On of the things that stood out to me in scene IV of Act III was how angry Hamlet was. We have never seen him so furious, and you would probably expect someone to be this mad when they were to the person who killed their father. Instead, he’s most angry with his mother. He says “words like daggers” to her, exclaiming that “would it were not so- you are my mother” and that she lives “in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed//Stew’d in corruption”. Hate is interlaced in each one of his lines, and every insult is thrown at her with such contempt that I’m wondering if he would speak similarly to his uncle, because I don’t think he could get much madder. Furthermore, it’s while he’s the most riled up that he doesn’t think too much and instead impulsively stabs his knife through the tapestry thinking his uncle was behind it. In his moment of fierce emotion, he’s let his heart, not his logical mind, to tell him what to do. It’s a crazy comparison to the moment in scene 3, where he’s about to kill Cornelius only to talk himself out of it, saying there’s a “more horrid hent” when he can kill him, instead of stabbing him when he’s confessing his sins. He was looking for an excuse (And this is a pretty poor excuse, in my opinion) not go through with it, and thought about it too much to do anything. In scene 4, he didn’t let himself think at all and instead just plunged the knife through the tapestry. If he was actually thinking, I believe he would have at least checked to make sure it was his uncle! I was a bit confused on why he seemed so nonchalant about killing Polonius though. For awhile, I thought I had read it wrong and Hamlet actually thought it was his father he had killed because he was so casual about it. Wouldn’t he feel a bit badly about killing Polonius (Who’s not exactly the most ethical, but hasn’t killed anyone) if he’s having such a hard time killing a guilty man? Sosha
In the end of act III, the dynamics between Hamlet and his mother and uncle further escalute and create an interesting contrast. I thought it was interesting when we got to see Claudius having a moment of regret and grief as he feels “a brothers murder” has “the primal eldest curse upon’t” (69). He prays “forgive me thy foul murder?” but this “cannot be, since [he is] still possess’d”. At first he seems to regret commiting such a horrible betrayal as murdering your own brother, which leads the reader on to believe that maybe since Claudius regrets it terribly then he maybe isn’t has villanious as we thought. But then he reveals that he feels it was worth it for “[his crown, [his] own ambition, and [his queen]” (70). This passage helped dive deeper into what Claudius is thinking and feeling because so far we haven’t really gotten to read into his mind up until this point. But also, this moment revealed alot about how truly angry Hamlet is with his uncle and how much he hates him. Hamlet sees his uncle praying when he was planning on killing him, at upon seeing this Hamlet decides not to kill his uncle as he is praying because, yes he would be dead, but his soul would be in heaven. Somewhat ironically, later on as he is angrily fighting with his mother for being “her husbands brothers wife”, he ends up killing Polonius and, like his uncle, does not seem to regret it as he says to Polonius as he dies, “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell” (73). I thought it was an interesting contrast to see Claudius contemplating his murder he commited and eventually coming to the conclusion that it was worth it, and then Hamlet, who hates Claudius for being a murderer, murders Polonius and does not express much regret and grief.
We saw so much character development in these two scenes, but both Hamlet and King Claudius still act in the same ways they did before. Not only is Claudius feeling remorseful for killing his brother now, but he has also completely stopped feeling any sympathy for Hamlet because he knows now that Hamlet is a threat. The line on page 70; “May one be pardoned and retain the offence?” reveals that Claudius still has the same values of wealth and power but he realizes now that the method he took to gain these things was perhaps not the best for him in the long run. It is also clear that unlike Hamlet, Claudius is more quick to get rid of a threat by the time of this scene he has already sent Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to get Hamlet out of Denmark because of what he knew. In contrast, as Hamlet enters while Claudius prays, it seems to show that Hamlet keeps finding excuses not to kill Claudius. Hamlet got the proof that Claudius killed his father during the play, and yet he still passed up opportunities to kill the king. Although he uses the excuse that the king would go to heaven if he killed him while he was praying, Hamlet seems hesitant to actually commit the murder. Hamlet is too concerned with the technicalities of the murder to actually commit it, though he proves himself capable of it in scene 4. Additionally in scene 4, it is important to note that Gertrude cannot see the ghost. In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare made it clear that the ghost could be seen by other people, but now only Hamlet can see it, which makes us question his sanity as he scares his mother. Hamlet tries his best to make his mother feel bad, she says “Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul and there I see such black and grained spots” (75). Hamlet seems to enjoy torturing his mother until the ghost enters. This scene is a turning point in the play because it is the first time the audience sees Hamlet kill someone recklessly and it is also the first time that he is the only one seeing the ghost.
Act III of the play was a very interesting read. Of course, there was the well-known "to be, or not to be" soliloquy, but also a general tone of mixed emotions throughout. The soliloquy itself expressed Hamlet’s feelings of sadness and depression, however, he quickly becomes enraged when he sees Ophelia. For a brief moment, Ophelia expresses to Hamlet: "my lord, I have remembrances of yours, that I have longed long to re-deliver; I pray you, now receive them," essentially flirting with Hamlet, and wanting to return his love. What comes next is, in my opinion, much more genius than the "to be, or not to be" soliloquy. Shakespeare both claims he loves and doesn’t love Ophelia. He both appreciates women for their beauty, and also curses them for being so beautiful. He cries that "the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness," and yells at Ophelia to take herself to a nunnery, as there isn’t any chance of Hamlet ever returning love or marrying her. After venting, Hamlet exits, and Ophelia notes sadly, "what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!" illustrating how even the kindest, most compassionate of people can turn bitter if constantly exposed to an atmosphere of hate and negativity. I think the way Shakespeare incorporated the 'play within a play' dynamic a bit later was also sheer genius. He speaks with Horatio about the information he recieved from the ghost regarding the murder of his father. Hamlet goes on to replicate Claudius' murder via the play, and instructs Horatio to keep a close eye on Claudius to see if he shows any signs of guilt. Sure enough, this works, and as the character who plays the king in the play has poison poured into his ear by the killer, Claudius stands up in the theatre, visibly panicked, calling for the house lights to be turned back on. My favorite line of this scene, though, is when Hamlet agrees to speak with his mother, and declares that "[he] will speak daggers to her, but use none." This is powerful, as it shows that despite the immense negativity, anger, and depression that Hamlet harbors, he channels it all into being candid, instead of losing control of himself and his emotions. Throughout the next two scenes, the tension between King Claudius and Hamlet is almost palpable. It is very clear that what was once Hamlet’s depression has now manifested itself as pure rage. Later on, Hamlet stabs his knife right through the tapestry, believing that King Claudius was there. In all, I think that as the play progressed, it paralleled something similar to modern-day thriller movies, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every vengeance-filled line.
Hamlet’s character is devolving more and more as the play goes on and as we reach the end of act three, it feels that he has almost reached the brink of insanity. To kill Polonius and then to dismiss as nothing more than a “intruding fool” makes me think that things can only go down from here. This would make sense as the play is a tragedy, but there was always this hope that Hamlet would be able to peacefully resolve the tension between him and his uncle. I was surprised during scene four when Gertrude said “As kill a king?” as if she had no idea that Claudius was involved in the murder of her former husband. As his wife, she should have been able to see some indication that Claudius was involved. It is also possible that Gertrude is totally aware of what went on between Hamlet’s father and Claudius but is acting surprised to make herself look innocent. The speed with which she moved from one marriage to another makes me think that it is the ladder of the two scenarios. A further suspicion of mine is that the ghost is not real and is only “the very coinage of your brain” as Gertrude points out. Since Gertrude can’t see the ghost, I wonder if it is just a part of Hamlet’s mind taking another shape and telling him what he wants to hear or what he already knows. Although the ghost does appear to several other people before Hamlet, I think this is just the artistic liberty that Shakespeare took while trying to express the power of the human imagination to his audience.
I wonder if Hamlet will ever succeed in murdering his uncle. He seems to talk himself out of it every time he has a good opportunity to do so. Yet he still seems determined to go through with it. At this point in the play, it seems clear that Hamlet is at a minimum, not thinking things through, and at most, completely insane. For example, when Hamlet stabs the tapestry, thinking it may be his uncle, he should’ve known it wasn’t Claudius, since he had just seen him praying in the other room. It seems that Hamlet isn’t really afraid of taking action generally, but he’s timid when it comes to taking action that will make a difference, or action that actually matters. Perhaps Hamlet keeps putting off the murder of his uncle because he is afraid of what will come after. After Claudius is dead, his father won’t come back from the dead. Killing Claudius won’t take back what his mother did. Right now, Hamlet seems to have a sense of purpose because of the plan to murder his uncle. Maybe he is afraid that after the deed is done, he won’t know what to do with the rest of his life. It is possible that killing his uncle will give him closure about his father’s passing. But this could also be something that Hamlet doesn’t want. If he receives closure on it, then it means that it is really real, and he has to move on with his life. Anna Vrountas
I had similar thoughts as Anna- will Hamlet kill his uncle?? I also think that he is afraid of what might come after- which shows a sense of morals. The constant back and forth Hamlet sees to be going through demonstrates the decision making process in terms of consequences. People don’t normally go around hurting others without thinking of what the consequences may be. Also, he seems to be contemplating the afterlife and what that means to him/ where his uncle will end up if he kills him. He really weighs all the options that will affect his decision, I feel like this play so far has been him doing this. The choice seems simple when he says “A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven”. Besides a possible sense of morals, he is also wondering if killing his uncle is worth it. Even if he kills him, he won’t kill his mother at well, so he wonders if he will ever really avenge the death of his father. Also, that quote reminded me of the movie The Princess Bride when the main character says “you kill my father, prepare to die” over and over. Another quote that stuck with me was when Hamlet says “words without thoughts never to heaven go”. I feel like there is a lot of interpretations to these words. I took it as him saying either he needs to really think before he does anything, or that he should just do it soon because the fact that he keeps thinking about killing his uncle won’t do anything about it. Cat
I was not expecting it to be revealed that Hamlet’s uncle actually killed Hamlet’s father. I thought that it was believed to be true, but that there would never be any certainty about it. I think it was important to see that the uncle had guilt about killing his brother, as seen in “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent”. I liked this closure of knowing that he actually killed Hamlet’s father because even if Hamlet is totally crazy, he is not crazy to believe that his father was murdered. However, I was surprised by Hamlet’s inaction. I thought that he would immediately kill his uncle upon the confirmation that he killed his dad. The fact that Hamlet didn’t kill his uncle, but instead got incredibly angry when speaking to his mother and killing Polonius made me wonder if Hamlet feels more hurt by his mother’s actions than by his uncle’s. I wonder if Hamlet was closer to his mother than to his father, and so he feels as though he must revenge his father out of duty, but is not very emotionally attached to that necessity. However, he clearly feels extremely betrayed by his mother, and I think that is what inspires so many of his emotions, and what is causing his extreme grief and anger. He says that marrying her brother in law “calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose/from the fair forehead of an innocent love/and sets a blister there, makes marriage vows/as false as dicers’ oaths”. He is repulsed by what his mother did, and is hurt by it too. I, like Sosha, was surprised with how little Hamlet seemed to care about accidentally killing Polonius. I wonder if he will end up killing his uncle, and if he does, when and how he will do it, and if he will feel any sort of resolution. I think his true anger lies with his mother, and not his uncle, so I don’t think killing his uncle will give him any closure.
Reading the third act of Hamlet, I find that the main character’s plight if that he is stuck between what he feels, what he knows, and what he doesn't know, more specifically his desires, his thoughtfulness and reason, and the unknowable universe around him. Hamlet as a character is frustrated and wants kill his uncle, avenge his father, and possibly kill himself in the process, ending his futile and anguished existence. However, he is prevented from taking action by his own uncertainty and thoughtfulness, specifically, he isn’t sure if getting himself killed in the process of regicide will grant him the restful sleep of death he had hoped for or will condemn him to hell or purgatory or some other feared and undesirable existence. He wants to embrace death for his cause but this idea of the “undiscovered country”, strikes fear into him like it does to everyone and makes him delay his action. Hamlet is constantly doing this, trying to square his emotions and desire for action with the greater forces of the universe, god and death and fortune (which is personified multiple times in the play), and frustrated about how vague and unknowable they are, about how they yield no answers to his plights and no resolution to his frustrations and at times run completely contrary to them and Hamlet’s sense of morality and reason. During Hamlet’s first soliloquy in the play he laments how he wishes “the Everlasting had not fix’d his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter.” meaning that he wishes that God had not deemed suicide a sin so that he could kill himself and end his own anguish. If God condemns suicide then what must he think of regicide, the crime Hamlet is being pushed to commit and the very same crime which he is killing his uncle for commiting. We see Hamlet at odds later in the play when he is about to kill Claudius but stops himself because he is praying and killing him then would “do this same villain send to heaven… take him in the purging of his soul when he is fit and season’d for his passage.” In Hamlet’s mind, killing Claudius while he was praying would send him to heaven, making any justice meaningless. So Hamlet, at odds with the vague rules of the world and heavens around him must again forstal his feelings and action. Hamlet wants to make decisive action in a world without decisive rules, where nothing is sure, and the universe operates by an unknowable set of rules. He don't know whether it is nobler to live and suffer in silence or to die tackling your problems because the rules are not set out, not by god, not by the universe, and not by the ghost of his father who pretty much justs gives him a task and leaves all of the moral and philosophical problems therein for his son to squirm over. Surprisingly enough the only other character who shares Hamlet’s anxiety and opposition to the uncertainty and contradictory nature of the universe is Claudius. In act three, scene three, Claudius confronts his own guilt over the murder of his brother and prays for forgiveness, thinking “But O, what form of prayer can serve my turn? ‘Forgive me my foul murder?’ That cannot be, since I am still possess’d of those effects for which I did the murder… what then? What rests? Try what repentance can. What can it not?” He wants forgiveness but doesn’t regret the murder, and his religion tells him nothing about what to do, of what will come of him. So he just prays, and hope's something happens. Like Hamlet his desires and emotions (his guilt and desire for mercy) are at odds with his thoughtfulness and reason (he doesn't want to give up the fruits of his crime) and with the unknowability of the universe (he doesn't know if he will get mercy if he is not fully repentant). Like Hamlet he is a soul trying to find the place of his anguish and frustration in a chaotic and uncertain world.
Act III is shows the different stages of Hamlet's madness, except it gets worse. Hamlet has become angrier, especially with Ophelia and the Queen. He still can't get over the fact that his mother would remarry her ex-husband's brother, "here is your husband: like a mildew'd ear, blasting his wholesome brother... Have you eyes? You cannot call it love" (74). It's interesting how Hamlet is so obsessed with the Queen because his father's ghost only told him to seek revenge--- not criticize his mother. And in a way, Hamlet has become more cold-blooded. The death of Polonius ended so quickly I almost missed it. Hamlet doesn't repent, instead he calls him a "wretched, rash, intruding fool" (73), as if it's Polonius's own fault for interrupting/spying on their conversation. Well, it is a wrong thing to spy on others, but Hamlet simply brushes off and continues his business with his mother. The entrance of the Ghost at then end kind of threw me off because the Queen can't see him. Maybe the Ghost is just a hallucination in his mind to remind him of his ultimate mission?
I found that Act III really went deeper into Hamlet’s madness. I also found it interesting that we got insight into how Claudius feels about the murder as he states, “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,/ And, like a man to double business bound, / I stand in pause where I shall first begin, / And both neglect” (70). I had suspicions about whether or not the uncle was actually the murderer or not so it was interesting to discover that he was. Also, the moment where Hamlet questions murdering Claudius right as he is stating his sins and he states, “To take [Claudius] in the purging of his soul / When he is fit and seasoned for his passage? / No. / Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent” (70), I thought that this was another moment that highlighted the turmoil and indecisiveness of Hamlet’s character. In scene IV, I had not expected, like Lizzy said, the death of Polonius; it happened very quickly and I had to read it over to make sure I didn’t misread it. I think that Hamlet’s reaction to his death and the fact that he calls Polonius a “wretched, rash, intruding fool” (73) shows more of his madness and apathy to any of his surroundings that interfere with his plan to murder his uncle. I also felt that the encounter Hamlet has with his mother is fascinating; I think that the vicious intensity he expresses is what makes her admit to her sins, but I am somewhat confused as to why she did not see the ghost when we know from the beginning that others have seen it too. I am interested to see how Hamlet will murder Claudius and how the inner questioning and turmoil of his character with affect the outcome of the play.
From the opening of Hamlet, the play was at high intensity and I was unsure of how much more intensity could even be given, however after reading Act III that is now clear. Not only has the intensity inevitably risen, the rhythm and musicality of the piece has also been elevated. For me, this was most notable in the monologues in Scenes III and IV of Act III. I noticed that at the end of the bigger monologues, there was rhyming, something that I hadn’t seen in the earlier half of the play. However the rhyming is not done at random parts (although I doubt Shakespeare has any “random parts” in the first place), it is done in lines imperative to the plot and inner workings of the character speaking. For example, the end of Act III, Scene III closes Hamlet’s monologue with: “And that his soul may be damn’d and black/ as hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays./ This physic but prolongs thy sickly days.” Followed by the King saying, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below./ Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” In this lines, Hamlet is condemning Claudius’ soul to hell, and saying that the only reason he didn’t kill his uncle right then and there was because he was praying, but the prayers were only prolonging Claudius’ days of being a sinner on Earth. In Claudius’ lines, he actually seems genuinely remorseful for what he has done to the Hamlet’s father. He is saying that his words are being sent to God in Heaven, however his thoughts are still stuck in his head, but because he has not been able to allow these thoughts out of his mind and truly admit his faults to himself and/or others, his words will not reach God and he will not be forgiven for his sins. I also took note of the significance in one of Rosencratz’s speeches in Act III, Scene III. He says, “The single and peculiar life is bound/ With all the strength and armour of the mind/ To keep itself from noyance, but much more/ That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests/ The lives of many.” To me this spoke to the important symbol a king or leader is to their nation. Rosencratz is saying that people are innately designed to protect themselves from harm, however those who are in positions of power (e.g. Hamlet, Hamlet’s father, the Queen, and King Claudius) have to be aware that their attitude and shielding of their minds directly affects those who look up to and respect them. I also am looking forward to seeing what decisions Hamlet makes, or fails to make, in the next act!
These scenes of the play were shocking to say the least. I would have never guessed that Polonius would have fallen victim to Hamlet's madness and what surprised me the most was that Hamlet didn't even seem sorry he killed him and dismissed Polonius as an “ignorant fool”. His discussion with his mother also didn't go as I had predicted. Her compliance at the end of the conversation to keep Hamlets crazy behavior to herself went against her previous characterization throughout the novel. She has always taken the side of Claudius and to see her go against what he would want was interesting to see, although who knows if she will keep her word or not. Finally Claudius's behavior was also not expected especially when he admitted to his brothers murder and expressed signs of guilt, “O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't, A brother's murder. “ I was surprised to see such a level of emotion from Claudius, especially since he has been previously reserved and hasn't had any previous soliloquies in the novel. Overall I feel like these scenes were huge in character and plot development and definitely the most interesting thus far. I would love to discuss Gertrude’s loyalty as a class and see what we think she will do.
I believe that the main question of Act III is “will Hamlet ever kill his uncle?”. I think that this question is one that Hamlet has toiled with since he first spoke with his father’s ghost. It seems that every time that he has had a chance to do so, he has chosen against it. This makes me question Hamlet’s true morals and if he will be able to actually do the unthinkable, commit murder. Initially, after the play, I thought that Hamlet would not hesitate at all to kill his uncle. Setting up the play showed that Hamlet was not afraid to let his uncle know that he knew the truth. I took this play as a sense of urgency in Hamlet’s plans, but then after the play I began to question his plans and if there really was a sense of urgency. Hamlet’s contrast flip-flop between killing his uncle and not directly relates to his “to be or not to be” speech. Hamlet’s life is in a constant state of limbo and he seems to be pondering right and wrong and what life is and what it isn't. Hamlet’s uncle finally takes some responsibility for his actions when he says “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent”. I wonder if this affected the way Hamlet felt about his plan to kill him, I imagine that it would but that it would not be enough to deter him from his plan. Something that I have been considering throughout the whole play, like Mr. Pellerin mentioned in class, is what Hamlet’s father was really like. The way that Hamlet describes his in “Great” but I imagine that that was in the context of his rule as King. I wonder how he was as a father to Hamlet and think that maybe this has something to do with Hamlet’s indecisiveness about killing his uncle. Colleen
By the end of Act III, if there seems to be a theme, it is uncertainty. While the audience is reading Hamlet, it feels like they are unpeeling an onion due to the many layers. Hamlet’s words seem to have many layers and a greater depth, since the reader is aware there is always something unspoken, something Hamlet himself is not aware of. The reader is always unsure as to what is going to happen next due to his indecisiveness. His uncertainty to live or kill himself, uncertainty to kill his uncle or not to kill his uncle, uncertainty in the reader whether he is genuinely mad or not are just few of many. The prime example of this in Act III is when Hamlet kills Polonius for being a “intruding fool”, highlighting his failure in matching his thoughts to his actions. He hates Claudius for killing his father, but he continues to do the same. He was able to kill Polonius without any regret or remorse, while he cannot get himself to kill his guilty uncle.
When the Hamlet discovers that he was correct and that his uncle did kill his father, I thought that was going to be the tipping point and be the factor that finalizes his decision in killing his uncle. However, he doesn’t and I don’t even know if I could say that I was shocked! Hamlet decides to not kill Claudius because Claudius was praying mournfully, so he does not want him go to heaven saying “A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven”. It makes the reader question again whether it is really Claudius he is upset about, or his mother. This is proven when his anger seems to have reached his boiling point, and he angrily tells his mother that marrying her brother in law “calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose/from the fair forehead of an innocent love/and sets a blister there, makes marriage vows/as false as dicers’ oaths”. He is disgusted and betrayed by his mother. It was a huge moment when his mother says that he has offended his father, Claudius, in which he responds that she has offended his father, King Hamlet, by marrying his brother. His mother’s mourning makes the reader understand Hamlet’s intentions, since doubt now arises that maybe she was involved in the murder or knew something about it. This thought continues to stir when the mother is unable to see the ghost, a ghost that at the beginning of the play is able to be seen by people.
Hamlet’s uncertainty is further shown when he questions whether he wants to live or not, something that stems from his preconceived beliefs of his father. This is shown when he stabs his knife through the tapestry, in hopes of his uncle being behind it. This moment shows that he is caught up in his strong emotions, and his logical mind are blocked. When he compares his father’s death to Jules César’s death and the consequential fall of Rome, it leads he him to believe if someone as great as his father was easily forgotten by everyone, what's the point for him. This theme continues when he questions his mother for why she married his uncle since he is inferior to his father, it makes the reader question why he believes this. He seems just like a little boy that believes his dad is the best person in the world, while he really didn’t know him.
The theme of uncertainty is also depicted in Claudius’ indefinite guilt of killing his brother. In this act for the first time in the play, the reader is able to gain insight on his thoughts. At first he is shown repenting stating his “stronger guilt defeats my strong intent”. However, he ultimately feels it was worth it and is disinclined to give up what he has gained from killing his brother, “[his crown, [his] own ambition, and [his queen]”.
“Now might I do it pat, now he is praying, And now I'll do 't. And so he goes to heaven, And so am I revenged. That would be scanned:A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven.” I’m getting a little tired of Hamlet talking himself out of killing Claudius, the longer he puts it off the more insane he becomes and the more he stretches his rationale for not killing him. Does it really matter if he sends his uncle to heaven? It’s not like he’ll have to deal with it after. I think Hamlet’s revenge is morphing into something that is more about causing Claudius suffering not just ending his life. The irony is that while Hamlet is not killing Claudius because he is praying, Claudius is attempting to “pray away” his sin of killing king hamlet. “O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't, A brother's murder.” He’s acknowledging that by murdering King Hamlet, he has brought upon himself the"primal" and "eldest" curse so he knows he's going to go to hell no matter when or where he’s killed (basically the opposite of Hamlets justification for not killing him)
I knew that Hamlet was going to be a play with lots of death and revenge, however the death of Polonius was a surprise to me. The Polonius’s death seemed abrupt to me at first, however I realized that it is the first hint to the audience that Hamlet has truly begun to lose control over his act. Claudius’s confession was interesting because this was the first time we got to see what Claudius thought of the murder. It has also now been confirmed that Claudius did murder King Hamlet because until this scene it was only King Hamlet’s ghost that claimed he was murdered. In this act, Hamlet has been straightforward with his mother, claiming that she is responsible for “As kill a king and marry with his brother”. Hamlet speaks informally with Queen Gertrude saying that he will “wring [her] heart” out. Hamlet has always alluded to the betrayal his mother has done, but he never directly confronted her, which suggests Hamlet’s insanity. Before he kept his emotions hidden, however now he is unable to feel remorse for the accidental death of Polonius. Instead he continues to warn his mother that there is more to come. Hamlet is now willing to openly accuse the queen and the king, regardless of consequences. He no longer cares about the afterlife or later penalties but is set to get revenge on those who ultimately killed and betrayed his father. The play so far is very exciting and has really picked up pace in the last few scenes. I am excited to see what Hamlet will do next. Kaby
I liked the second Act III a lot better because it actually incorporated some action into its plot and featured characters directly plotting against each other. Although some of the logic- particularly Polonius’- was difficult to follow, I found that the play assumed a more smooth flow after Shakespeare began to build the suspense with Polonius offer to go spy on Hamlet and his mother “behind the arras” in “his mother’s closet.” As readers, it becomes evident that something big is about to happen after such a move and that knowledge helped me be a lot more engaged with the text from that point onwards. Shakespeare then further builds upon the rising action by having Hamlet directly accuse Claudius of having “killed a king and married his [wife]” and then having him directly kill Polonius. I was particularly taken aback by Polonius’ death this early in the play as I had assumed him to stay around until at least the last act as most main characters typically do. However, do appreciate Shakespeare mixing it up and feel that it sets up the climax nicely.
After reading the end of act III, I am left with many questions. In this section, Hamlet seems to have decided on his plan of action. I thought Hamlet was going to kill his uncle right away, but I was surprised how Hamlet waited. After the play, he knows that Claudius is guilty, and tries to determine his next move. However Hamlet is still unsure of what really happened. He says “how his audit stands, who knows, save heaven?”. He is still waiting for some “sign” to justify what he wants to do. Throughout the play, I’ve noticed that Hamlet often struggles with ethical and philosophical questions, which is holding him back from killing Claudius. When reading, I thought Hamlet was more mad at his own mother then Claudius, yet so far he has not mentioned any plans with her. I feel as though hamlet is more insane in this part of the work than before. However, I also think that not all of his thoughts and feelings are being shown. When Hamlet murdered Polonius, I was shocked at first, but I was also expecting something crazy because he had been acting more and more erratic. It seems that he is blinded by his rage and makes a very quick decision in a flash. It also seems that Hamlet shows remorse when he sees Polonius after stabbing him. He says “Heaven hath pleased it so / To punish me with this, and this with me”. I thought if anyone, Hamlet would have hurt Claudius by the end of the act. Him killing Polonius shows that Hamlet has more trouble and struggle to come, both with society and with himself.
Of everything that happened in Act III, the one thing that keeps coming up in my head is how tiring it is to hear about Hamlet's plots and big schemes but lack of follow-through. Polonius' death was a huge shock to me and the fact that it was so quick and mindless confused me a lot because of how unfitting of Hamlet's character it was. It definitely seemed like Hamlet was trying to prove to himself that he actually could follow through with something but the fact that it was so impulsive further showed that he really had gone off the rails at that point. With that murder on his hands and the fact that he's gone crazy, I don't understand why he's still holding back from killing King Claudius, hell even just killing his mother because of how angry he is with her. His line saying "And so he goes to heaven, And so am I revenged. That would be scanned:A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven," just frustrates me because nothing is making sense anymore and I truly believe Hamlet has now lost all sense of direction regarding who he wants to kill and if there's anyone at all. What he did to Polonius was irrational and I don't really see it as him being himself because that's not the Hamlet we've gotten to know. But all that begs the question, is Hamlet even at all the same as he was before? It feels like with Hamlet we're going in circles and he's spiraling out but there's nothing coming out of it except further confusion and disappointment.
I thought that Act III was very interesting. It was surprising to see that after all that happened, Hamlet still didn’t end up killing his uncle. I was also surprised at his resoning behind it. I feel like since Hamlet has seen the ghost of his death father, he would think that going to heaven isn’t exactly where his uncle would be going. Just because he was praying doesn’t necessarlily mean that he is a perfect human. “Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven.” (74-79). I also think that this scene it is a little bit of a parallel to how Hamlet’s father died. Claudius killed the king before he was able to give his last pentance/pray again, so Claudius killed the king before he was able to be forgiven for all of his sins, and therefore not be able to go to heaven. Hamlet decided to wait to kill him so that he cannot reach heaven. I might be very wrong in this, but I think its a cool thing to think about. In scene iv, I think the audience gets to see into how Hamlet really feels about what his mother did. We know that he is angry at her for marrying his uncle so quickly after his father’s death, but we never really get to see the rage and anger that he feels other than at the play within a play. And even then that anger was directed towards Claudius. I enjoyed seeing Hamlets true feelings towards his mother in this scene. I think that a particularly important line was “ G: “Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.” H: “ Mother, you have my father much offended.” (9-10), because it’s the moment that Hamlet cracks and starts to pour out his feelings of what happened. While Queen Gertrude means Claudius by saying your father, Hamlet never considers him a father and brings up the point that really nothing is more offensive to his dead father than for his wife to marry his own brother. I think that this brings out into the open how hurt Hamlet is by all of the events, and shows how he never really got time to morn his father because he was forced into a new family soon after.
It is evident that, as the play progresses, Hamlet is gradually falling into a state of insanity and irrationality. When confronting his mother about her immoral decision to marry Claudius almost immediately after her husband’s death, it is clear that, although he denies it, his facade of lunacy is becoming a reality. “Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge; You go not till I set you up a glass where you may see the inmost part of you.” He takes out all of his anger on his mother rather than focusing his hatred toward Claudius, who was the one who had murdered his father and seduced Gertrude. When Polonius cries out for help, Hamlet does not hesitate and stabs him through the curtain, thinking that it is actually his Uncle. Because Polonius is, to a certain extent, innocent, it would have made sense if Hamlet felt remorse for assuming that it was his Uncle. Instead, he reacts with a sense of disenchantment, evident when he exclaims, “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell,” and then proceeds to drag his body away. At this point of the play, Hamlet has lost his sense of reality. Retrospectively, Hamlet has just killed an innocent man, but through his eyes, he has killed off someone who could have foiled his plan to kill his Uncle; a righteous sleuth.
On of the things that stood out to me in scene IV of Act III was how angry Hamlet was. We have never seen him so furious, and you would probably expect someone to be this mad when they were to the person who killed their father. Instead, he’s most angry with his mother. He says “words like daggers” to her, exclaiming that “would it were not so- you are my mother” and that she lives “in the rank sweat of an enseamed bed//Stew’d in corruption”. Hate is interlaced in each one of his lines, and every insult is thrown at her with such contempt that I’m wondering if he would speak similarly to his uncle, because I don’t think he could get much madder. Furthermore, it’s while he’s the most riled up that he doesn’t think too much and instead impulsively stabs his knife through the tapestry thinking his uncle was behind it. In his moment of fierce emotion, he’s let his heart, not his logical mind, to tell him what to do. It’s a crazy comparison to the moment in scene 3, where he’s about to kill Cornelius only to talk himself out of it, saying there’s a “more horrid hent” when he can kill him, instead of stabbing him when he’s confessing his sins. He was looking for an excuse (And this is a pretty poor excuse, in my opinion) not go through with it, and thought about it too much to do anything. In scene 4, he didn’t let himself think at all and instead just plunged the knife through the tapestry. If he was actually thinking, I believe he would have at least checked to make sure it was his uncle! I was a bit confused on why he seemed so nonchalant about killing Polonius though. For awhile, I thought I had read it wrong and Hamlet actually thought it was his father he had killed because he was so casual about it. Wouldn’t he feel a bit badly about killing Polonius (Who’s not exactly the most ethical, but hasn’t killed anyone) if he’s having such a hard time killing a guilty man? Sosha
ReplyDeleteIn the end of act III, the dynamics between Hamlet and his mother and uncle further escalute and create an interesting contrast. I thought it was interesting when we got to see Claudius having a moment of regret and grief as he feels “a brothers murder” has “the primal eldest curse upon’t” (69). He prays “forgive me thy foul murder?” but this “cannot be, since [he is] still possess’d”. At first he seems to regret commiting such a horrible betrayal as murdering your own brother, which leads the reader on to believe that maybe since Claudius regrets it terribly then he maybe isn’t has villanious as we thought. But then he reveals that he feels it was worth it for “[his crown, [his] own ambition, and [his queen]” (70). This passage helped dive deeper into what Claudius is thinking and feeling because so far we haven’t really gotten to read into his mind up until this point. But also, this moment revealed alot about how truly angry Hamlet is with his uncle and how much he hates him. Hamlet sees his uncle praying when he was planning on killing him, at upon seeing this Hamlet decides not to kill his uncle as he is praying because, yes he would be dead, but his soul would be in heaven. Somewhat ironically, later on as he is angrily fighting with his mother for being “her husbands brothers wife”, he ends up killing Polonius and, like his uncle, does not seem to regret it as he says to Polonius as he dies, “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell” (73). I thought it was an interesting contrast to see Claudius contemplating his murder he commited and eventually coming to the conclusion that it was worth it, and then Hamlet, who hates Claudius for being a murderer, murders Polonius and does not express much regret and grief.
ReplyDeleteWe saw so much character development in these two scenes, but both Hamlet and King Claudius still act in the same ways they did before. Not only is Claudius feeling remorseful for killing his brother now, but he has also completely stopped feeling any sympathy for Hamlet because he knows now that Hamlet is a threat. The line on page 70; “May one be pardoned and retain the offence?” reveals that Claudius still has the same values of wealth and power but he realizes now that the method he took to gain these things was perhaps not the best for him in the long run. It is also clear that unlike Hamlet, Claudius is more quick to get rid of a threat by the time of this scene he has already sent Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to get Hamlet out of Denmark because of what he knew. In contrast, as Hamlet enters while Claudius prays, it seems to show that Hamlet keeps finding excuses not to kill Claudius. Hamlet got the proof that Claudius killed his father during the play, and yet he still passed up opportunities to kill the king. Although he uses the excuse that the king would go to heaven if he killed him while he was praying, Hamlet seems hesitant to actually commit the murder. Hamlet is too concerned with the technicalities of the murder to actually commit it, though he proves himself capable of it in scene 4. Additionally in scene 4, it is important to note that Gertrude cannot see the ghost. In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare made it clear that the ghost could be seen by other people, but now only Hamlet can see it, which makes us question his sanity as he scares his mother. Hamlet tries his best to make his mother feel bad, she says “Thou turn’st mine eyes into my very soul and there I see such black and grained spots” (75). Hamlet seems to enjoy torturing his mother until the ghost enters. This scene is a turning point in the play because it is the first time the audience sees Hamlet kill someone recklessly and it is also the first time that he is the only one seeing the ghost.
ReplyDeleteAct III of the play was a very interesting read. Of course, there was the well-known "to be, or not to be" soliloquy, but also a general tone of mixed emotions throughout. The soliloquy itself expressed Hamlet’s feelings of sadness and depression, however, he quickly becomes enraged when he sees Ophelia. For a brief moment, Ophelia expresses to Hamlet: "my lord, I have remembrances of yours, that I have longed long to re-deliver; I pray you, now receive them," essentially flirting with Hamlet, and wanting to return his love. What comes next is, in my opinion, much more genius than the "to be, or not to be" soliloquy. Shakespeare both claims he loves and doesn’t love Ophelia. He both appreciates women for their beauty, and also curses them for being so beautiful. He cries that "the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness," and yells at Ophelia to take herself to a nunnery, as there isn’t any chance of Hamlet ever returning love or marrying her. After venting, Hamlet exits, and Ophelia notes sadly, "what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!" illustrating how even the kindest, most compassionate of people can turn bitter if constantly exposed to an atmosphere of hate and negativity. I think the way Shakespeare incorporated the 'play within a play' dynamic a bit later was also sheer genius. He speaks with Horatio about the information he recieved from the ghost regarding the murder of his father. Hamlet goes on to replicate Claudius' murder via the play, and instructs Horatio to keep a close eye on Claudius to see if he shows any signs of guilt. Sure enough, this works, and as the character who plays the king in the play has poison poured into his ear by the killer, Claudius stands up in the theatre, visibly panicked, calling for the house lights to be turned back on. My favorite line of this scene, though, is when Hamlet agrees to speak with his mother, and declares that "[he] will speak daggers to her, but use none." This is powerful, as it shows that despite the immense negativity, anger, and depression that Hamlet harbors, he channels it all into being candid, instead of losing control of himself and his emotions. Throughout the next two scenes, the tension between King Claudius and Hamlet is almost palpable. It is very clear that what was once Hamlet’s depression has now manifested itself as pure rage. Later on, Hamlet stabs his knife right through the tapestry, believing that King Claudius was there. In all, I think that as the play progressed, it paralleled something similar to modern-day thriller movies, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every vengeance-filled line.
ReplyDeleteHamlet’s character is devolving more and more as the play goes on and as we reach the end of act three, it feels that he has almost reached the brink of insanity. To kill Polonius and then to dismiss as nothing more than a “intruding fool” makes me think that things can only go down from here. This would make sense as the play is a tragedy, but there was always this hope that Hamlet would be able to peacefully resolve the tension between him and his uncle. I was surprised during scene four when Gertrude said “As kill a king?” as if she had no idea that Claudius was involved in the murder of her former husband. As his wife, she should have been able to see some indication that Claudius was involved. It is also possible that Gertrude is totally aware of what went on between Hamlet’s father and Claudius but is acting surprised to make herself look innocent. The speed with which she moved from one marriage to another makes me think that it is the ladder of the two scenarios. A further suspicion of mine is that the ghost is not real and is only “the very coinage of your brain” as Gertrude points out. Since Gertrude can’t see the ghost, I wonder if it is just a part of Hamlet’s mind taking another shape and telling him what he wants to hear or what he already knows. Although the ghost does appear to several other people before Hamlet, I think this is just the artistic liberty that Shakespeare took while trying to express the power of the human imagination to his audience.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Hamlet will ever succeed in murdering his uncle. He seems to talk himself out of it every time he has a good opportunity to do so. Yet he still seems determined to go through with it. At this point in the play, it seems clear that Hamlet is at a minimum, not thinking things through, and at most, completely insane. For example, when Hamlet stabs the tapestry, thinking it may be his uncle, he should’ve known it wasn’t Claudius, since he had just seen him praying in the other room. It seems that Hamlet isn’t really afraid of taking action generally, but he’s timid when it comes to taking action that will make a difference, or action that actually matters. Perhaps Hamlet keeps putting off the murder of his uncle because he is afraid of what will come after. After Claudius is dead, his father won’t come back from the dead. Killing Claudius won’t take back what his mother did. Right now, Hamlet seems to have a sense of purpose because of the plan to murder his uncle. Maybe he is afraid that after the deed is done, he won’t know what to do with the rest of his life. It is possible that killing his uncle will give him closure about his father’s passing. But this could also be something that Hamlet doesn’t want. If he receives closure on it, then it means that it is really real, and he has to move on with his life.
ReplyDeleteAnna Vrountas
I had similar thoughts as Anna- will Hamlet kill his uncle?? I also think that he is afraid of what might come after- which shows a sense of morals. The constant back and forth Hamlet sees to be going through demonstrates the decision making process in terms of consequences. People don’t normally go around hurting others without thinking of what the consequences may be. Also, he seems to be contemplating the afterlife and what that means to him/ where his uncle will end up if he kills him. He really weighs all the options that will affect his decision, I feel like this play so far has been him doing this. The choice seems simple when he says “A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven”. Besides a possible sense of morals, he is also wondering if killing his uncle is worth it. Even if he kills him, he won’t kill his mother at well, so he wonders if he will ever really avenge the death of his father. Also, that quote reminded me of the movie The Princess Bride when the main character says “you kill my father, prepare to die” over and over. Another quote that stuck with me was when Hamlet says “words without thoughts never to heaven go”. I feel like there is a lot of interpretations to these words. I took it as him saying either he needs to really think before he does anything, or that he should just do it soon because the fact that he keeps thinking about killing his uncle won’t do anything about it.
ReplyDeleteCat
I was not expecting it to be revealed that Hamlet’s uncle actually killed Hamlet’s father. I thought that it was believed to be true, but that there would never be any certainty about it. I think it was important to see that the uncle had guilt about killing his brother, as seen in “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent”. I liked this closure of knowing that he actually killed Hamlet’s father because even if Hamlet is totally crazy, he is not crazy to believe that his father was murdered. However, I was surprised by Hamlet’s inaction. I thought that he would immediately kill his uncle upon the confirmation that he killed his dad. The fact that Hamlet didn’t kill his uncle, but instead got incredibly angry when speaking to his mother and killing Polonius made me wonder if Hamlet feels more hurt by his mother’s actions than by his uncle’s. I wonder if Hamlet was closer to his mother than to his father, and so he feels as though he must revenge his father out of duty, but is not very emotionally attached to that necessity. However, he clearly feels extremely betrayed by his mother, and I think that is what inspires so many of his emotions, and what is causing his extreme grief and anger. He says that marrying her brother in law “calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose/from the fair forehead of an innocent love/and sets a blister there, makes marriage vows/as false as dicers’ oaths”. He is repulsed by what his mother did, and is hurt by it too. I, like Sosha, was surprised with how little Hamlet seemed to care about accidentally killing Polonius. I wonder if he will end up killing his uncle, and if he does, when and how he will do it, and if he will feel any sort of resolution. I think his true anger lies with his mother, and not his uncle, so I don’t think killing his uncle will give him any closure.
ReplyDeleteReading the third act of Hamlet, I find that the main character’s plight if that he is stuck between what he feels, what he knows, and what he doesn't know, more specifically his desires, his thoughtfulness and reason, and the unknowable universe around him. Hamlet as a character is frustrated and wants kill his uncle, avenge his father, and possibly kill himself in the process, ending his futile and anguished existence. However, he is prevented from taking action by his own uncertainty and thoughtfulness, specifically, he isn’t sure if getting himself killed in the process of regicide will grant him the restful sleep of death he had hoped for or will condemn him to hell or purgatory or some other feared and undesirable existence. He wants to embrace death for his cause but this idea of the “undiscovered country”, strikes fear into him like it does to everyone and makes him delay his action. Hamlet is constantly doing this, trying to square his emotions and desire for action with the greater forces of the universe, god and death and fortune (which is personified multiple times in the play), and frustrated about how vague and unknowable they are, about how they yield no answers to his plights and no resolution to his frustrations and at times run completely contrary to them and Hamlet’s sense of morality and reason. During Hamlet’s first soliloquy in the play he laments how he wishes “the Everlasting had not fix’d his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter.” meaning that he wishes that God had not deemed suicide a sin so that he could kill himself and end his own anguish. If God condemns suicide then what must he think of regicide, the crime Hamlet is being pushed to commit and the very same crime which he is killing his uncle for commiting. We see Hamlet at odds later in the play when he is about to kill Claudius but stops himself because he is praying and killing him then would “do this same villain send to heaven… take him in the purging of his soul when he is fit and season’d for his passage.” In Hamlet’s mind, killing Claudius while he was praying would send him to heaven, making any justice meaningless. So Hamlet, at odds with the vague rules of the world and heavens around him must again forstal his feelings and action. Hamlet wants to make decisive action in a world without decisive rules, where nothing is sure, and the universe operates by an unknowable set of rules. He don't know whether it is nobler to live and suffer in silence or to die tackling your problems because the rules are not set out, not by god, not by the universe, and not by the ghost of his father who pretty much justs gives him a task and leaves all of the moral and philosophical problems therein for his son to squirm over. Surprisingly enough the only other character who shares Hamlet’s anxiety and opposition to the uncertainty and contradictory nature of the universe is Claudius. In act three, scene three, Claudius confronts his own guilt over the murder of his brother and prays for forgiveness, thinking “But O, what form of prayer can serve my turn? ‘Forgive me my foul murder?’ That cannot be, since I am still possess’d of those effects for which I did the murder… what then? What rests? Try what repentance can. What can it not?” He wants forgiveness but doesn’t regret the murder, and his religion tells him nothing about what to do, of what will come of him. So he just prays, and hope's something happens. Like Hamlet his desires and emotions (his guilt and desire for mercy) are at odds with his thoughtfulness and reason (he doesn't want to give up the fruits of his crime) and with the unknowability of the universe (he doesn't know if he will get mercy if he is not fully repentant). Like Hamlet he is a soul trying to find the place of his anguish and frustration in a chaotic and uncertain world.
ReplyDeleteAct III is shows the different stages of Hamlet's madness, except it gets worse. Hamlet has become angrier, especially with Ophelia and the Queen. He still can't get over the fact that his mother would remarry her ex-husband's brother, "here is your husband: like a mildew'd ear, blasting his wholesome brother... Have you eyes? You cannot call it love" (74). It's interesting how Hamlet is so obsessed with the Queen because his father's ghost only told him to seek revenge--- not criticize his mother. And in a way, Hamlet has become more cold-blooded. The death of Polonius ended so quickly I almost missed it. Hamlet doesn't repent, instead he calls him a "wretched, rash, intruding fool" (73), as if it's Polonius's own fault for interrupting/spying on their conversation. Well, it is a wrong thing to spy on others, but Hamlet simply brushes off and continues his business with his mother. The entrance of the Ghost at then end kind of threw me off because the Queen can't see him. Maybe the Ghost is just a hallucination in his mind to remind him of his ultimate mission?
ReplyDeleteI found that Act III really went deeper into Hamlet’s madness. I also found it interesting that we got insight into how Claudius feels about the murder as he states, “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,/ And, like a man to double business bound, / I stand in pause where I shall first begin, / And both neglect” (70). I had suspicions about whether or not the uncle was actually the murderer or not so it was interesting to discover that he was. Also, the moment where Hamlet questions murdering Claudius right as he is stating his sins and he states, “To take [Claudius] in the purging of his soul / When he is fit and seasoned for his passage? / No. / Up, sword, and know thou a more horrid hent” (70), I thought that this was another moment that highlighted the turmoil and indecisiveness of Hamlet’s character. In scene IV, I had not expected, like Lizzy said, the death of Polonius; it happened very quickly and I had to read it over to make sure I didn’t misread it. I think that Hamlet’s reaction to his death and the fact that he calls Polonius a “wretched, rash, intruding fool” (73) shows more of his madness and apathy to any of his surroundings that interfere with his plan to murder his uncle. I also felt that the encounter Hamlet has with his mother is fascinating; I think that the vicious intensity he expresses is what makes her admit to her sins, but I am somewhat confused as to why she did not see the ghost when we know from the beginning that others have seen it too. I am interested to see how Hamlet will murder Claudius and how the inner questioning and turmoil of his character with affect the outcome of the play.
ReplyDeleteFrom the opening of Hamlet, the play was at high intensity and I was unsure of how much more intensity could even be given, however after reading Act III that is now clear. Not only has the intensity inevitably risen, the rhythm and musicality of the piece has also been elevated. For me, this was most notable in the monologues in Scenes III and IV of Act III. I noticed that at the end of the bigger monologues, there was rhyming, something that I hadn’t seen in the earlier half of the play. However the rhyming is not done at random parts (although I doubt Shakespeare has any “random parts” in the first place), it is done in lines imperative to the plot and inner workings of the character speaking. For example, the end of Act III, Scene III closes Hamlet’s monologue with: “And that his soul may be damn’d and black/ as hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays./ This physic but prolongs thy sickly days.” Followed by the King saying, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below./ Words without thoughts never to heaven go.” In this lines, Hamlet is condemning Claudius’ soul to hell, and saying that the only reason he didn’t kill his uncle right then and there was because he was praying, but the prayers were only prolonging Claudius’ days of being a sinner on Earth. In Claudius’ lines, he actually seems genuinely remorseful for what he has done to the Hamlet’s father. He is saying that his words are being sent to God in Heaven, however his thoughts are still stuck in his head, but because he has not been able to allow these thoughts out of his mind and truly admit his faults to himself and/or others, his words will not reach God and he will not be forgiven for his sins.
ReplyDeleteI also took note of the significance in one of Rosencratz’s speeches in Act III, Scene III. He says, “The single and peculiar life is bound/ With all the strength and armour of the mind/ To keep itself from noyance, but much more/ That spirit upon whose weal depends and rests/ The lives of many.” To me this spoke to the important symbol a king or leader is to their nation. Rosencratz is saying that people are innately designed to protect themselves from harm, however those who are in positions of power (e.g. Hamlet, Hamlet’s father, the Queen, and King Claudius) have to be aware that their attitude and shielding of their minds directly affects those who look up to and respect them.
I also am looking forward to seeing what decisions Hamlet makes, or fails to make, in the next act!
These scenes of the play were shocking to say the least. I would have never guessed that Polonius would have fallen victim to Hamlet's madness and what surprised me the most was that Hamlet didn't even seem sorry he killed him and dismissed Polonius as an “ignorant fool”. His discussion with his mother also didn't go as I had predicted. Her compliance at the end of the conversation to keep Hamlets crazy behavior to herself went against her previous characterization throughout the novel. She has always taken the side of Claudius and to see her go against what he would want was interesting to see, although who knows if she will keep her word or not. Finally Claudius's behavior was also not expected especially when he admitted to his brothers murder and expressed signs of guilt, “O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't, A brother's murder. “ I was surprised to see such a level of emotion from Claudius, especially since he has been previously reserved and hasn't had any previous soliloquies in the novel. Overall I feel like these scenes were huge in character and plot development and definitely the most interesting thus far. I would love to discuss Gertrude’s loyalty as a class and see what we think she will do.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the main question of Act III is “will Hamlet ever kill his uncle?”. I think that this question is one that Hamlet has toiled with since he first spoke with his father’s ghost. It seems that every time that he has had a chance to do so, he has chosen against it. This makes me question Hamlet’s true morals and if he will be able to actually do the unthinkable, commit murder. Initially, after the play, I thought that Hamlet would not hesitate at all to kill his uncle. Setting up the play showed that Hamlet was not afraid to let his uncle know that he knew the truth. I took this play as a sense of urgency in Hamlet’s plans, but then after the play I began to question his plans and if there really was a sense of urgency. Hamlet’s contrast flip-flop between killing his uncle and not directly relates to his “to be or not to be” speech. Hamlet’s life is in a constant state of limbo and he seems to be pondering right and wrong and what life is and what it isn't. Hamlet’s uncle finally takes some responsibility for his actions when he says “My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent”. I wonder if this affected the way Hamlet felt about his plan to kill him, I imagine that it would but that it would not be enough to deter him from his plan. Something that I have been considering throughout the whole play, like Mr. Pellerin mentioned in class, is what Hamlet’s father was really like. The way that Hamlet describes his in “Great” but I imagine that that was in the context of his rule as King. I wonder how he was as a father to Hamlet and think that maybe this has something to do with Hamlet’s indecisiveness about killing his uncle.
ReplyDeleteColleen
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ReplyDeleteBy the end of Act III, if there seems to be a theme, it is uncertainty. While the audience is reading Hamlet, it feels like they are unpeeling an onion due to the many layers. Hamlet’s words seem to have many layers and a greater depth, since the reader is aware there is always something unspoken, something Hamlet himself is not aware of. The reader is always unsure as to what is going to happen next due to his indecisiveness. His uncertainty to live or kill himself, uncertainty to kill his uncle or not to kill his uncle, uncertainty in the reader whether he is genuinely mad or not are just few of many. The prime example of this in Act III is when Hamlet kills Polonius for being a “intruding fool”, highlighting his failure in matching his thoughts to his actions. He hates Claudius for killing his father, but he continues to do the same. He was able to kill Polonius without any regret or remorse, while he cannot get himself to kill his guilty uncle.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Hamlet discovers that he was correct and that his uncle did kill his father, I thought that was going to be the tipping point and be the factor that finalizes his decision in killing his uncle. However, he doesn’t and I don’t even know if I could say that I was shocked! Hamlet decides to not kill Claudius because Claudius was praying mournfully, so he does not want him go to heaven saying “A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven”. It makes the reader question again whether it is really Claudius he is upset about, or his mother. This is proven when his anger seems to have reached his boiling point, and he angrily tells his mother that marrying her brother in law “calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose/from the fair forehead of an innocent love/and sets a blister there, makes marriage vows/as false as dicers’ oaths”. He is disgusted and betrayed by his mother. It was a huge moment when his mother says that he has offended his father, Claudius, in which he responds that she has offended his father, King Hamlet, by marrying his brother. His mother’s mourning makes the reader understand Hamlet’s intentions, since doubt now arises that maybe she was involved in the murder or knew something about it. This thought continues to stir when the mother is unable to see the ghost, a ghost that at the beginning of the play is able to be seen by people.
Hamlet’s uncertainty is further shown when he questions whether he wants to live or not, something that stems from his preconceived beliefs of his father. This is shown when he stabs his knife through the tapestry, in hopes of his uncle being behind it. This moment shows that he is caught up in his strong emotions, and his logical mind are blocked. When he compares his father’s death to Jules César’s death and the consequential fall of Rome, it leads he him to believe if someone as great as his father was easily forgotten by everyone, what's the point for him. This theme continues when he questions his mother for why she married his uncle since he is inferior to his father, it makes the reader question why he believes this. He seems just like a little boy that believes his dad is the best person in the world, while he really didn’t know him.
The theme of uncertainty is also depicted in Claudius’ indefinite guilt of killing his brother. In this act for the first time in the play, the reader is able to gain insight on his thoughts. At first he is shown repenting stating his “stronger guilt defeats my strong intent”. However, he ultimately feels it was worth it and is disinclined to give up what he has gained from killing his brother, “[his crown, [his] own ambition, and [his queen]”.
“Now might I do it pat, now he is praying, And now I'll do 't. And so he goes to heaven, And so am I revenged. That would be scanned:A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven.” I’m getting a little tired of Hamlet talking himself out of killing Claudius, the longer he puts it off the more insane he becomes and the more he stretches his rationale for not killing him. Does it really matter if he sends his uncle to heaven? It’s not like he’ll have to deal with it after. I think Hamlet’s revenge is morphing into something that is more about causing Claudius suffering not just ending his life. The irony is that while Hamlet is not killing Claudius because he is praying, Claudius is attempting to “pray away” his sin of killing king hamlet. “O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't, A brother's murder.” He’s acknowledging that by murdering King Hamlet, he has brought upon himself the"primal" and "eldest" curse so he knows he's going to go to hell no matter when or where he’s killed (basically the opposite of Hamlets justification for not killing him)
ReplyDeleteI knew that Hamlet was going to be a play with lots of death and revenge, however the death of Polonius was a surprise to me. The Polonius’s death seemed abrupt to me at first, however I realized that it is the first hint to the audience that Hamlet has truly begun to lose control over his act. Claudius’s confession was interesting because this was the first time we got to see what Claudius thought of the murder. It has also now been confirmed that Claudius did murder King Hamlet because until this scene it was only King Hamlet’s ghost that claimed he was murdered. In this act, Hamlet has been straightforward with his mother, claiming that she is responsible for “As kill a king and marry with his brother”. Hamlet speaks informally with Queen Gertrude saying that he will “wring [her] heart” out. Hamlet has always alluded to the betrayal his mother has done, but he never directly confronted her, which suggests Hamlet’s insanity. Before he kept his emotions hidden, however now he is unable to feel remorse for the accidental death of Polonius. Instead he continues to warn his mother that there is more to come. Hamlet is now willing to openly accuse the queen and the king, regardless of consequences. He no longer cares about the afterlife or later penalties but is set to get revenge on those who ultimately killed and betrayed his father. The play so far is very exciting and has really picked up pace in the last few scenes. I am excited to see what Hamlet will do next.
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I liked the second Act III a lot better because it actually incorporated some action into its plot and featured characters directly plotting against each other. Although some of the logic- particularly Polonius’- was difficult to follow, I found that the play assumed a more smooth flow after Shakespeare began to build the suspense with Polonius offer to go spy on Hamlet and his mother “behind the arras” in “his mother’s closet.” As readers, it becomes evident that something big is about to happen after such a move and that knowledge helped me be a lot more engaged with the text from that point onwards. Shakespeare then further builds upon the rising action by having Hamlet directly accuse Claudius of having “killed a king and married his [wife]” and then having him directly kill Polonius. I was particularly taken aback by Polonius’ death this early in the play as I had assumed him to stay around until at least the last act as most main characters typically do. However, do appreciate Shakespeare mixing it up and feel that it sets up the climax nicely.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the end of act III, I am left with many questions. In this section, Hamlet seems to have decided on his plan of action. I thought Hamlet was going to kill his uncle right away, but I was surprised how Hamlet waited. After the play, he knows that Claudius is guilty, and tries to determine his next move. However Hamlet is still unsure of what really happened. He says “how his audit stands, who knows, save heaven?”. He is still waiting for some “sign” to justify what he wants to do. Throughout the play, I’ve noticed that Hamlet often struggles with ethical and philosophical questions, which is holding him back from killing Claudius. When reading, I thought Hamlet was more mad at his own mother then Claudius, yet so far he has not mentioned any plans with her. I feel as though hamlet is more insane in this part of the work than before. However, I also think that not all of his thoughts and feelings are being shown. When Hamlet murdered Polonius, I was shocked at first, but I was also expecting something crazy because he had been acting more and more erratic. It seems that he is blinded by his rage and makes a very quick decision in a flash. It also seems that Hamlet shows remorse when he sees Polonius after stabbing him. He says “Heaven hath pleased it so / To punish me with this, and this with me”. I thought if anyone, Hamlet would have hurt Claudius by the end of the act. Him killing Polonius shows that Hamlet has more trouble and struggle to come, both with society and with himself.
ReplyDeleteOf everything that happened in Act III, the one thing that keeps coming up in my head is how tiring it is to hear about Hamlet's plots and big schemes but lack of follow-through. Polonius' death was a huge shock to me and the fact that it was so quick and mindless confused me a lot because of how unfitting of Hamlet's character it was. It definitely seemed like Hamlet was trying to prove to himself that he actually could follow through with something but the fact that it was so impulsive further showed that he really had gone off the rails at that point. With that murder on his hands and the fact that he's gone crazy, I don't understand why he's still holding back from killing King Claudius, hell even just killing his mother because of how angry he is with her. His line saying "And so he goes to heaven, And so am I revenged. That would be scanned:A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven," just frustrates me because nothing is making sense anymore and I truly believe Hamlet has now lost all sense of direction regarding who he wants to kill and if there's anyone at all. What he did to Polonius was irrational and I don't really see it as him being himself because that's not the Hamlet we've gotten to know. But all that begs the question, is Hamlet even at all the same as he was before? It feels like with Hamlet we're going in circles and he's spiraling out but there's nothing coming out of it except further confusion and disappointment.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Act III was very interesting. It was surprising to see that after all that happened, Hamlet still didn’t end up killing his uncle. I was also surprised at his resoning behind it. I feel like since Hamlet has seen the ghost of his death father, he would think that going to heaven isn’t exactly where his uncle would be going. Just because he was praying doesn’t necessarlily mean that he is a perfect human. “Now might I do it pat. Now he is a-praying. And now I’ll do ’t. And so he goes to heaven. And so am I revenged.—That would be scanned. A villain kills my father, and, for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven.” (74-79). I also think that this scene it is a little bit of a parallel to how Hamlet’s father died. Claudius killed the king before he was able to give his last pentance/pray again, so Claudius killed the king before he was able to be forgiven for all of his sins, and therefore not be able to go to heaven. Hamlet decided to wait to kill him so that he cannot reach heaven. I might be very wrong in this, but I think its a cool thing to think about.
ReplyDeleteIn scene iv, I think the audience gets to see into how Hamlet really feels about what his mother did. We know that he is angry at her for marrying his uncle so quickly after his father’s death, but we never really get to see the rage and anger that he feels other than at the play within a play. And even then that anger was directed towards Claudius. I enjoyed seeing Hamlets true feelings towards his mother in this scene. I think that a particularly important line was “ G: “Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.” H: “ Mother, you have my father much offended.” (9-10), because it’s the moment that Hamlet cracks and starts to pour out his feelings of what happened. While Queen Gertrude means Claudius by saying your father, Hamlet never considers him a father and brings up the point that really nothing is more offensive to his dead father than for his wife to marry his own brother. I think that this brings out into the open how hurt Hamlet is by all of the events, and shows how he never really got time to morn his father because he was forced into a new family soon after.
It is evident that, as the play progresses, Hamlet is gradually falling into a state of insanity and irrationality. When confronting his mother about her immoral decision to marry Claudius almost immediately after her husband’s death, it is clear that, although he denies it, his facade of lunacy is becoming a reality. “Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge; You go not till I set you up a glass where you may see the inmost part of you.” He takes out all of his anger on his mother rather than focusing his hatred toward Claudius, who was the one who had murdered his father and seduced Gertrude. When Polonius cries out for help, Hamlet does not hesitate and stabs him through the curtain, thinking that it is actually his Uncle. Because Polonius is, to a certain extent, innocent, it would have made sense if Hamlet felt remorse for assuming that it was his Uncle. Instead, he reacts with a sense of disenchantment, evident when he exclaims, “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell,” and then proceeds to drag his body away. At this point of the play, Hamlet has lost his sense of reality. Retrospectively, Hamlet has just killed an innocent man, but through his eyes, he has killed off someone who could have foiled his plan to kill his Uncle; a righteous sleuth.
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