"Still better, and worse"WordplayAct 3,Scene 2Lines 230-232An explanation of the phrase “better, and worse” in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet. Ophelia You are keen, my lord, you are keen. Hamlet It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge. Ophelia Still better, and worse. Shakespeare employs wordplay here, giving this line two meanings: A wife takes her husband for “better or worse”. Ophelia mistakes Hamlet for her husband.