POLONIUS      O, I am slain!

GERTRUDE                            O me, what hast thou done?

HAMLET         Nay, I know not. Is it the King?

GERTRUDE    O, what a rash and bloody deed is this!

HAMLET         A bloody deed – almost as bad, good mother,

As kill a king and marry with his brother.

GERTRUDE    As kill a king?

HAMLET         Ay, lady, it was my word.      (3.4.23-28)

The pathetic, hackneyed interjection, as Polonius—still unseen—is stabbed and, it seems, dies on the spot. O, I am slain!It can get a laugh, but the point is the shock; Gertrude’s utterly aghast, this whole meeting is going badly enough as it is, perhaps predictably so, but this, this is completely off the scale. O me, what hast thou done? So crazy, so violent. She knows that it’s Polonius—the crown’s right hand, Ophelia’s father, an old and loyal servant, perhaps friend—on the other side of the arras, but Hamlet doesn’t, he’s confused, taken aback, nay, I know not, I don’t KNOW what I’ve just done, that’s the point. A faint thrilling hope, though: is it the King? Have I actually managed to do the thing that I just failed to do, without even knowing I was doing it? But he doesn’t go to look, it seems (although Polonius could have slumped forward into the room by now), and Gertrude’s not telling, she’s too shocked, appalled by this latest awful thing: o, what a rash and bloody deed is this! the violence, the impetuousness, you FOOL, this will really make things impossible for you now. I can’t protect you, is perhaps the implication. But Hamlet’s getting a sort-of grip on himself, returning to his purpose—and he’s not looking to see who it is either, he’s just pushing back at his mother, again, by picking up on her own words, turning them against her: a bloody deed, yes, OK, almost as bad, good mother (jab jab jab), as kill a king and marry with his brother. There, said it. It’s finally out in the open. Gertrude’s aghast, things are going from (very) bad to (unimaginably) worse. As kill a king? Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting? Not going there, not going to think about it. Ay, lady, it was my word. You heard me.