One personality trait of Hamlet's in Shakespeare's Hamlet that doesn't receive as much attention as his more famous personality traits, is his distaste for others thinking they are smarter than he is.
Hamlet's verbally and physcially aggressive reactions usually result from others thinking they can manipulate or trick or play him. He is cruel to Ophelia because she is spying on him. The same, in part, is true of Hamlet's verbal denunciations of Polonius. And Ros. and Guil. are belittled for the same reason in the recorder scene. Hamlet makes the point that if Ros. and Guil. can't play a simple musical instrument (he speaks directly to one of the two, but they are interchangeable), they cannot expect to "play" him.
Hamlet is constantly underestimated in the play, by Claudius and all of his spies, as well as by his mother, Gertrude. And Hamlet doesn't like it. He is the most intelligent character in the play, and he does not like being messed with, if you will.
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