Shakespeare is a lot of things, but he isn't usually subtle when it comes to a good old-fashioned public breakup. If you’ve ever sat through a production of Hamlet, you know the vibe shifts fast in Act 3, Scene 1. One minute, Prince Hamlet is contemplating the literal meaning of existence with his "To be or not to be" monologue, and the next, he’s absolutely shredding Ophelia’s soul. It’s the get thee to a nunnery scene, and honestly, it’s one of the most uncomfortable, debated, and frankly weird moments in Western literature.
Why does he do it? Is he actually mad? Is he just a jerk? Or does he know he’s being watched by the two old men hiding behind the curtains?
Most people think this scene is just about a guy being mean to his girlfriend. It’s not. It’s a turning point that seals the fate of every single person in the play. If Hamlet doesn’t go off the rails here, maybe Ophelia doesn’t end up in the river. Maybe the whole "everyone dies at the end" thing gets avoided. But Shakespeare didn't write a sitcom; he wrote a tragedy. And this scene is the engine that drives it off the cliff.
What’s actually happening in the get thee to a nunnery scene?
Let's set the stage. King Claudius and Polonius (Ophelia’s dad) are playing amateur spies. They want to know if Hamlet’s "madness" is caused by his unrequited love for Ophelia. They shove her into a hallway with a prayer book and tell her to look busy.
Hamlet walks in. He’s just finished talking about suicide. He sees her. For a second—just a tiny, fleeting second—he seems almost glad to see her. "Nymph, in thy orisons / Be all my sins remembered." It sounds sweet, right? Wrong.
It falls apart the moment Ophelia tries to return his old love letters. She’s following orders. She says, "Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind." That’s a scripted line if I’ve ever heard one, and Hamlet, who is arguably the smartest person in any room he enters, smells a rat.
Suddenly, the "get thee to a nunnery scene" turns into a verbal assault. He asks her, "Are you honest?" and "Are you fair?" He’s basically asking if she’s a virgin and if she’s a liar. It’s brutal. He tells her he never loved her. He tells her she shouldn't have believed him. Then comes the famous command: "Get thee to a nunnery."
The "Nunnery" Double Entendre
Here is the thing about Elizabethan English: it was filthy.
When Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery, modern audiences usually think he’s telling her to go become a nun to protect her virtue. That’s the surface level. But in the slang of the 1600s, "nunnery" was also a common word for a brothel.
Think about that for a second.
He’s either telling her she’s too pure for this world and needs to hide in a convent, or he’s calling her a sex worker. Or, because Hamlet loves a good pun, he’s doing both at the same time. He’s lashing out at her for being a puppet for her father while simultaneously mourning the fact that she’s caught in this corrupt mess of a court. It’s a layers-deep insult that makes the get thee to a nunnery scene feel like a slap in the face to anyone watching.
Did he know Polonius was watching?
This is the big question every director has to answer. In many versions, like the Kenneth Branagh film or the David Tennant production, Hamlet hears a noise. He sees the curtain twitch. He realizes Ophelia is the "bait" in a trap.
If he knows he’s being watched, the whole scene changes.
If he knows, his cruelty is a performance. He’s "acting" mad to throw off Claudius. When he asks, "Where’s your father?" and Ophelia lies and says, "At home, my lord," Hamlet loses it. He knows she’s lying. He knows Polonius is ten feet away behind a tapestry. That’s when the insults get personal. He starts screaming about how women paint their faces and "jig and amble." He’s not just yelling at Ophelia anymore; he’s yelling at his mother, at Polonius, and at the whole concept of deception.
But what if he doesn't know?
If Hamlet doesn’t know they’re being watched, then the get thee to a nunnery scene is just a portrait of a man in the middle of a total mental breakdown. He’s grieving his father, disgusted by his mother’s quick remarriage, and he’s taking it all out on the one person who actually cares about him. That makes it infinitely more tragic. It makes Hamlet the villain of his own love story.
The Impact on Ophelia
We talk a lot about Hamlet’s angst, but Ophelia is the one who actually pays the price here.
Before this scene, Ophelia is a dutiful daughter. After this scene, she’s a shell. She has just been told by the man she loves that he never loved her, that she should never have children ("Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?"), and that she’s a liar.
Scholarship on this is pretty clear: this is the moment Ophelia’s descent into madness begins. Shakespeare scholar Harold Bloom often noted that Ophelia has no "inner self" left after Hamlet and her father are done with her. She’s been used as a tool by everyone. When Hamlet leaves the stage after his final "To a nunnery, go," Ophelia’s soliloquy is heartbreaking. She laments the "noble mind" that is "here o'erthrown." She doesn't even realize yet that her dad is about to be stabbed through a curtain in the very next act.
Why this scene matters in 2026
You might wonder why we still care about a 400-year-old breakup. It’s because the get thee to a nunnery scene is the ultimate example of "gaslighting" before that word was a TikTok buzzword.
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Hamlet is gaslighting Ophelia. He’s making her doubt her own reality. He’s making her feel responsible for his madness. In a modern context, this scene is a case study in how trauma is passed down. Hamlet is traumatized by the ghost and the murder, so he traumatizes Ophelia. It’s a cycle.
Furthermore, the scene explores the "Madonna-Whore complex" long before Freud gave it a name. Hamlet can’t reconcile his love for Ophelia with his disgust for his mother’s sexuality. So, he forces Ophelia into one of two boxes: the nunnery or the brothel. There is no middle ground for her to just be a person.
Actionable Insights for Readers and Students
If you’re studying this or watching a play soon, don't just take the words at face value. Shakespeare is all about the subtext.
- Watch the eyes: When you see a production, watch when Hamlet first looks around. If he looks at the curtains before he starts yelling, he’s performing. If he doesn’t, he’s genuinely breaking down.
- Track the "Honest" count: Count how many times they use the word "honest." In the 1600s, this almost always meant "chaste" when applied to women. It’s a direct attack on Ophelia’s reputation.
- Look at the staging: Is there a physical distance between them? Sometimes directors have Hamlet get physically aggressive; other times, he stays across the room. This changes the power dynamic entirely.
- Read the room: Notice Claudius’s reaction afterward. He’s the only one who isn’t fooled. He says, "Love? His affections do not that way tend." Claudius realizes Hamlet isn't lovesick—he's dangerous.
The get thee to a nunnery scene isn't a romantic tragedy. It’s a demolition. It’s the moment the "sweet prince" dies and the vengeful killer is born. By the time the curtain falls on this scene, the tragedy is inevitable. There is no going back to the way things were.
To really understand the play, you have to sit with the discomfort of this scene. You have to see Hamlet at his worst to understand why his "tragic flaw" is so devastating. He doesn't just fail to kill the King; he succeeds in destroying everything else first.
Next time you’re analyzing this, focus on the power shift. Up until this point, Ophelia had a chance. After this, she’s a ghost long before she ever hits the water. Pay attention to the silence between the lines—that’s where the real story is.