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And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 4
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reechy: sweaty, greasy, reeking.

paddling: petting, caressing.

ravel…out: tell him everything you know about this situation. The image is of unraveling tangled string.

Hamlet claims that his primary concern is that Gertrude will blow his cover while in bed with Claudius, but the nasty, obsessive detail in which he imagines their lovemaking suggests that the lovemaking itself bothers him at least as much.

Hamlet is revealing his true state of mind (note that qualifier “essentially”), as well as his plans, to his mother. In 4.1 (lines 7-8), she has the chance to denounce her son and tell Claudius what Hamlet told her. Instead she protects him by telling her husband that Hamlet is completely mad:

Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend
Which is the mightier.

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456

8 years

Is it that Gertrude is protecting him at this point or that she really believes that Hamlet is mad?

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21

8 years

Repetition of him/his indicates jealousy, emphasising that its not the acts he objects to but Claudius’s part in them.

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I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind. William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 4
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“I must be cruel only to be kind” is among the most famous lines in the play. In context, Hamlet is semi-apologizing for his rough treatment of his mother, describing it as a necessary means to the end of improving their terrible situation. The second half of the couplet suggests that through his paradoxical “cruel kindness”–an extreme version of what we might now call “tough love”–the situation will go from worse to bad, and maybe ultimately to good.

https://youtu.be/fETmKfegNrA?t=1m10s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLaOxbd37jc

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So, again, good night. William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 4
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Hamlet continues his habit of taking multiple farewells–of being unable to resist “one word more.” See his conversation with Ophelia in 3.1.

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Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you. William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 4
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i.e., when you ask to be forgiven and blessed, I’ll beg forgiveness and blessing of you.

King Lear expresses a similar sentiment, in more plaintive tones, to his daughter Cordelia in Lear 5.3:

When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness…

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For this same lord,

Pointing to POLONIUS

I do repent: William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 4
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This is Hamlet’s only explicit expression of remorse for killing Polonius, although Gertrude reports to Claudius in 4.1 that Hamlet “weeps for what is done.”

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Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature, William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 4
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use: custom, habit.

Hamlet is urging Gertrude to take things one night at a time: to stay out of Claudius’s bed and rebuild her “virtue” by slow degrees. He suggests that ingrained habit can (almost) change our fundamental character–“the stamp of nature.”

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Assume a virtue, if you have it not. William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 4
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Assume here means to adopt or put on like a piece of clothing–a metaphor Hamlet expands on in the following lines. Hamlet means that Gertrude should act loyal to her late husband (and repelled by her new one) even if she doesn’t feel that way inwardly. In other words, “Fake it ‘til you make it.”

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Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 4
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temperately: in moderation.

More explicitly than with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in 2.2. (“I am but mad north-northwest”) Hamlet drops his “antic disposition” and declares that he is perfectly sane. (Contrast this, however, with his statement in 3.2: “My wit’s diseased.”)

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Rebecca
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4 years

In the line “and makes as healthful music: it is not madness” the word “madness” creates its an extra foot (which is a trochee since it one says MAD-ness not mad-NESS and does not match the iambic meter of the verse) thus breaking the flow of thought with the concept of madness. Additionally, in this speech he mentions madness 2 more times, the first of which adds an extra syllable and the second of which fits perfectly into the verse. This may indicate that he is folding the idea of madness neatly back into his thoughts and showing that he is incontrol of his mind and thoughts.

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And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 4
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There have been many conjectures as to the missing word in this passage (which does not appear in the First Folio). The meter and context suggest a one-syllable word indicating a way to deal with “the devil” besides simply getting rid of him. “Curb,” “throne,” “quell,” “lay,” and “mask” have all been suggested over the centuries. C. J. Monro has suggested “And entertain the devil” (source: Riverside Shakespeare).

wondrous potency: enormous strength.

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8 years

Maybe he is suggesting that either you make a deal with the devil or throw him out with wondrous potency? To extremes to be sure but this seems to fit with Hamlets personality

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O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 4
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Oh, Hamlet, you have split my heart in two.

Gertrude’s loyalties are now divided between Claudius and Hamlet (or Hamlets Senior and Junior).

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