The Mouse Trap

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Up to now, Hamlet has lived inside questions.
“Did my uncle really do it?”
“Can I trust the Ghost?”
“Am I being manipulated?”
“Am I losing my mind—or pretending to?”

Act 3 Scene 2 is the moment Hamlet says, in effect:
“I’m done being uncertain. I’m going to test the truth.”
In other words, Hamlet creates a situation where Claudius either sits calmly… or cracks.

What makes this scene so powerful is that Hamlet is doing two things at once.
One: He wants evidence.
Two: He wants to feel power again.

Because Hamlet has been watched, managed, and fenced in.
So now he decides to flip the arrangement.

Now he watches.
Now he controls the room.
Now he designs the moment.

And that leads us to one of the best surprises in the play:

Hamlet suddenly becomes a director.
He lectures the actors about how to perform—
not too big, not too fake, not too showy.

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