HamNun+Jessica+Yun

One can deduce that Hamlet finds out later into his dialogue with Ophelia that he is being watched. Several details support this: the transformation of Hamlet’s language, his inquiry into Ophelia’s honesty, and his questioning into Ophelia’s father’s whereabouts. Such details convince us that it is only until past his polemic against Claudius that he becomes wary of his watcher.

A behavioral indicator of Hamlet’s cognizance of his watcher is his language. In his polemic against Claudius at the beginning of the scene, he is outright emotional and uninhibited, condemning his uncle as an “oppressor” (3.1.72). Who dares to criticize the King publicly? This is not something he would have stated openly in front of kin or in public (at least he had not until this point). This suggests that Hamlet is railing against Claudius from lines 57 to 91 of Act III Scene I believing he is unsupervised. He goes further, stating that Claudius is the one who “quietus make with a bare bodkin” (Shakespeare, 3.1.76-77). Had Hamlet been ready to revenge or kill Claudius, he would not have revealed his knowledge of the murder. Would one tell a police officer that he or she is itching to rob a store? If Hamlet were committed to carrying out his revenge, he would not have disclosed such information intentionally. If he did not want Claudius to flee the country or to fortify his security, he would not have revealed his anger and knowledge of his father’s murder to Claudius. Thus, unless Hamlet lacks basic control over his emotions, or unless he has a surefire, fool-proof plan for retaliation, he seems to be unaware of his close spy at this point.

Then Ophelia arrives. This is the part in the scene where Hamlet seems to become aware that he is being watched. He asks her after her delivery of romantic memorabilia, “Are you honest?” (3.1.104). Up to that point, Hamlet had been friendly to Ophelia; however, he switches to a very critical tone. He goes on to ask, “Are you fair?”. And even though the word “fair” likely means beautiful in this connotation, it also has another meaning: honest. In other words, Hamlet is asking once again, “Are you honest?”. Driving this point across, one can see that he is gaining control over his words, trying to make his watcher as uncomfortable as possible. He declares to Ophelia, “Your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty” (3.1.108-109). Essentially, he’s telling her that it’s rare to be both beautiful and honest. He then asks her of her father’s whereabouts. Can it really be a coincidence that Hamlet uses the words “fair”, “honesty”, and “father”? The fact that he has touched on the topics of honesty twice and her father’s whereabouts within their dialogue implies that he has caught eye of her father, Polonius.

Following this, Hamlet continues to express anger, but in a circumspect manner. How do we know that it’s his awareness of his watcher and not merely the arrival of Ophelia that is causing this shift in language? Here I introduce my final point: Hamlet refrains from continuing to condemn Claudius and returns to a more general polemic of the unfair world to Ophelia. No longer does he discuss the specific murder; he discusses the wrongs of humanity as a whole: “We are arrant knaves all” (3.1.129-130). Perhaps he is trying to rescue himself and to dampen the effects of his earlier polemic by condemning man in general. In allaying his language, he is pulling himself out of this pitfall. Thus, the shift in content of his speech demonstrates he becomes wary of his watcher further into the scene.