Question

Read the excerpt from the play within a play in Act III of Hamlet.

Player Queen:O! confound the rest;
Such love must needs be treason in my breast:
In second husband let me be accurst;
None wed the second but who kill’d the first.

Hamlet:[Aside.] Wormwood, wormwood.

Player Queen:The instances that second marriage move,
Are base respects of thrift, but none of love;
A second time I kill my husband dead,
When second husband kisses me in bed.

This excerpt best supports the claim that Hamlet

A. treats women unkindly.

B. does not believe in true love.

C. is critical of his mother’s choices.

D. suspects his mother will kill Claudius.

Answer 1

This excerpt best supports the claim that Hamlet (C) is critical of his mother's choices. The excerpt explains that no one never gets married a second time for love and that it is in some way a betrayal to the first husband. This refers to Hamlet's critical attitude towards his mother's choices because she got married for a second time and to Claudius, who was her late husband's murdered.