48 pages 1 hour read

William Shakespeare

Hamlet

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1609

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Acts III-IV

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Act III, Scene 1

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report back to Claudius and Gertrude, describing Hamlet’s strange behavior; Polonius confirms their report. Claudius has sent for Hamlet, intending to hide with Polonius and watch as Hamlet meets with Ophelia. Everyone else leaves, and Polonius instructs Ophelia to pretend to read a prayer book. He notes that it is sadly common for people to use prayers and devotions deceptively, covering up the evil inside them. In an aside, Claudius says that he knows this truth all too well: He is eaten up by his guilt. As Hamlet appears, Polonius and Claudius hide.

Hamlet enters thinking aloud: He is considering suicide: “To be, or not to be—that is the question” (3.1.56). Is it braver, he wonders, to struggle against life’s troubles, or to fight them by refusing to live? The sleep of death would end his pain, but, then, that’s not altogether sure: “In that sleep of death what dreams may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil / Must give us pause” (3.1.66-68). If the afterlife was not so uncertain, Hamlet wonders, no one would go through the agonies of life. It is the fear of the unknown that makes it difficult to act: “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” (3.

Related Titles

By William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

All's Well That Ends Well

William Shakespeare

All's Well That Ends Well

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Antony and Cleopatra

William Shakespeare

Antony and Cleopatra

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

As You Like It

William Shakespeare

As You Like It

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Coriolanus

William Shakespeare

Coriolanus

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

Cymbeline

William Shakespeare

Cymbeline

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Henry IV, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

Henry IV, Part 2

William Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part 2

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Henry V

William Shakespeare

Henry V

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

Henry VIII

William Shakespeare

Henry VIII

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

Henry VI, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part 1

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

Henry VI, Part 3

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part 3

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare

Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare

Plot Summary
logo

King John

William Shakespeare

King John

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

King Lear

William Shakespeare

King Lear

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Love's Labour's Lost

William Shakespeare

Love's Labour's Lost

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Macbeth

William Shakespeare

Macbeth

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Measure For Measure

William Shakespeare

Measure For Measure

William Shakespeare

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Much Ado About Nothing

William Shakespeare

Much Ado About Nothing

William Shakespeare

Study Guide
logo

Othello

William Shakespeare

Othello

William Shakespeare