Quote Analysis

Claudius asks Hamlet why he still seems gloomy. Hamlet responds with this line, playing on the word 'sun.'

The pun on 'sun/son' lets Hamlet answer two questions at once: he is too much in the literal sunlight (no longer hidden in mourning) and too much the 'son' now that Claudius insists on calling him one. The double meaning turns a simple reply into a refusal—Hamlet won't let Claudius's word ('son') define him.

Support a thesis that Hamlet uses puns not for cleverness but as a form of resistance—this line refuses Claudius's attempt to rename their relationship while seeming to answer him directly.