I Ain't No Organ

Hamlet:
"Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing
You make of me! You would play upon me, you
would seem to know my stops, you would pluck
out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me
from my lowest note to <the top of> my compass;
and there is much music, excellent voice, in this
little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood,
do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?
Call me what instrument you will, though you <can>
fret me, you cannot play upon me."
(3.2, 393-402)

It is not uncommon to have people in one's life who take advantage of one's kindness, ignorance, or gullibility.  People who are easy to take advantage of are targets of manipulation and deceit.  What is uncommon, however, is when kind, ignorant, and gullible people stand up and face their assailants. In this passage, Hamlet faces Guildenstern and Rosencrantz and tells them that he will no longer put up with being treated as a fool.

In this verbal attack, Hamlet compares himself to organ and compares his friends to people playing an organ.  Instead of blatantly telling his friends to stop taking advantage of him, he is clever in his approach.  He first accuses them of looking at him as 'how unworthy a thing' (3.2, 393).  Following this statement he sets in on a series of accusations all starting with the words 'you would' (3.2, 394, 395, 396).  These accusation begin simply with Hamlet saying  they would 'play upon me' (3.2, 394). He then gets more complex and says that they 'know all my stops' (3.2, 395) which means they know everything about him and what makes him tick.  Next, he says they would 'pluck out the heart of my mystery' (3.2, 395-396).  This means that they would destroy that mystery of his life.  Finally, he says they would 'sound me from my lowest note to <the top of> my compass' (3.2, 394-395).  This means that they would expose everything about him.  After all of these accusations, Hamlet switches the tone.

In the second half of his verbal attack on his friends, Hamlet basically compliments himself and then says that they cannot play him like an organ.  Hamlet says that he has an 'excellent voice' (3.2, 398), but that voice is not available to be played by them.  He tells them that they can call him whatever they want and perceive him as whatever instrument they want but then finishes with 'you cannot play upon me' (3.2, 402) thus asserting his power and confidence.

This passage reveals a lot about the nature of Hamlet's relationship with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz.  It shows that they have taken advantage of Hamlet in the past.  However, in this passage Hamlet asserts himself and tells them that he is not an organ to be played by anyone.