I interpreted Hamlet as losing his temper because he has been feigning insanity and I think he continued to do so with Ophelia in this scene. Even if he would have made the choice not to act insane with Ophelia, I believe that he sensed Polonius’ presence and he definitely would have acted crazy for him. Polonius is, in general, an untrusting, sneaky, scheming character and I am sure that Hamlet knew this about him. Even if he did not actually see or hear Polonius, Hamlet would have been suspicious of his attendance due to a difference in Ophelia’s behavior.

Our scene starts after the end of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy when he makes the aside, “The fair Ophelia!” as she enters. “Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remembered”. He calls her a nymph, or a fairy, as if she is a light, magical being that intrigues him. He asks her to remember all of his sins in her prayers as if she is some

“Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” All human beings are sinners and any woman bearing children would be bearing sinners. I believe he is being sarcastic, using “thou” as the operative word, saying that she thinks she is so much better than any other woman. He goes on to talk about himself in quite negative terms. “I am myself indifferent honest”, or decent without effort, “but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me.” He is saying that he has done such terrible things that the world would be better off if he had never been born. He follows this with a speech of how terrible he could be if he had the thought, imagination, or time to realize his wicked intentions. I think that he might be talking about his sinful thoughts of murdering his uncle and also his thoughts of suicide.

Ophelia answers that he is at home and Hamlet’s response can support both interpretations of the question. If he is asking where the guardian of her virtue is, then the response of “Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool nowhere but in’s own house”, could be as if he is a fool for failing his duty to his daughter. Or, if you interpret the question as being literal, it could be a blatant insult directed to Polonius announcing his failure in hiding his presence in the room with them. Since I believe that Hamlet knows that he is there, I interpreted the latter.

When Ophelia attempts to return Hamlet’s letters, he denies them by saying, “No, not I. I never gave you aught”. He is saying that he never gave her anything and she goes on to explain how he had given her those letters and had spoke so sweetly as to make the gifts “more rich”, or more meaningful. Hamlet then laughs, maybe as an attempt to relieve the tension building between them and asks, “are you honest?” Hamlet is probably asking her if she is serious or telling the truth or he could be asking about her virtue. I think that here he is asking genuinely if she is telling the truth and then later in the scene uses its alternate meaning of virtue.

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