This is a dramatic scene that shows Hamlet at his highest emotional pitch. The scene opens ironically, however, as Polonius advises Gertrude to take a firm stand with Hamlet and tell him how much pressure his erratic behavior has put on her, forcing her to mediate between Hamlet and Claudius. Gertrude is to tell Hamlet that he needs to cut it out. As usual, Polonius is clueless: events have sped way past the point Polonius assumes they are at, and confronting Hamlet is exactly the wrong tack to take at this juncture. Gertrude makes it worse by greeting Hamlet with:
Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
Hamlet, knowing now that what the ghost told him about his uncle is true, has worked himself into a frenzy and is not likely to respond well to the idea that he has offended Claudius. Hamlet reacts angrily and says to Gertrude:
You go not till I set you up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
Shakespeare is doing here what he loves to do: playing on words. Hamlet speaks figuratively when he says Gertrude will see her "inmost part." He means he will show her her soul, but Gertrude takes the words literally (and it is very possible that Hamlet seizes hold of her in some way at this point, further frightening her). Gertrude might think he is going to slice her open to expose her inmost part. She cries out in fear that Hamlet will murder her, which causes the still clueless Polonius to cry out from behind the curtain as well. Irony piles upon irony: Gertrude's literalizing of Hamlet's words now does lead to a literal murder, for Hamlet, believing Claudius hides behind the arras, stabs Polonius to death. The miscues and miscommunications that have plagued Hamlet's relationship with both his mother and Polonius have now led to a tragic result.
The dramatic intensity of the scene continues as Hamlet, ever more frenzied, uses a piling up of contrasts to try to impress on his mother what she has done in marrying Claudius. For example, Hamlet contrasts the literal motion of her hands with what he plans to metaphorically do to her heart:
Leave wringing of your hands. Peace. Sit you down
And let me wring your heart.
Hamlet then contrasts his dead father to Claudius, calling his father godlike and his uncle like a "mildewed ear." He uses harsh language to confront his mother with the hypocrisy of what she has done in cynically marrying Claudius, describing her relationship with him in contrast to her innocent love for Hamlet's father as
the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed,
Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty
The alliteration or repeated use of "s" sounds at the beginning of words puts the emphasis on the words "sweat," "stewed," and "sty," which foregrounds the animalistic nature of Gertrude and Claudius's marriage.
These words pierce Gertrude's heart, forcing her to confess their truth, but if this level of intensity were not enough, the ghost again reappears to Hamlet. This time, however, Shakespeare complicates the ghost's appearance, for only Hamlet sees it. Gertrude sees Hamlet's hair stand on end, but she doesn't see the ghost, leading the audience to conclude that Hamlet is possibly hallucinating it.
The entire scene has a fevered, gothic quality, beginning with a murder and culminating with a ghost. Shakespeare keeps the emotional pitch at the highest of intensity, in this way showing how deeply distressed Hamlet is.
The language he uses more emotional then it is exposition. Hamlet in the this is being question by his mother Gertrude about his insults to the King (really his uncle not his father).
Hamlet responds emotionally because he questions any remorse for marrying his uncle and having no love for his father. Gertrude lashes out asking "Have you forgot me?" trying to remind Hamlet that he is her son and still a subject of the court.
The dramatic impact on the audience is strong, explosive and quick. Here is why: Hamlet berets his mother and argues with her. Hamlet forces her to see the blackness within her last Polonius reveals himself and Hamlet kills him thing he is the king.
This whole scene is like a volcano. In sense that the story up to this point has been building up tension, anger ,and emotion. This scene is one of many that has an eruption of built tension.
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