ct I when he is reluctant to commit suicide for fear of the resulting after life: "O that this too too sullied flesh would melt/. . .Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd/ His canon 'gainst self-slaughter" (I.II.129-132). These religious beliefs of Hamlet will prove to play a big part in his revenge scheme, and will stall it.
             The next part of Hamlet's plot for revenge involves his general temperament. He decides to act as if mad in order to speak and act freely. Any abnormal behavior can be passed off as his temporary insanity. This way he can say and do things to get certain reactions or information from people in order to help him plot his revenge. He does ask however, that his acquaintances do not say anything about his crazy state being false: "How strange or odd some'er I bear myself/As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/To put an antic disposition/That you, at such time seeing me, never shall/Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase" (I.V.179-183). This allows him to further his revenge.
             Later in the play in Act 3, Hamlet has an unpleasant encounter with his former love, Ophelia. During this heated discussion Hamlet learns that she now has sour feelings toward him and gives him back his gifts. He snaps and unleashes all the built up anger and emotion and bitterness that he has been recently feeling. But he also says something that is intended for Claudius to hear. It is a threat that will play into his ply for revenge. Hamlet proclaims that of "those that are married already-all but one-shall live" (III.I.150). This overt threat directed toward Claudius is indeed overheard and begins to worry Claudius as planned. Claudius decides to take action to protect himself. He no longer believes that Hamlet is mad with love: "Love? His affections do not that way tend/Nor what he spake, though it lack'd form a little/...There's something in his soul/O...