Polonius and Reynaldo; Ophelia's report

Polonius's house. Polonius sends his servant Reynaldo to Paris with detailed instructions on how to spy on Laertes. The method, given at length, is characteristically devious — Reynaldo is to make casual acquaintances among Danes in Paris, drop hints of mild bad behavior in Laertes, and see what additional rumors are returned in confirmation. Reynaldo, patient, agrees and goes.

Ophelia rushes in white-faced. Hamlet, she says, has just visited her in her bedroom. He arrived "with his doublet all unbraced, no hat upon his head, his stockings fouled, ungartered, and down-gyved to his ankle, pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other." His look was "so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors." He took her by the wrist, held her at arm's length, stared into her face for a long moment, sighed deeply, let her go, and walked out — backwards, through the door, his eyes still on her until the very last.

Polonius believes he has found his explanation for Hamlet's strange behavior. The prince is mad — "the very ecstasy of love." Ophelia's recent rejection of his advances, Polonius concludes, has destroyed him. Polonius regrets having ordered the rejection but is now committed to the line; he gathers Ophelia and any letters Hamlet has sent her and hurries off to take the case to the king. The performance — half intentional, half not — that will dominate the rest of the play has begun.