Hamlet’s mum

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Player King: ’Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here awhile.
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep.
Player Queen: Sleep rock thy brain,
And never come mischance between us twain!
Hamlet:[To Gertrude] Madam, how like you this play?
Gertrude: The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Hamlet: Oh, but she’ll keep her word.
Claudius: Have you heard the argument? Is there no offense in ’t?
Hamlet: No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest, no offense i’ th’ world.
Claudius: What do you call the play?
Hamlet: “The Mousetrap.”

— Hamlet, III, ii

“Hamlet’s mum”, or “Gertrude syndrome” appears in these pages to describe the ruddy countenance of one huffily denying something that on a plain inspection seems to be undeniably true, and that only turns out not to be through some self-serving, arbitrary or implausible contrivance, such as — well — the need for an “insurable interest”.

See also

• Potts opinion