In this metaphor, Gertrude compares Hamlet’s hair standing up on end after he sees the ghost, to sleeping soldiers jumping up after an alarm sounds. She also plays on the word “bedded” which describes both Hamlet’s hair lying flat, and the soldiers lying in their beds. Gertrude uses the word “excrement” to refer to Hamlet’s hair; but today we only use that word to refer to the material expelled during a bowel movement. In Shakespeare’s day, excrement referred to what we would call excrescences – outgrowths from the body such as hair and fingernails (or horns and hoofs on animals).