Hamlet Act 3 Scene 1 Summary

The King and Queen converse with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about their discoveries of Hamlets mental state. They stay reasonably loyal to Hamlet by only saying that he was sad but they were unable to find the cause of this. They tell them that Hamlet is very keen to put on this play. Everyone apart from the King leaves and Polonius and Ophelia enter ready to start their plan to spy on Hamlet. Polonius directs Ophelia to Hamlet. Hamlet enters the scene and says his infamous “to be or not to be” soliloquy where he talks about whether to commit suicide or live to bear the pain of knowing the truth about his fathers death. Ophelia then enters the scene saying she wants to reciprocate the love Hamlet has given her in the past. Hamlet begins to speak in a mad manner and he tells her that he doesn’t love her because she is a liar. He then tells her to go to a nunnery referring to a brothel, but then changes his message and says that no man is good enough for her. The King and Polonius then come out from hiding and decide to send Hamlet to England.