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"Stewed"
Wordplay
Act 3,
Scene 4
Lines 80b-88a

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

Gertrude

                                              Oh, Hamlet speak no more! 
Thou turn'st mine very eyes into my soul,
And there I see such black and grainèd spots    
As will not leave their tinct.

Hamlet

                                                   Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed,
Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love    
Over the nasty sty ...

Gertrude

                                          Oh, speak to me no more! 
These words, like daggers, enter in my ears.
No more, sweet Hamlet.

Hamlet

Gertrude

[Enter Ghost.]

Hamlet   

[Seeing the Ghost]

Gertrude   

Hamlet

Ghost

[The ghost gestures toward Gertrude]

Hamlet   

Gertrude   

Hamlet

Gertrude   

Hamlet   

Gertrude

Hamlet   

Gertrude   

Hamlet

[Exit Ghost.]

Gertrude

Hamlet   

Gertrude

Hamlet

[Pointing to Polonius' body]
[Pointing to dead Polonius]

Gertrude

Hamlet

Gertrude

Hamlet

Gertrude

Hamlet 

[Pointing to Polonius' body] 
[Exit Hamlet, dragging Polonius.]

Hamlet’s pun means we can read this word in two ways:

  • Steeped in hot liquids
  • Like a prostitute (a “stew” is another term for a brothel)