Hamlet
Prompt #7 · Hamlet
Prompt Type: Scene Analysis
In Gertrude's closet, Hamlet kills Polonius who is hiding behind the arras, mistaking him for Claudius. Analyze how Shakespeare uses this moment of impulsive violence to develop the theme of action and inaction, marking a turning point in Hamlet's character and the play's tragic trajectory. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
Act III, Scene 4
Argument
This quote captures the precise moment of impulsive violence, with the animalistic metaphor 'rat' and the casual wager 'dead for a ducat' revealing Hamlet's sudden shift from paralyzed contemplation to rash action, marking the play's pivot from philosophical delay to irreversible bloodshed.
Quote 2
Act III, Scene 4
Argument
Immediately following the killing, this quote exposes the tragic irony of Hamlet's impulsive action—he acts decisively for the first time, but kills the wrong man, demonstrating how his sudden break from inaction produces catastrophic consequences that accelerate the play's tragic trajectory.
Quote 3
“Now might I do it pat, now he is praying. / And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven; / And so am I reveng’d. That would be scann’d: / A villain kills my father, and for that / I, his sole son, do this same villain send / To heaven. O, this is hire and salary, not revenge.”
Act III, Scene 3
Argument
This quote from the scene immediately preceding the closet confrontation establishes the contrast between inaction and impulsive violence: Hamlet overthinks his revenge when facing Claudius at prayer, yet moments later kills Polonius without hesitation, revealing how his action finally erupts not through rational choice but through uncontrolled impulse.
Quote 4
Act III, Scene 4
Argument
This quote from the closet scene itself reveals Hamlet's recognition that his impulsive violence has initiated an irreversible tragic sequence—the oxymoron 'cruel...to be kind' captures the paradox of action that destroys even as it attempts to correct, marking the moment when Hamlet's paralysis gives way to destructive momentum.
Quote 5
“Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, / And thus the native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, / And enterprises of great pith and moment, / With this regard their currents turn awry / And lose the name of action.”
Act III, Scene 1
Argument
This quote from earlier in the play establishes Hamlet's philosophical paralysis—the metaphor of thought 'sicklying o'er' resolution and causing enterprises to 'lose the name of action'—creating a stark contrast with the closet scene's impulsive killing, where Hamlet finally acts but without the deliberation he previously valued.