Understand metadrama (i.e. play-within-a-play) as it pertains to Hamlet's plan, Claudius's reaction, and the audience's interpretation of the story's events.
Updated: 11/21/2023
Play-Within-A-Play in Hamlet | Synopsis & Significance
Table of Contents
- Synopsis of William Shakespeare's Hamlet
- Significance of The Mousetrap from The Murder of Gonzago
- Lesson Summary
Frequently Asked Questions
How and why does Hamlet conceive the idea of the play within the play?
Hamlet conceives of the idea of the metadrama after his father's ghost reveals that he was murdered by Hamlet's uncle Claudius. Hamlet is still doubtful, afraid that he may have been seeing a devil instead of his father. He conceives the play as a way to assess Claudius's guilt, reasoning that Claudius will react negatively to watching a play portraying the circumstances under which he murdered his brother.
What is the main purpose of the play within the play?
The main purpose of the play-within-a-play is to "catch the conscience of the King." Hamlet plans to have a troupe of actors perform the suspected circumstances of his father's death, reasoning that if Claudius did kill his father, his guilt will become evident when he watches the play.
What is a play inside a play called?
The play inside a play is called "The Murder of Gonzago" and "The Mousetrap." (It is mostly referred to as "The Murder of Gonzago" but when Claudius asks what the play is called, Hamlet responds, "The Mousetrap.")
Table of Contents
- Synopsis of William Shakespeare's Hamlet
- Significance of The Mousetrap from The Murder of Gonzago
- Lesson Summary
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William Shakespeare's Hamlet is a political drama set in Denmark. Prince Hamlet's father (Old King Hamlet) has died recently, and his mother, Gertrude, has remarried Hamlet's uncle Claudius. Hamlet suspects that Claudius killed his father so that Claudius himself could become king and marry Gertrude. Eventually, the ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and confirms that he was killed by Claudius. Hamlet wants revenge against Claudius but is plagued by self-doubt and therefore hesitates to act. The play details Hamlet's ponderous, meandering quest for revenge against his uncle.
A metadrama is a play within a play; the characters in Hamlet view one such play. The play-within-a-play is called The Murder of Gonzago and The Mousetrap. The play is conceived by Hamlet, to be performed in front of Gertrude, Claudius, and the rest of the court, and portrays the suspected circumstances of Hamlet's father's death. Hamlet believes that a guilty reaction from Claudius while viewing the play will prove that he did in fact murder Old King Hamlet. ("The play's the thing/Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2))
The main themes of Hamlet include revenge, politics, and family. The audience sees the theme of revenge developed through Hamlet's attempts to avenge the death of his father. The tension between Hamlet's desire for revenge and his hesitation to follow through on this desire is one of the main conflicts throughout the play. There is also a secondary revenge plot when Laertes seeks revenge for the death of his father Polonius, who Hamlet killed. Family and politics are thematically linked throughout the play. Claudius kills his brother for political gain (the throne) and personal gain (Gertrude). For Hamlet himself, politics and family are intrinsically linked; he is seeking revenge for the murder of his father, the king, the usurpation of his throne by his murderer, and the marriage of his mother to her former brother-in-law. Family also drives the plot for Laertes and Ophelia after Hamlet kills their father.
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The play-within-a-play in Hamlet is called both The Murder of Gonzago and The Mousetrap. (Specifically, in Act 3, Scene 2, when Claudius asks, "What do you call the play?" Hamlet responds, "The Mousetrap.")
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The Murder of Gonzago occurs in Act 3, Scene 2 of Hamlet, and portrays a King and a Queen, who seem to be very happily married. The queen swears that she will never remarry if her husband dies. ("When second husband let me be accurst! None wed the second but who killed the first." (Player Queen, Act 3, Scene 2)) Then the King in the play is murdered by his nephew Lucianus, who pours poison in his ear and takes his crown. Lucianus then successfully woos the King's widow.
The play matches up exactly with the suspected circumstances of Hamlet's father's death. Hamlet wants revenge for his father's murder but hesitates to act for fear that he is mistaken about Claudius having murdered his father. (Hamlet's father's ghost informed him of the murder; however, Hamlet fears that the ghost might have been a devil trying to trick him into committing murder.) He devises the play as a trap for his uncle, believing that a negative reaction to the play will prove Claudius's guilt: "I have heard/That guilty creatures, sitting at a play,/Have by the very cunning of the scene/Been struck so to the soul that presently/They have proclaimed their malefactions." (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2). Hamlet says of his uncle, "If he but blench/I know my course...The play's the thing/Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."
Impact of The Mousetrap
In Act 3, Scene 2, the theater troupe that Hamlet hired performs The Mousetrap for Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Horatio. Gertrude observes that "The lady doth protest too much" when the queen in the play-with-a-play declares that she will never marry again if her husband dies. When Lucianus pours poison in Gonzago's ear, Claudius rises from his chair very suddenly. Polonius instructs the actors to stop the play; Claudius demands light. Everyone leaves except Horatio and Hamlet, who agree that Claudius's reaction to the play is indicative of his guilt. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern then enter; Guildenstern informs Hamlet that Claudius is "in his retirement, marvellous distemper'd." He also informs Hamlet that Gertrude is angry and wants to see him.
In Act 3, Scene 3, the audience sees that Hamlet's plan to activate Claudius's guilty conscience has worked. In a private moment Claudius ruminates about the fact that he killed his brother in order to become king and marry Gertrude: "I am still possessed/of those effects for which I did the murder--/My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen." (Claudius, Act 3, Scene 3)
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In Act 3, Scene 2 of Hamlet, the title character plans to "catch the conscience of the king" with a metadrama titled The Murder of Gonzago or The Mousetrap. (A metadrama is a play-within-a-play.) Hamlet devises his plan after his father's ghost informs Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius. Hamlet wants revenge, and strongly suspects his uncle is guilty, but he is afraid that his father's ghost may be a devil in disguise, trying to convince him to kill his uncle so that he will be condemned to hell. So Hamlet devises a plan to have a troupe of actors put on a play called The Murder of Gonzago, portraying the suspected circumstances of his father's death. Hamlet believes that a guilty reaction from Claudius will prove that Claudius murdered his father. The Murder of Gonzago, also called The Mousetrap portrays a man, Lucianus, murdering his uncle by pouring poison in his ear, taking his uncle's crown, and successfully wooing his uncle's widow. When the metadrama reaches the scene in which Lucianus pours poison in his uncle's ear, Claudius rises, demanding "Give me some light!" Hamlet interpret's Claudius's reaction as proof of his guilt. In the next scene (Act 3, Scene 3) Claudius's guilt is explicitly confirmed to the audience, when Claudius admits to murdering his brother during a monologue in a moment alone.
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Video Transcript
Metadrama
Shakespeare was known for his use of metadrama, a play which features another play as a part of the plot. This is similar to metafiction, when a novel or story might refer to itself within the plot of the book.
We first see the makings of a metadrama when Hamlet declares in Act II, ''the play's the thing/Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.'' Here, he announces a devious plot to catch his uncle Claudius, and force him into a genuine confession of the murder of Hamlet's father. Hamlet has struggled through the first part of the play with the admonition of the Ghost of his father to avenge his murder. He wants to be a loyal son, and he surely hates his uncle, but he's not quick to commit murder himself. He decides that he needs some confirmation of his uncle's guilt, and he has a plan to catch him by staging the performance of a play aptly named ''The Mousetrap.''
Hamlet Designs a Plan
After the coincidental entry of a troupe of traveling actors to the kingdom, Hamlet writes a script that mimics the story the Ghost told him of his father's death. As it plays out, we see that a Gonzago, the Duke of Vienna, dies when his scheming nephew, Lucianus, pours poison in his ear. Then, Lucianus pursues the Duke's wife, Baptista, and eventually convinces her to fall in love with him. It's a chilling reminder of the plot of the play we are currently watching. According to the Ghost, Claudius had poisoned him while he lay sleeping in his garden. And, Hamlet has been focused on his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle.
The entire span of the plot plays out first in silence, commonly known as a dumb-show, which was a prelude to the spoken part of the play that would follow and clarify the actions with previously unspoken dialogue. Playing out the entire scene allowed Hamlet to watch his uncle's reaction to see signs of guilt.
Claudius is Disturbed
Claudius reacts to the play, indeed, though it isn't entirely clear which part upsets him or why. Hamlet clearly believes himself successful in catching his uncle and sees his reaction as a sure admittance of guilt. Claudius rises and asks for ''Light!'' before leaving the room. On the surface, it seems that Claudius has shown himself to be disturbed by a reenactment of his own crime. Hamlet's excitement overcomes him, and he must calm himself before answering a summons to meet his mother.
Guilty or Fearful?
Hamlet and the audience of ''The Mousetrap'' may have been convinced of Claudius's guilt, but we, the audience of Hamlet, are less so. Shakespeare shows a flaw in Hamlet's plan. Claudius does stand up and appears to flee the room, but what is he reacting to? If he had jumped up the moment he saw the murder take place in the dumb-show, we might be more convinced of a guilty reaction. But he didn't rise until the spoken part of the show, when it was made clear that the murderer was the Duke's nephew. Shakespeare leaves us wondering, did Claudius feel guilty for performing a similar murder, or did he run in fear of a similar fate from his own unstable nephew?
Lesson Summary
Metadrama is a play which features another play as a part of the plot. In a famous moment of metadrama, Shakespeare created a play-within-a-play for Hamlet to use as a device to catch his believed-murderous uncle in a moment of weakness brought about by a pricked conscience. Hamlet called his play ''The Mousetrap,'' and recruited a troupe of actors to play a dramatization of the story of the king's murder told to him by the Ghost in Act I. The entire span of the plot plays out first in silence, called a dumb-show, so Hamlet could watch his uncle's reaction. Claudius does not react here, though. However, after watching the Duke be murdered by his nephew, Claudius jumps up and runs out of the room. Was he reacting to his own guilty conscience, or to watching a play about a nephew murdering his uncle?
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Play-Within-A-Play in Hamlet | Synopsis & Significance
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