

HAMLET

Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top.
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.

He is calm and collected and hoping that the Queen will understand and follow his wishes. He is entreating her to be a good person and to listen to him by being calmer than before and acting as if he is her son rather than a person destined to harm her.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.

She trusts him and hopes he can trust her. Her pain has overcome her and she only wants to make the pain subside. She is near to him and touches him gently as if to physically give him her trust.

Power corrupts, understanding rebuilds

As a leader, there is much to consider when creating a law or a standing for an entire society or country. The decision made must benefit the people beneath you and must also ensure your leadership is continual, especially in the case of a king. In the case of Creon, a decision must be made about whether the law or the moral code has a greater standing within the society that he rules.
At the beginning of the play, the reader dislikes the power role of Creon because he seems a heartless and domineering character rather than a kind and helpful king. This view point makes the reader more easily understand Antigone’s point of view and convinces the reader that moral obligation is much more important than legal obligation. If a reader were to step back and understand the trap into which he or she fell by convincing his or her self that moral defiance of a law is always in the right, the reader would begin to see that Creon is simply acting as a leader with a difficult decision. It is not until we fully view Creon’s struggle between morals and enforcement of his own laws does the reader understand the position in which the king has placed himself. It is important to the reader that there is an understanding of both sides so that the attitude change of Creon seems more human. As Creon sees the error in his law and understands that he must crush his own stubborn pride in order to do the right thing for his kingdom and for Antigone, the reader begins to pity the uncomfortable situation that the conflict between moral right and enforced law has created for Creon. At the beginning of the play we place Antigone on a pedestal as a symbol of moral obligation and rightful disregard for an unfair law, but as the play progresses, we see Creon as another inflicted character, not simply an antagonist to Antigone’s morality. The change in heart that Creon experiences between creating a law while punishing Antigone for breaking it and realizing that his law was against the god’s and human nature shows the reader that even a human with so much power and pride is simply that, a human. Human’s are fallible and mistaken much of the time, but what makes someone a good person is realizing the wrongs he or she has committed and attempting to right these wrongs. Creon does try to take back what he has done, but the deed being already committed; his punishment is the loss of his loved ones.
Throughout the beginning of the story, everyone can see Creon as the antagonist and the villain, but as the story progresses, I believe that Creon becomes a second protagonist and his own conflict between retaining power and admitting a wrong-doing becomes his antagonist. Because at the end of the play we see the world through the eyes of Creon, we begin to understand his struggles and to pity the decision he has to make, not because of the moral constraints of the situation but because the reader comes to terms with the fact that a man of his position is only human and did realize that he was wrong. His realization gives us hope that humans are inherently good and can overcome their stubborn pride to make things that were wrong turn right (567).