HAMLET Nay, do not think I flatter;
For what advancement may I hope from thee,
That no revenue hast but thy good spirits
To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flatter’d?
No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp,
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
Where thrift may follow fawning. Dost thou hear?
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice
And could of men distinguish, her election
Hath seal’d thee for herself. For thou hast been
As one, in suff’ring all, that suffers nothing;
A man that Fortune’s buffets and rewards
Hast ta’en with equal thanks; and blest are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled
That they are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger
To sound what stop she please. Give me that man
That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him
In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart,                                                                         As I do thee. (3.2.59-79)

The person that Hamlet describes does not sell out, nor does he or she get carried away by their own uncontrolled emotions. The metaphor is that this person is in control of himself and is not “played” by circumstance, nor does she play others. (Compare to Polonius: “Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried…” (1.3.68-71).) Bear this in mind when Hamlet gives Guildenstern a recorder and asks him to play it.

HAMLET Ay, sir, but ‘while the grass grows’- the proverb is something musty.
[Enter the Players with recorders. ]
O, the recorders! Let me see one. To withdraw with you- why do
you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you would drive me into a toil?
GUILDENSTERN O my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly.
HAMLET I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this pipe?
GUILDENSTERN My lord, I cannot.
HAMLET I pray you.
GUILDENSTERN Believe me, I cannot.
HAMLET I do beseech you.
GUILDENSTERN. I know, no touch of it, my lord.
HAMLET It is as easy as lying. Govern these ventages with your fingers and thumbs, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these are the stops.
GUILDENSTERN But these cannot. I command to any utt’rance of harmony. I have not the skill.
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 play’d on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me. (3.2.374-402)

You are reading the whole scene, right? We hear in Hamlet’s voice a sort of scolding of Ophelia for spurning his love, then we have OPHELIA ‘Tis brief, my Lord. HAMLET As woman’s love (3.2.174-175) and we see Hamlet hits two birds with one stone.

The dialogue of the player king and queen is an extension of Hamlet being honest right out in the open. “That’s wormwood!” Hamlet is slamming everyone in this mousetrap.

ROSENCRANTZ My lord, you once did love me.

HAMLET And still do, by these pickers and stealers (363-364).

Hold up, Son: you want to sell me out and then blame me for it?

Hamlet ends the scene with “‘Tis now the very witching time of night…Now could I drink hot blood.” (419-431) He is ready to use a sharper edge on everyone.