Act 3 Plot
Hamlet's "to be, or not to be" speech is primarily about this topic or theme
Life and death
Hamlet is able to return from his exile thanks to this group of criminals
Pirates
Get thee to a nunnery, farewell. Or if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.
Hamlet to Ophelia
One woe doth tread upon another’s heel,
So fast they follow. Your sister’s drowned
Queen Gertrude to Laertes
This character is the only one in the play who seems to be incapable of seeing the ghost, even when it appears to another person in the same room!
Queen Gertrude
This character is the only person that Hamlet trusts with the truth about Claudius and Hamlet's plan to catch him.
Horatio
Claudius and Laertes are planning these venomous acts to kill Hamlet
Poison the tip of a sharpened sword
Poison Hamlet's drink
There is a play tonight before the King.
One scene of it comes near the circumstance
Which I have told thee of my father’s death.
Hamlet to Horatio
Where the dead body is bestowed, my lord,
We cannot get from him.
Rosencrantz to the King
O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon ’t,
A brother’s murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will.
King Claudius to himself
Hamlet uses this musical instrument as a prop to tell Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that they cannot “play” him.
A recorder, flute, or pipe
Ophelia sadly drowns, but this aspect of her death is still unclear
Whether or not she allowed herself to drown or if she was incapable of understanding
Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool. Farewell.
Hamlet to Polonius
How came he dead? I’ll not be juggled with.
To hell, allegiance! Vows, to the blackest devil!
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!
Laertes to Claudius
[Polonius is] at supper. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten.
Hamlet to King Claudius
Hamlet kills Polonius for these reasons
Polonius is hiding behind a curtain and cries out when the Queen shouts for help
When Hamlet encounters Fortinbras, he and his army are currently on their way to fight this European country.
Poland
Alas, how is ’t with you, That you do bend your eye on vacancy And with th’ incorporal air do hold discourse?
I hope all will be well. We must be patient,
but I cannot choose but weep to think they would lay him in the cold ground.
Ophelia to the King/Queen
Hamlet has this reaction when seeing Young Fortinbras and his army.
Shame / jealousy
"Where is your father?"
Hamlet actually hid Polonius' body here.
The lobby
I like him not, nor stands it safe with us
To let his madness rage. Therefore prepare you.
I your commission will forthwith dispatch,
And he to England shall along with you.
King Claudius to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on
a compelled valor, and in the grapple I boarded them.
On the instant they got clear of our ship, I alone
became their prisoner.
Hamlet to Horatio
Claudius makes this guarantee to Laertes regarding Polonius' death.
If Claudius had anything to do with Polonius' murder, then he will forfeit his crown to Laertes.