Hamlet

act 3 scene 1

(aside) "How smart a lash that seech doth give my conscience!.." - This '(aside)' means the character is talking to the audience, the characters inside thoughts. This is the 1st we get from the king.

clues like "than is my deed" suggest the king is guilty.

His words he choses very carefully "painted word" and is therefore suspicious.

Hamlet
"To be or not to be"- does this mean to exist or not to exist? or to kill or not to kill? This could be interpreted many different ways.

"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" - To accept the bad happenings?

"against a sea of troubles" - or to attack? - Maybe it means to kill himself, as you cannot 'take arms' against the sea. If you swung your sword in to the sea it wouldn't hurt it, so perhaps it could be interpreted as him wanting to kill himself to end his pain and troubles.

"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come" - He is thinking of the bad things that could happen if he killed himself. If he died would he just go into an everlasting dream? what if the dream he has is a nightmare? How would you escape?
The fact that Hamlet is questioning death creates a pause.


Whilst Hamlet is talking what is happening with Ophelia?
Is Ophelia frozen in time, is she meant to hear the speech or not? Is Hamlet aware of the other people? He uses general metaphors which makes us suspicious.