The passage under study is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet which was first performed in 1601 at the Globe Theatre.
The King, that is Hamlet's father, is dead and his uncle Claudius has already married his mother, the Queen Gertrude. Prince Hamlet then meets the ghost of late Hamlet who demands him to exact revenge from Claudius as he has poisoned him. Next, Claudius and Polonius his adviser apply themselves to trying to find the reason why Hamlet has become so upset notably confronting him with Ophelia who has rejected his love following her father Polonius's command. As for the Prince, he is determined to feign madness to gain time and prove Claudius's guilt. The coming of a band of players allows him to set a trap for the latter as he requests a play dealing with similar deeds to Claudius's to be performed. The excerpt under study is extracted from the middle of that performance.
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