Hamlet laments that the Player can conjure up so much emotion when he performs even without reason, but that he himself, even with a "motive and the cue for passion," he could summon the physical emotion. Hamlet says that if the Player had Hamlet's motive, "He would drown the stage with tears" and evoke great emotion from the audience.

Hamlet accuses himself of not having the player's passion. He feels that he is guilty of not loving his father strongly enough, and not hating Claudius strongly enough. Hamlet also tries to work himself up into a state of passion by asking himself rhetorical questions. He imagines someone insulting him

He recognizes his weakness, calling himself "pigeon-liver'd," because if he wasn't he would have exacted revenge upon Claudius. He reaffirms his hatred of Claudius, cursing him and calling him a "remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain."

After Hamlet curses Claudius, he realizes that he is not actually doing anything, and realizes that he is just cursing and doing nothing, and tells himself to stop and reevaluate the situation. Hamlet then conjures a plot to have the players simulate the murder of his father on stage. He explains that guilty people can be so affected by the scene of a play that they reveal the source of their guilt. Therefore, if Hamlet's uncle reacts to the murder scene in the play, then Hamlet can be sure of his uncle's guilt. He can also find out if the ghost is misleading him- he doesn't want to kill an innocent man because if he did, he would be damned and go to hell. Hamlet decides that he will know if his revenge is justified after he witnesses his uncle's reaction to the play.