Thus far Hamlet has made no direct charge of the transfer of Ophelia's affections from him to another, but he seems to do this at their next interview, which takes place at the time of the play of 'Gonzago's Murder.' There is a bitterness towards her in his speech, a brutality in his obscene allusions, and a degree of heartlessness in it all, which can be excused--if indeed it be deemed excusable--only on the theory that he believes her to have herself become a heartless, wicked woman. When he is commenting on the facts of the play, and Ophelia suggests that he is "as good as a chorus," he snarlingly replies: "I could interpret between you and your love if I could see the puppets dallying." Everything which Hamlet says is pregnant with meaning, and Ophelia evidently regards this as a keen thrust at her, which it plainly is. Both of them know that they two are no longer lovers, and each of them therefore understands that the allusion is to some other man with whom she treads "the primrose path of dalliance." As usual Ophelia does not deny the charge, and it would not be singular if Hamlet were to accept her silence as an admission of its truth. To whom she thinks that he refers does not appear, but there can be no doubt that his conviction is that her new lover is the King.
The next incident indicating this conviction is the interview in which Polonius undertakes with much complacency to "board" the Prince:
"Pol. Do you know me, my lord?
"Ham. Excellent well; you are a fishmonger.
"Pol. Not I, my lord.
"Ham. Then I would you were so honest a man.
"Pol. Honest, my lord?
"Ham. Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.
"Pol. That's very true, my lord.
"Ham. For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a god kissing carrion--Have you a daughter?