A hit, a very palpable hit.

The line is spoken in William Shakespeare’s tragedy *Hamlet* during the court entertainment staged by traveling players. Hamlet has arranged for a play-within-the-play (“The Mousetrap”) to mirror the suspected murder of his father, hoping to observe King Claudius’s reaction and thereby test the Ghost’s accusation. As the performance begins to touch the incriminating point, Hamlet—watching Claudius closely—remarks that the play has scored “a very palpable hit,” i.e., it has landed its blow and is striking home. The moment is charged with suspense, as Hamlet’s private investigation turns into a public, theatrical trap.

“A hit, a very palpable hit” is Hamlet’s sardonic acknowledgment that the staged scene has effectively “hit” its target: Claudius’s conscience. The phrase plays on theatrical and physical senses of “hit”—a successful stroke in performance and a blow that can be felt. It underscores one of the play’s central ideas: drama can reveal truth by provoking involuntary reactions. Hamlet’s satisfaction is also uneasy, because the line marks a pivot from speculation to evidence, intensifying the moral and psychological stakes of revenge. The emphasis on “palpable” suggests proof that is tangible, not merely inferred.