The
play–within- the play occurs in Hamlet Act II, Scene III.
This was a well – known dramatic device in Shakespeare’s days used to give an
interesting turn to the plot and to further the theme. Kyd in his famous Spanish
Tragedy had favoured such a device successfully and this might have
prompted Shakespeare to introduce it in Hamlet,
which had some elements of revenge tragedy in it. We should now see how this
play – scene affects the course of play to be able to measure its real
significance.
We
know already that Hamlet learnt of his father’s foul murder through poisoning
by Claudius and of his mission to avenge his father’s death as ordered by his
father’s Ghost. Hamlet , however , was still in doubt and procrastinated, when
the touring players arrived and the idea of testing the quiet of the king by a
play suddenly hit him. “The play is the thing”, he exclaims, “to catch the
conscience of the king”. By enacting the play, Hamlet thought he could clear
himself of double – that about the honesty of the Ghost and the other about the
occulted guilt of his uncle who was now the king (Claudius). This is the main
motive of the play – scene.
