Good evening and welcome once again to brush up your Shakespeare where we make Shakespeare fun and easy the way it was always meant to be.

This is episode 13 and today we will be covering Hamlet Act 3, scene 2.

This is the scene we've all been waiting for. Everything has been building up to this scene,

where the troop of players who have arrived at the castle will put on the play before the king and queen of Denmark.

And with a little help from Hamlet, this play will be done in such a way as to portray the very manner in which the ghost of Hamlet's father told Hamlet he was murdered while sleeping by his brother Claudius coming along and pouring

poison in his ear.

Which raises the question of how Hamlet's father knew who killed him or how, given that he was asleep at the time.

But maybe ghosts have ways of finding things out, not available to the mortal man.

Regardless, the line for today is, the lady doth protest too much,

me thinks. It is a line said by Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, in the middle of the player's performance, the play within

the play.

Say it with me again, the Lady doth protest too much, me thinks.

For some reason, this line is frequently

misquoted by putting the methinks at the beginning of the quote, as in,

methinks the lady doth protest too much, but that's not how it's written the me thinks goes at the end of the quote not at the beginning say it with me the third time the correct way with the mthinks at the end, the lady doff protests too much, methinks.

As we begin at three, scene two, we find Hamlet giving acting lessons to the players.

The very first line is one you have no doubt heard.

Hamlet says, speak the speech I pray you as I pronounced it to you trippingly on the tongue.

Hamlet goes on at some length in his acting lesson and we are surprised when he begins

giving directions that sound remarkably modern. And here we have the opening and title slide for the presentation, Hamlet Act 3,

scene 2, and the line is there, the lady doth protest too much, me thinks, and here we go into

these modern sounding directions he gives to the actors.

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