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All Site ContentHamletAct 3Scene 4
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"bloat"
Wordplay
Act 3,
Scene 4
Lines 170-180

An explanation of the pun on “bloat” in Act 3, Scene 4 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Hamlet

Not this by no means that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed,    
Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse,
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses
Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out —
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know, 
For who that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? Who would do so?

In this pun, the word “bloat” can be read two ways:

  • Bloated, flabby, fat (not like a warrior king)
  • Inflated (as an erection)