Hamlet, Gertrude, and Old Hamlet!?

Question:What actions and words suggest that Hamlet in Act 3, scene 4, is behaving like "passion's slave"? This scene is where Polonious is killed by Hamlet. Hamlet also starts giving his mother advice about Claudius and tells her what he's done (killed Old Hamlet). The ghost of Old Hamlet also appears in this scene. But it's so confusing! I don't know how to answer this question! Can someone help? Thanks =]]

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: What actions and words suggest that Hamlet in Act 3, scene 4, is behaving like "passion's slave"? This scene is where Polonious is killed by Hamlet. Hamlet also starts giving his mother advice about Claudius and tells her what he's done (killed Old Hamlet). The ghost of Old Hamlet also appears in this scene. But it's so confusing! I don't know how to answer this question! Can someone help? Thanks =]]

If you think about Hamlet being a slave to passion (or in other words, absolutely controlled by his emotions), you could say that when he kills Polonius, he's "passion's slave". In his rage and blind hatred of Claudius, he's not thinking clearly, and when he enters his mother's chamber and hears someone else in the room, he automatically assumes it's Claudius and lashes out, killing Polonius. The re-emergence of the ghost of Hamlet, Sr. puts Hamlet Jr. back on track and reminds him what he's supposed to be doing (which is convincing Gertrude that Claudius is bad news). It's a little bit of a complex scene, but essentially Hamlet lashing out everywhere (isolating himself from Ophelia and killing Polonius for example) is him being a slave to his passions.