No Fear Shakespeare: Hamlet: Act 3, scene iv

	Preferences Shopping Cart Checkout Help

Read the Study Guide: Hamlet
Get the book: Buy it online at Barnes & Noble
Tell a friend: Email this page

Enter GERTRUDE and POLONIUS

GERTRUDEand POLONIUS enter.

	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 screened and stood between
	Much heat and him. I'll silence me even here.
5	Pray you, be round with him.

POLONIUS

He'll come right away. Make sure you lay into him. Tell him his pranks have caused too much trouble, and that Your Highness has taken a lot of heat for them. I'll be right here, silent. Please be blunt with him.

	HAMLET
	(within) Mother, mother, mother!

HAMLET

(offstage) Mother, mother, mother!

	GERTRUDE
	I'll warrant you. Fear me not. Withdraw, I hear him coming.

GERTRUDE

Don't worry, I'll do what you say. Now hide, I hear him coming.

POLONIUS hides behind the arras

POLONIUS hides behind the tapestry.

Enter HAMLET

HAMLET enters.

	HAMLET
	Now mother, what's the matter?

HAMLET

Now mother, what's this all about?

	GERTRUDE
	Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

GERTRUDE

Hamlet, you've insulted your father.

	HAMLET
10	Mother, you have my father much offended.

HAMLET

Mother, you've insulted my father.

	GERTRUDE
	Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.

GERTRUDE

Come on, you're answering me foolishly.

	HAMLET
	Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.

HAMLET

Go on, you're questioning me evilly.

	GERTRUDE
	Why, how now, Hamlet?

GERTRUDE

Hamlet, what, why?

	HAMLET
	What's the matter now?

HAMLET

What's the problem now?

	GERTRUDE
	Have you forgot me?

GERTRUDE

Have you forgotten who I am?

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

HAMLET

For God's sake no, I haven't. You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife, and you are my mother, though I wish you weren't.


IPOD SPARKNOTES Read SparkNotes on your iPod. More...	Study Guides Learn more about the subject you're studying with these related SparkNotes. Hamlet	Message Boards Ask a question on the SparkNotes community boards. Hamlet Shakespeare Staging Shakespeare's Plays	SparkCharts Printable, portable charts on this subject. Shakespeare

Help | Feedback | Make a request | Report an error | Send to a friend

No Fear English Grammar is a step-by-step guide to English grammar presented in a fresh, lively tutorial.
More...

Read the complete texts of Shakespeare's plays along with an easy to understand translation.
More...