You are here

All Site ContentHamletAct 3Scene 2
Back to the Play
"frame," start," and "tame"
Wordplay
Act 3,
Scene 2
Lines 283-290

An explanation of wordplay in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s Hamlet.

Hamlet

Your wisdom should show itself more richer to
signify this to his doctor; for, for me to put him to his
purgation would perhaps plunge him into far more choler.    

Guildenstern

Good my lord, put your discourse into some
frame, and start not so wildly from my affair.

Hamlet   

I am tame, sir. Pronounce.    

Guildenstern

The queen, your mother, in most great
affliction of spirit, has sent me to you.

In this exchange, Shakespeare has Guildenstern and Hamlet engage in some wordplay by utilizing words from horse training. A restive horse is put into a frame (stall) so it won’t start (jump wildly), but will become tame.