The Play-Within-A-Play Video

Act Three of Hamlet features an example of meta-theater, or a performance that comments on its own theatricality. After learning from the ghost that it was Claudius who killed his father, Hamlet devises a plan to confirm whether Claudius is truly guilty. He arranges for a troupe of actors to perform a play called “The Death of Gonzago.” The play is also referred to as “The Mousetrap,” which is the title Hamlet provides to Claudius when he inquires about the performance they are about to watch.

The play-within-a-play follows a simple and familiar plot: Gonzago, the Duke of Vienna, is murdered by his nephew, Lucianus, when Lucianus pours poison into the Duke’s ear while the Duke is asleep. After the king dies, Lucianus marries the duke’s widow, Baptista. Of course, this plot mirrors that of Hamlet itself, as Claudius murders King Hamlet and then marries his widow, Hamlet’s mother Gertrude.

Before the play-within-a-play begins, Hamlet confides in Horatio and enlists his help in executing his plan. He explains that the purpose of the play is to “catch the conscience of the king.” In other words, Hamlet hopes that by putting Claudius’s crime on display under the guise of theatrical performance, Claudius will have a visual reaction that will reveal his guilt. Horatio agrees to watch Claudius closely throughout the performance.

As the actors are depicting the murder of Gonzago onstage, Claudius suddenly rises and demands more light before fleeing the performance altogether. Horatio and Hamlet interpret Claudius’s response as a certain indication of his guilt, and this realization sends Hamlet into a frantic state. He is faced with more uncertainty about how to proceed now that he knows the truth.

However, the play-within-a-play scene is not such a clear-cut truth-telling device as Hamlet makes it seem. Indeed, Hamlet’s own behavior before and during the performance suggests certain truths about the character of Hamlet himself in relation to some of the broader play’s central themes.

For instance, Hamlet is remarkably clear-headed as he confides in Horatio before the performance. He lays out his plan and even praises Horatio for his self-control and strong grip on reality. As soon as Claudius and Gertrude enter, however, Hamlet becomes erratic and unpredictable, giving nonsensical answers to questions and speaking crude sexual innuendos to Ophelia throughout the performance.

Hamlet’s strange behavior is thus as much on display in this scene as Claudius’s alleged guilt. That Hamlet undergoes such a noticeable shift against the backdrop of the play-within-the-play ultimately suggests the play’s broader interest in performance, artifice, and pretending. While some may maintain that Hamlet is simply mad or driven mad by indecision, this scene opens up another possibility: that Hamlet, too, is merely playing a part.