What idea does Hamlet get from having the players in the court?

Answer 1

It is, perhaps less of a theory of acting as a set of observations on the practice of the art. However at its root is the notion that the purpose of playing is "to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature." Actors who do not seem natural in their acting are not doing it right, and the most grievous fault that Hamlet finds in actors is overdoing it, ("overdone" is a word he uses three times in the speech) bellowing and strutting, sawing the air with their hands and generally out-Heroding Herod. He also warns about the opposite fault, being too tame, but he is less concerned with that problem.

Answer 2

Hamlet constructs a play for the actors that mirrors the death of his father, king hamlet by his uncle, and now current king, claudius (pouring poison in his ear while he slept). Hamlet is still deliberating about avenging his father's death, and wants to see if his uncle will react to seeing the murder plot carried out before his own eyes in the form of a play.

Answer 3

"I'll have these players play something like the death of my father; I'll tent him to the quick; if he but blench, I know my course."